Thermophysical studies of common wall panels for controlling building thermal environment

Abstract

Urban heat island accumulatively influenced by characteristics of its building environment. A developed urban area that characterized with many building constructions shown a higher air temperature than its surrounding. Thermophysical studies of building wall were conducted involving thermal conductivity, specific heat, material density, and solar absorptivity. This paper discusses the simulation of the wall’s thermophysical characteristic with the variation of the wall’s thermal properties using Energy2D simulation program. We report the simulation of the 11 cm brick wall with an area of 1 m × 1 m, where the wall was exposed to a heat source for 4 h and then continued with 4 h cooling. The measurement results show that the absorptivity aspect of the wall determines the amount of heat distributed around the wall, while thermal conductivity and specific heat of the wall determine the heat distribution. We conclude that controlling the wall’s thermal properties will give a specific impact on the thermal environment.