Influence of the type of lightweight clay brick on the equivalent thermal transmittance of different types of façades on buildings

Abstract

This paper compares the equivalent thermal transmittances of different façades built using commercial clay bricks with three different thicknesses and façades made using the same method but with ceramic bricks with optimized rhomboidal interior geometry. Equivalent thermal transmittances of 0.300 W/m2·K were recorded for the rhomboidal brick with a thickness of 0.290 m and a façade with thermo-acoustic insulation and a large format brick on the interior, but the final thickness of the façade was 0.445 m. For ventilated façades made of the proposed rhomboidal brick with thicknesses of 0.290 and 0.240 m an 8–9% improvement was found, with values of 0.312 W/m2·K and 0.339 W/m2·K, respectively. It can be concluded that in view of the small difference in thermal terms, the best option is to use a brick 0.240 m thick, as the overall thickness of the façade will not then exceed 0.300 m.

Keywords

• brick
• ceramic
• physical properties
• thermal analysis
• finite element method