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Investigating applicability of sawdust and retro-reflective materials as external wall insulation under tropical climatic conditions

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Abstract

Buildings require energy to maintain their performance. In consequence, built environments cause a surge in the world’s energy demand. Providing passive measures is an effective method of optimizing operational energy usage. In this study, we propose insulation materials (thermal barrier type and resistive insulation) for the walls of a building. Experiments were performed on small-scale physical models constructed with; (a) no insulation, (b) sawdust–cement mortar, and (c) retro-reflective (RR) material for external walls. In addition, regression models were developed to predict indoor air temperature with insulation. Subsequently, associated operational energy-saving and decrease in emissions were estimated for each material. The comparison reveals RR (sawdust–cement mortar) is effective in warm (overcast) climatic conditions. Developed regression models have shown a good agreement with experimental results (R > 0.8). Moreover, sawdust–cement mortar (RR) materials contributed a 9% (13.4%) reduction in operational energy and a 9% (13.3%) decrease in CO2 emissions. The project highlights the potential to utilize sawdust—a waste material—and RR material as wall insulation to decrease intense operational energy demand.

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Abbreviations

A/C:

Air conditioning

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

HVAC:

Heating ventilation and air conditioning

RR:

Retro-reflective

RH:

Relative humidity

M1:

Model house without any insulation

M2:

Model house insulted with sawdust and cement

M3:

Model house insulated with RR tape

h:

Hours

BTU:

British thermal unit

K 1 :

Thermal conductivity of composite material sawdust and cement insulation

K sawdsut :

Thermal conductivity of sawdust

K cement-grout :

Thermal conductivity of cement grout

Ø:

Volume fraction of cement grout.

R 2 :

Coefficient of determination

R :

Correlation coefficient

MAE:

Mean absolute error

RMSE:

Root mean square error

T P :

Predicted indoor air temperature

T E :

Experimental indoor air temperature

\({\overline{T} }_{\mathrm{E}}\) :

Mean value of data set

N :

Total number of readings

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Acknowledgements

Authors like to convey their sincere gratitude to the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology for facilitating experiments and research work. Further, we thank the reviewers for their constructive suggestions to improve the quality of the paper.

Funding

No funding was recieved to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, Malabe, Sri Lanka

    P. M. Dharmasena

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Hapugala, Sri Lanka

    D. P. P. Meddage

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, General Sir John Kotelawala Defense University, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka

    A. S. M. Mendis

Authors
  1. P. M. Dharmasena
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  2. D. P. P. Meddage
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  3. A. S. M. Mendis
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Correspondence to D. P. P. Meddage.

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Annexure

Annexure

Annex 01: Cost for different model houses

The construction cost for each model house was calculated. All prices are in Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR). size of the house is 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 m with an opening of 0.3 × 0.3 m. size of asbestos sheets was 1 × 1 m and the size of standard engineering bricks was 0.195 × 0.090 × 0.055 m.

Item no

Material

Unit price (LKR)

Quantity

Price (LKR)

01

Bricks

12.50

350 bricks

4375.00

02

Cement bags

950.00

0.8 bags

760.00

03

Sand

16,000.00

0.15 cube

2400.00

04

Asbestos sheet

2975.00

1/3

991.67

05

Mason

3000.00

0.7 days

2100.00

Total price (LKR)

10,626.67

Annex 02: Cost for the model with RR insulation

Item no

Material

Unit price (LKR)

Quantity

Price (LKR)

01

Bricks

12.50

350 bricks

4375.00

02

Cement bags

950.00

0.8 bags

760.00

03

Sand

16,000.00

0.15 cube

2400.00

04

Asbestos sheet

2975.00

1/3

991.67

06

Diamond cut RR tape (white color)

430.00

9 ft2

3870.00

05

Mason

3000.00

0.7 days

2100.00

Total price (LKR)

14,496.67

Annex 03: Cost for the model with sawdust insulation

Item no

Material

Unit price (LKR)

Quantity

Price (LKR)

01

Bricks

12.50

350 bricks

4375.00

02

Cement bags

950.00

1.55 bags

1472.50

03

Sand

16,000.00

0.15 cube

2400.00

04

Asbestos sheet

2975.00

1/3

991.67

05

Saw dust

30.00

5 kg

150.00

06

Mason

3000.00

1.3 days

3900.00

Total price (LKR)

13,290.00

Annex 04: Solar radiation graphs

Solar radiation graphs for Colombo Sri Lanka were taken using the Metenorm application.

figure a

Solar radiation graph for Colombo

Annex 05: Thermal properties of various materials and their application

Name of material

Thermal conductivity (W/m K)

Thermal resistance (m2K/W)

Thermal diffusivity (m2/s) ×10−6

Specific heat capacity (J/kg K)

Solar reflectance (albedo value)

Density (kg/m3)

Possible ways to use in a model house (insulation)

Fiber glass (recycled)

0.031

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

  

830

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

450

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Fix in windows

Foam glass

0.04

(Braulio-Gonzalo & Bovea, 2017)

  

1000

(Braulio-Gonzalo & Bovea, 2017)

 

110

(Braulio-Gonzalo & Bovea, 2017)

Fix in windows

Stone wool

0.033–0.040

(Karamanos, et al., 2008)

  

800–1000

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

40–200

(Karamanos, et al., 2008)

Insulate in internal walls

Cellulose

0.037–0.042

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

  

1300–1600

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

30–80

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Insulate in internal walls by blown or damp sprayed

Polyurethane foam (PIR)

0.0236

(Biswas et al., 2016)

  

1300–1450

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

29

(Biswas et al., 2016)

Insulate between walls

Expanded polystyrene (EPS)

0.041

(Meng et al., 2018)

  

1280

(Meng et al., 2018)

 

22

(Meng et al., 2018)

Insulate between walls

Silica aerogel

1.010–0.030

(Casini, 2016)

  

1000

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

5–200

(Casini, 2016)

Sandwiched within double glazed window units

Concrete block

0.435

(Alausa et al., 2013)

2.299

(Alausa et al., 2013)

1.022

(Alausa et al., 2013)

  

2100–2300

(Grabarz et al., 2012)

Construct model house structure

Laterite mud

0.523

(Alausa et al., 2013)

1.912

(Alausa et al., 2013)

1.126

(Alausa et al., 2013)

   

Construct model house structure

Cement mortar

0.840

(Meng et al., 2018)

  

840

(Meng et al., 2018)

 

1860

(Meng et al., 2018)

Apply between two bricks or blocks as a binding agent

Silicate blocks (0.25 m)

0.41

(Dudzińska & Kotowicz, 2015)

  

880

(Dudzińska & Kotowicz, 2015)

 

1400

(Dudzińska & Kotowicz, 2015)

Construct model house structure

Cellular concrete blocks

0.17

(Dudzińska & Kotowicz, 2015)

  

840

(Dudzińska & Kotowicz, 2015)

 

600

(Dudzińska & Kotowicz, 2015)

Construct model house structure

Solid brick

0.77

(Dudzińska & Kotowicz, 2015)

  

880

(Dudzińska & Kotowicz, 2015)

 

1800

(Grabarz et al., 2012)

Construct model house structure

Rock wool

0.04

(Rosas-Flores & Rosas-Flores, 2020)

    

50–80

(Đurović-Petrović, 2015)

Insulate in ceiling

Cork

0.045

(Barrau et al., 2014)

  

1500–1700

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

110–170

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Insulate in ceiling

Sawdust

0.038–0.050

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

  

1900–2100

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

50–270

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Use as a cement, sawdust composite mixture and apply in the external wall as a plaster

Extruded polystyrene

0.0320

(Biswas et al., 2016)

  

1450–1700

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

30

(Biswas et al., 2016)

Insulate in outer or internal walls

Phenolic foam

0.018–0.024

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

  

1300–1400

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

40–160

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Insulate in internal walls

Hempcrete (1:1)

0.074–0.103

(Dhakal et al., 2017)

    

233–388

(Dhakal et al., 2017)

Insulate in external walls

Hemp fiber

0.038–0.060

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

  

1600–1700

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

20–90

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Insulate in external walls

Glass wool

0.04

(Rosas-Flores & Rosas-Flores, 2020)

  

900–1000

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

15–75

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Insulate in ceiling

Sheep wool

0.038–0.054

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

  

1300–1700

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

10–25

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Insulate in internal walls

Recycled cotton

0.039–0.044

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

  

1600

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

25–45

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

Apply between walls

Straw bale

0.052–0.06

(Costes et al., 2017)

  

600

(Schiavoni et al., 2016)

 

75–90

(Costes et al., 2017)

Insulate in internal walls

Rice hulls

0.046–0.566

(Yarbrough et al., 2005)

    

154–168

(Yarbrough et al., 2005)

Insulate in external walls

Retro-reflective tape (RR)

2.026

(Meng et al., 2016)

  

1324

(Meng et al., 2016)

0.81

(Yuan et al., 2015)

307

(Meng et al., 2016)

Insulate in external walls

Clay tile

0.7106

(Ariyadasa et al., 2015)

    

1790

(Ariyadasa et al., 2015)

Provide as a shading material for model house

Asbestos sheet

0.4733

(Ariyadasa et al., 2015)

    

1630

(Ariyadasa et al., 2015)

Provide as a shading material for model house

Cement tile

0.5619

(Ariyadasa et al., 2015)

    

2160

(Ariyadasa et al., 2015)

Provide as a shading material for model house

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Dharmasena, P.M., Meddage, D.P.P. & Mendis, A.S.M. Investigating applicability of sawdust and retro-reflective materials as external wall insulation under tropical climatic conditions. Asian J Civ Eng 23, 531–549 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-022-00440-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-022-00440-0

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