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Experimental comparison of energy performances of common types of buildings constructed in Cameroon and validation of their electrical model

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Abstract

In this paper, an experimental comparison of the thermal performances of the sundried earth bricks building and parpen brick building have been carried out. For this purpose, an electrical model of the building was elaborated and an experimental set-up was constructed. Measured temperatures and relative humidity from sundried earth bricks and parpen buildings were compared and the numerical simulation results were validated against experimental results statically. Our findings reveal that, building constructed with sundried earth bricks present good energy performances compared to parpen bricks building with 40–60% versus 10–40% relative humidity and 24°C versus 29°C temperature, respectively. Moreover, the numerical and experimental results were found to be in good agreement. Maximum absolute percentage error, maximum absolute error and absolute percentage error of 3.4%, 0.66°C and 6.4%, were obtained respectively. Sundried earth block was recommended for construction and the electrical model was proposed for the prediction of the thermal behavior of buildings.

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Abbreviations

APE:

Absolute Percentage Error

MAE:

Maximum Absolute Error

MAPE:

Maximum Absolute Percentage Error

ASHRAE:

American Society for Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineering

BESTEST:

Building Energy Simulation Test

CoDyBA:

Code de simulation Dynamique du Batiment

CFD:

Computational Fluid Dynamics

ECBCS:

Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems

HAM:

Heat, Air and Moisture

HAMSTAD:

Heat, Air and Moisture Standards Development

HVAC:

Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning

IEA:

International Energy Agency

ISO:

International Standard Organization

TRNSYS:

Transient System Simulation

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, College of Technology, The University of Bamenda, P.O. Box 39, Bambili, Cameroon

    Fodoup Cyrille Vincelas Fohagui

  2. Department of Energetic, Environment and Thermal Engineering, IUT-FV Bandjoun, UR-ISIE, University of Dschang, P.O. Box 134, Bandjoun, Cameroon

    Fodoup Cyrille Vincelas Fohagui, Yemeli Wenceslas Koholé & Ghislain Tchuen

Authors
  1. Fodoup Cyrille Vincelas Fohagui
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  2. Yemeli Wenceslas Koholé
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  3. Ghislain Tchuen
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Correspondence to Fodoup Cyrille Vincelas Fohagui.

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Fohagui, F.C.V., Koholé, Y.W. & Tchuen, G. Experimental comparison of energy performances of common types of buildings constructed in Cameroon and validation of their electrical model. Sādhanā 46, 159 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-021-01670-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-021-01670-9

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