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Hygrothermal behavior for a clay brick wall

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Abstract

In Egypt, the clay brick is the common building materials which are used. By studying clay brick walls behavior for the heat and moisture transfer, the efficient use of the clay brick can be reached. So, this research studies the hygrothermal transfer in this material by measuring the hygrothermal properties and performing experimental tests for a constructed clay brick wall. We present the model for the hygrothermal transfer in the clay brick which takes the temperature and the vapor pressure as driving potentials. In addition, this research compares the presented model with previous models. By constructing the clay brick wall between two climates chambers with different boundary conditions, we can validate the numerical model and analyze the hygrothermal transfer in the wall. The temperature and relative humidity profiles within the material are measured experimentally and determined numerically. The numerical and experimental results have a good convergence with 3.5% difference. The surface boundary conditions, the ground effect, the infiltration from the closed chambers and the material heterogeneity affects the results. Thermal transfer of the clay brick walls reaches the steady state very rapidly than the moisture transfer. That means the effect of using only the external brick wall in the building in hot climate without increase the thermal resistance for the wall, will add more energy losses in the clay brick walls buildings. Also, the behavior of the wall at the heat and mass transfer calls the three-dimensional analysis for the whole building to reach the real behavior.

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Abbreviations

Wc :

Water content of the vapor and liquid in the pores [kg.m−3]

Wg :

Water content by mass [kg. kg−1]

Wv :

Water content by volume [m3.m−3]

ρb :

Bulk density [kg.m−3]

ρd :

Dry density [kg.m−3]

ϵo :

Open porosity [-]

p:

Pressure [Pa]

pv :

Partial water vapor pressure [Pa]

p sat :

Saturated water vapor pressure [Pa]

p atm :

Atmospheric pressure [Pa]

pc :

Capillary pressure (or the suction pressure) [Pa]

Lv:

Latent heat of vaporization [J.kg−1]

Jl :

The flux density of the mass [kg.m−2.s−1]

R:

Ideal gas constant [J.mol−1.K−1]

R d :

Ideal gas constant [J.kg−1.K−1]

A:

The surface area [m2]

Af :

Water sorption coefficient [kg.m−2.s−0.5]

Jv :

Water vapor transmission rate [kg.m−2.s−1]

μ :

Water vapor resistance factor [-]

Jv :

Water vapor flux density [kg.m−2.s−1]

Jl :

Liquid flux density [kg.m−2.s−1]

Jq:

Heat flow rate [kg.m−2.s−1]

Cp :

Heat capacity [J.kg−1.K−1]

Cl :

Liquid water heat capacity [J.kg−1.K−1]

Lv :

Latent heat of vaporization [J.kg−1]

Cv :

Water vapor heat capacity [J.kg−1.K−1]

Dw :

Moisture diffusivity [m2.s−1]

δv :

Water vapor permeability [kg.m−1.s-1.Pa−1]

δl :

Liquid permeability [kg.m−1.s-1.Pa−1]

d:

Thickness [m]

RMSE:

Root mean square error [%]

MC:

Moisture storage capacity [Kg.kg−1.Pa−1]

Rv :

Water vapor resistance [m2.s.Pa.kg−1]

RT :

Total heat resistance [m2.K.W−1]

λB :

Boltzmann transformation coefficient [m.s−0.5]

λ:

Thermal conductivity [W.m−1.K−1]

L:

Length [m]

B:

Width [m]

m:

Mass [kg]

M:

Molar mass [kg.mol-1]

T:

Temperature [K]

t:

Time [s]

x:

Distance [m]

V:

Volume [m3]

φ :

Relative humidity [-]

Q:

Heat flow [W]

hc :

Convetive heat transfer coefficient [W.m−2.K−1]

βi:

Vapor transfer coefficient [Kg.m−2.s−1.Pa−1]

ρ w :

Water density [Kg.m−3]

Xt:

Arithmetic mean of the tested values [v]

Xi:

Test value [v]

n:

Values numbers [−]

r:

Right

l:

Left

d:

Dry

Ref.:

Reference

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Acknowledgements

This work is funded by the Egyptian Missions at higher education ministry (2016-2018) and by the Region Aquitaine, Limousin, Poitou-Charentes Region through European and National Program CPER-FEDER “Bâtiment Durable 2015-2020”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Engineering Science for Environment “LaSIE” UMR 7356 CNRS, University of La Rochelle, Avenue Michel Crépeau, 17042, La Rochelle, Cedex 1, France

    R. Allam, N. Issaadi & R. Belarbi

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Elgomhouria St., Mansoura, 35516, Egypt

    M. El-Meligy & A. Altahrany

Authors
  1. R. Allam
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  2. N. Issaadi
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  3. R. Belarbi
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  4. M. El-Meligy
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to R. Allam or R. Belarbi.

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Allam, R., Issaadi, N., Belarbi, R. et al. Hygrothermal behavior for a clay brick wall. Heat Mass Transfer 54, 1579–1591 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-017-2271-5

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