Experimental Study on the Performance Decay of Thermal Insulation and Related Influence on Heating Energy Consumption in Buildings

Diana D’Agostino, Roberto Landolfi, Maurizio Nicolella and Francesco Minichiello
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Diana D’Agostino: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Roberto Landolfi: Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Maurizio Nicolella: Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Francesco Minichiello: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: The External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) is one of the most common passive strategies to obtain energy savings in existing buildings. Despite previous studies dealing with ETICS durability in real building case studies or involving accelerated ageing tests in climatic chambers, little progress has been made in the knowledge of the long-term durability and energy efficiency of the system. In this work, following previous experiments on ageing cycles, different climatic chambers are used to accelerate performance decay by simulating the natural outdoor exposure to assess the thermal transmittance decay of a building wall. After evaluating through laboratory tests the decay of the thermal performances of grey expanded polystyrene sintered (EPS) and polyurethane, the results are applied to an existing building. The case study building is virtually located in three different Italian climatic zones and an evaluation in terms of thermal transmittance values and their influence on heating energy consumption is made by using the dynamic simulation software DesignBuilder. The results show no significant variations during ETICS service life; the thermal performances are reduced little over time and therefore there is an increase in consumption for building heating of about only 2% after a time t1 equal to 8 years.

Keywords: External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS); accelerated ageing test; ageing; building; dynamic simulation; thermal resistance; energy savings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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