Influence of Freeze/Thaw Cycles on Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Masonry Wall and Masonry Wall Materials

Abstract

In this study, the influence of freeze/thaw cycles on the mechanical and thermal properties of bricks and mortar as building parts of masonry walls, as well as the influence on the masonry wall itself is investigated. At the material level, the influence of freeze and thaw cycles on the mechanical and thermal properties of masonry components (bricks and mortar) was investigated; at the construction level, the influence of freeze and thaw cycles on the mechanical and thermal properties of a masonry wall was studied. To study the influence of freezing on the energy demand characteristics of masonry buildings, in terms of energy conservation and greenhouse gas emission, a case study was investigated on a typical structure of a historical building located in Croatia, that had undergone a process of energy certification. The applied freeze/thaw regime negatively influenced the compressive strength and the thermal properties of bricks and mortar, as well as the mechanical and thermal properties of the wall. Considering the thermal properties of the material before and after its exposure to freeze/thaw cycles, we concluded that the annual energy consumption, the heating costs, and the CO2 emission of a family house could increase up to 3.7% after frost action in the studied case.

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Thermal Transmittance Tests Performed in Façades of Existing Buildings: The Case of Spain

“…An appropriate selection of the room to be analyzed according to their dimensions would reduce the energy consumption related to the thermal transmittance test. The scientific literature has analyzed that aspects such as the orientation of the room façade [41], the presence of moistures [42] or damages due to freezing [56] should be assessed before selecting the room or zone of the building to be analyzed; however, the need for selecting criteria to select the rooms which reduce the energy consumption of the test has not been analyzed. Figure 10 shows the effect of the criteria application of the room dimension (surface and length of the façade) on the tests simulated.…”

Quality Control of the Thermal Properties of Superstructures in Accommodation Spaces in Naval Constructions

“…Water has a higher thermal conductivity than the usual construction materials, so its presence could change the thermal behavior of the wall [44]. In this regard, the presence of moisture and freezing could imply considerable variations in the thermal transmittance value with respect to the same wall under normal conditions [29,44,45]. Finally, it is also necessary to consider the influence of the orientation on the thermal transmittance value.…”

“…Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies focused on the thermal characterization of superstructures of accommodation spaces in ships. This aspect is different with regard to the building sector, since the experimental methods of the thermal transmittance (e.g., the method from International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9869-1 [24]) have been discussed in many research studies from the end of the 20th century [25][26][27] to nowadays [28][29][30][31]. In situ measurements have proved their usefulness to determine the current thermal performance of construction elements in existing buildings and as quality control in new buildings.…”

Experimental characterisation of the periodic thermal properties of walls using artificial intelligence

“…Meng et al [28] found heat flux measurement errors of up to 26% but surface temperature measurement errors of only 6%. The most accurate results have been found to be achieved using an appropriate envelope orientation [29], a high thermal gradient during the tests [30], and unaltered elements [31].…”