Evaporation from Porous Building Materials and Its Cooling Potential
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 8
Abstract
Evaporative cooling is a traditional strategy to improve summer comfort, which has gained renewed relevance in the context of the transition to a greener economy. Here, the potential for evaporative cooling of common porous building materials, like natural stone and ceramic brick, is evaluated. The work has relevance also to the protection of built heritage because evaporation underlies the problems of dampness and salt crystallization, which are so harmful and frequent in this heritage. It was observed that the drying rate of the materials is, in some cases, higher than the evaporation rate of a free water surface. Surface area measurements by a three-dimensional optical technique suggested, as probable cause of this behavior, that surface irregularity gives rise to a large effective surface of evaporation in the material. Surface temperature measurements by infrared were performed afterward during evaporation experiments outside during a hot summer day in Lisbon. Their results indicate that ordinary building materials can be very efficient evaporative media and, thus, may help in achieving higher energy efficiency while maintaining a simultaneous constructive or architectural function.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the research project DRYMASS (ref. PTDC/ECM/100553/2008). Vânia Brito was supported by a research grant provided under this project. The authors are thankful to Leo Pel (TU/e) and José Delgado Rodrigues (LNEC) for their useful advice on different aspects of the study, and to LNEC technicians Luís Nunes and José Costa who helped on the experimental work. Thanks also to Jo Ann Cassar (University of Malta) for the Malta’s Globigerina limestone, to Cerâmica do Vale de Gândara for the red ceramic brick, to Cristovão Soares (Tria) for the calcium silicate boards, to James Diamond (Ytong) for the calcium silicate bricks, to José Cruz (Lusical) for the dry hydrated lime, to Patricia Castellano Rodrigues (Portucel Soporcel) for the paper paste, and to Pedro Teixeira for his help with the contacts.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27 • Issue 8 • August 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 31, 2014
Accepted: Aug 5, 2014
Published online: Oct 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Mar 1, 2015
Published in print: Aug 1, 2015
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