Sustainable Cities and Society 55 (2020) 102070

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Sustainable Cities and Society

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Effect of hygrothermal behaviour of earth brick on indoor environment in a T

desert climate
Lei Zhanga,b,*, Guochen Sanga, Weixiao Hana
a
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Xi'an University of Technology, Shaanxi 710048, China
b
State Key Laboratory of Green Building in Western China, Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology, Shaanxi 710055, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study describes the experimental testing of the hygrothermal properties of the earth brick and the numerical
Desert climate analysis of the hygrothermal behaviour of a residential building in a desert climate in order to evaluate the effect
Earth brick of the earth brick on the indoor environment. The hygrothermal properties, i.e. thermal conductivity, specific
Hygrothermal behaviour heat capacity, equilibrium moisture content and water vapour permeability, were characterized to be used in the
Indoor hygrothermal condition
following numerical simulation of indoor environment. The numerical analysis was conducted by whole building
Energy consumption for heating
simulations using EnergyPlus which can be used to simulate the indoor climate in buildings. An existing re-
sidential building was monitored for two days in summer in order to validate the accuracy of the model. The
simulated results showed that compared with the fired brick, the earth walls reduce the amplitude of both indoor
air temperature and relative humidity fluctuations, especially the maximum of relative humidity, due to both
thermal inertia and moisture capacity of the earth bricks. Besides, the heating energy consumption results of the
earth brick rooms were significantly lower than the fired brick rooms during the heating period.

1. Introduction
Earth brick is often used as one kind of sustainable material, espe-
cially in the rural area of developing countries, based on its low cost
(Morel, Mesbah, Oggero, & Walker, 2001). Its abundant source results
in that earth brick can be produced anywhere due to that no specialized
equipment and no specific conditions are required during the produc-
tion (Zhang, Gustavsen et al., 2017). As a reusable material, earth brick
requires no special treatment to be reused and has low environmental
impact when it is abandoned. Unfortunately, earth brick was ignored in
the modern construction due to its deficiency in mechanical property
and the lack of uniform standards for performance evaluation. During
the last few years, the renewed interest in earth brick has been caused
by the developing increase of the energy demand in the construction
sector and the continuing deterioration of environment. Consequently,
a great deal of attention has been given to the experimental char-
acterization of earth brick and the compressive strength and the
thermal properties of earth brick were studied, i.e. thermal con-
ductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat capacity (Mansour,
Jelidi, Cherif, & Jabrallah, 2016; Meukam, Jannot, Noumowe, &
Kofane, 2004). Taylor and Luther (2004) conducted a series of in-situ
measurements to investigate the thermal behaviour of an existing
rammed earth building in Australia during the summer season. The
results indicated that the heat flux, which transmitted through the ex-
terior walls, was comparatively small and the partition walls were able
to absorb much of the heat in the daytime in order to maintain the
indoor temperature. This phenomenon can be explained by the large
thickness of earth walls, which provide a high thermal resistance (R-
value) to prevent heat flow transferred through the earth walls and a
huge thermal capacity to store excess heat (Soudani, Woloszyn, Fabbri,
Morel, & Grillet, 2017). In addition, some studies presented that earth
materials have been found to exhibit a high moisture buffering value
(MBV), thus demonstrating a relevant capability to store and release
water vapour to maintain a stable indoor relative humidity (Hall &
Allinson, 2009; Liuzzi, Hall, Stefanizzi, & Casey, 2013). An ideal indoor
relative humidity is not only beneficial to create a healthy living en-
vironment, but also effective to prevent mold growth and condensation
on the inner surface of exterior walls during winter.
Turpan Prefecture, located in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region, Northwest of China, characteristically has cold winters with
extremely hot summers. As the one of the areas with the worst weather
in the world, Turpan has 100-plus days a year with air temperature
higher than 35 °C. The highest temperature in the all-time record is 49.6
°C in the summer and the surface temperature is usually higher than 70
°C (Ju, 2014). Whereas, the lowest temperature is down to −28.7 °C in
the winter (Ju, 2014). In addition, Turpan has an extremely dry climate

⁎
Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Xi'an University of Technology, Shaanxi 710048, China.
E-mail address: zhanglei0124@xaut.edu.cn (L. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102070
Received 4 June 2019; Received in revised form 28 October 2019; Accepted 22 January 2020
Available online 24 January 2020
2210-6707/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
L. Zhang, et al.
and the average annual rainfall is only 16.4 mm while the annual
evaporation capacity is as high as over 300 mm (Kong et al., 2016). For
a long time, traditional earth buildings with large thickness walls were
used by local residents to create a relatively comfortable spaces under
the impact of climatic conditions. At present, local residents started to
construct their residential buildings with thinner walls using modern
building materials, i.e. concrete and fired bricks, in order to obtain the
larger interior space. A huge difference between indoor thermal en-
vironment of new residential buildings and the developing thermal
comfort requirement of local residents results in a great increase of
energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for heating and
cooling, as the basic technologies of thermal design were not considered
during the construction of the new residential building.
In this study, a series of experimental tests are conducted to de-
termine the hygrothermal properties of earth bricks, i.e. thermal con-
ductivity, specific heat capacity, equilibrium moisture content and
water vapour permeability. Furthermore, the simulation investigations
on both indoor climate and energy consumption in an existing re-
sidential building are performed by using EnergyPlus, developed by the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), under the U.S.
Department of Energy. In the numerical simulations, the experimental
results of the hygrothermal properties of earth bricks are used in order
to evaluate the effect of earth bricks on the indoor thermal environ-
ment. Then, the simulated results are compared with the case of the
studied building constructed by fired bricks with thinner walls, aiming
at to guide the design and construction of residential buildings in
Turpan area for both enhancing living comfort and reducing energy
consumption.
2. Hygrothermal properties of earth bricks
2.1. Materials
The earth materials used in this study were collected from Turpan of
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The grading curve and the particle
size of the earth material were determined by grain size analysis, ac-
cording to GB/T 50123-1999 (Standardization Administration of the
People’s Republic of China GB/T 50123-1999, 1999). The test results
are presented in Fig. 1. The Atterberg limits of the earth material were
characterized by the Liquid-plastic Tester according to JTJ 051-93
(Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China, 1993). The
Atterberg limits are: Liquid limit (LL = 23.7 %) and plasticity index (PI
= 5.5 %). X-ray diffraction analysis was performed to determine the
mineralogical composition, as shown in Fig. 2. The results show that the
earth material was mainly composed of quartz, calcite, anorthite and
Fig. 1. Grain size distribution of earth material used.
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Sustainable Cities and Society 55 (2020) 102070
Fig. 2. X-ray diffraction of the earth material used.
albite minerals.
2.2. Sample preparation
Prior to the preparation of earth bricks, the earth material was
sieved to remove the oversized particles (larger than 2 mm diameter).
The sieved material was dried in air at 105 °C for 24 h. Water was added
at a content of 13 wt% to oven dried material and mixed for 10 min
until the mixture was uniform by wetness. The mixture was compacted
at different bulk densities by a hydraulic press, and the classification of
bulk density includes 1.5, 1.7, 1.9 and 2.1 g/cm3 and the sample di-
mensions were 50 mm × 50 mm × 25 mm. After compaction, the
samples were stored in the laboratory condition for 14 days to avoid
cracking. The temperature and relative humidity in the laboratory were
set to 20 °C and 60 %RH, respectively.
2.3. Characterization
2.3.1. Thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity
The thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of earth bricks
were measured by using a Hot Disk apparatus (TPS-2500 S) according
to ISO/DIS 22007-2:2015 (The International Organization for
Stantardization, ISO/DIS 22007-2, Plastics – determination of thermal
conductivity and thermal diffusivity – part 2: transient plane source
method, 2015). Prior to testing, the equipment was calibrated with an
expanded polystyrene board in order to ensure the accuracy of the
experimental results and the flatness of samples was checked to make a
good contact between the sensor and the surface of sample tested.
Additionally, each measurement was repeated three times and the
average value was reported.
The specific heat capacity can be calculated from the following
equation (Mansour et al., 2016):
Cp = λ (ρ⋅α ) (1)
Where Cp is the specific heat capacity of earth brick [J/(kg K)], λ is the
thermal conductivity of earth brick [W/(m K)], ρ is the bulk density of
earth brick [g/cm3] and α is the thermal diffusivity of earth brick
[mm2/s].
2.3.2. Adsorption-desorption isotherms
The equilibrium moisture content of earth brick was determined by
testing adsorption-desorption isotherms which comprised of an ad-
sorption branch indicating earth brick adsorbs water vapour from the
surrounding at a series of relative humidity and a desorption branch
presenting earth brick releases water vapour to surrounding. In this
study, adsorption-desorption isotherms of earth brick were
L. Zhang, et al.
Table 1
Water vapour permeability and water vapour resistance factor of the earth
bricks.
Bulk density (g/cm3)
1.5 1.7 1.9
Water vapour permeability (kg/(s m 3.86E-11 3.42E-11 2.92E-11
Pa)
Water vapour resistance factor (-) 5.4 6.0 7.1
characterized by method of saturated salt solutions according to GB/T
20312-2006 (Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic
of China, GB/T 20312-2006, 2006). All samples were previously dried
at 105 °C for 24 h in order to achieve a constant mass. Six relative
humidities used for tests were obtained using saturated salt solutions, as
shown in Table 1. The oven dried samples were stored in the airtight
containers which were contained with different saturated salt solutions
from low to high, respectively. The airtight containers were placed
inside a chamber at 20 °C and 60 %RH. The samples tested were
weighed periodically until the difference of two consecutive results 24 h
apart was less than 0.1 %. When the samples achieved a moisture
equilibrium at 97.3 ± 0.3 %RH condition, the adsorption branch tests
were completed and samples were transferred immediately into the
84.3 ± 0.1 %RH condition to start the desorption branch measure-
ments. The desorption branch tests were finished when the samples
tested reached a moisture equilibrium at 32.8 ± 0.2 %RH condition.
2.3.3. Water vapour permeability
In this study, water vapour permeability was measured by using the
wet cup method according to GB/T 17146-2015 (Standardization
Administration of the People’s Republic of China, GB/T 17146-2015,
2016). Prior to measurement, all samples were oven dried at 105 °C for
24 h to reach a constant mass. The dried sample was sealed by alumi-
nium tape to the top of a cup containing a saturated salt solution of
potassium nitrate to obtain a relative humidity of 94 % condition. The
tested cup was then placed in a chamber at 23 °C and 50 %RH. Under
the impact of the partial vapour pressure gradient between the interior
space of the cup and the chamber, a flow of water vapour through the
sample matrix caused the variation of the cup mass. The assembly was
weighed periodically, and then the mass of absorbed water vapour
(Δmw) increased linearly against the elapsed time (t) and the slope
Δmw/t was used to characterize the water vapour flow (G) in kg/s. The
density of water vapour flow rate (g), water wapour permeability (δ)
and the water vapour resistance factor (μ) were calculated from the
following four equations (Standardization Administration of the
People’s Republic of China, GB/T 17146-2015, 2016):
g=G A
W = G (A⋅ps ⋅(RH1 − RH2))
δ=W×d
μ = δa δ
2
Where A is the exposed area of sample tested [m ], W is water vapour
permeance of sample [kg/(s m2 Pa)], ps is the saturated vapour pressure
at 23 °C [Pa], RH1 is the relative humidity inside the cup [%RH], RH2 is
the relative humidity in the chamber [%RH], d is the thickness of
sample [m] and δa is the water vapour permeability of air [kg/(s m
Pa)].
2.4. Results of hygrothermal properties of earth bricks
2.4.1. Thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity
As one of the crucial parameters of building materials, thermal
conductivity is used to evaluate the thermal insulation: the lower
Sustainable Cities and Society 55 (2020) 102070
2.1
2.38E-11
8.7
Fig. 3. Thermal conductivity vs. bulk density of earth brick.
thermal conductivity, the lower heat transfer through the building en-
velope. Fig. 3 presents that there is a linear correlation between thermal
conductivity and bulk density of earth brick. In detail, the mean values
of the thermal conductivity are reported with the uncertainty calculated
as the standard deviation of the mean. As shown in Fig. 3, the mean
values of the thermal conductivity increase from 0.5228 to 0.9308 W/
(m K) with bulk density increases. In general, the porosity of sample
reduces and the solid content increases with increasing bulk density.
This phenomenon means that the earth brick with lower bulk density
has more void spaces which were filled with air at dry state and the
thermal conductivity of air (about 0.026 W/(m K)) is considerably
lower than solid phase. Therefore, the earth brick with lower bulk
density possesses lower thermal conductivity than materials with
higher bulk density.
Fig. 4 shows the variation of specific heat capacity of earth bricks
with increasing bulk density. In this study, the calculated values of
specific heat capacity are close to each other and range from 729 to 835
J/(Kg K), which are quite similar to those found by Laurent (1987). As
shown in Fig. 4, there is no significant correlation between specific heat
capacity and bulk density. The similar result can be checked in the
previous studies of Cagnon, Aubert, Coutand, and Magniont (2014) and
Fgaier, Lafhaj, Antczak, and Chapiseau (2016). The French thermal
regulation provides reference values of specific heat capacity for sand
(910−1180 J/(Kg K)) and clay (1670−2500 J/(Kg K)) (Règles, 2012).
The slight difference in specific heat capacity of earth bricks mainly
depends on the variance in the clay-sand ratio of mass of earth material,
rather than bulk density in this study.
2.4.2. Equilibrium moisture content
Fig. 5 indicates the evolution of equilibrium moisture content of
(2) earth bricks with different bulk densities with increasing relative hu-
midity. The evolution with time demonstrates that the earth bricks with
(3)
(4)
(5)
Fig. 4. Variation of specific heat capacity with increasing bulk density.
3
L. Zhang, et al.
Fig. 5. Evolution of equilibrium moisture content with increasing relative hu-
midity.
different bulk densities usually reach a hygroscopic balance in four
days, which means the response of earth bricks to a relative humidity
change is rather fast. It can be seen from the evolution of equilibrium
moisture content presented in Fig. 5, the equilibrium moisture content
of earth brick increases with increasing relative humidity. This phe-
nomenon indicates that the earth bricks with different bulk densities
can absorb water vapour from surrounding with increasing relative
humidity to regulate the indoor relative humidity.
The effect of bulk density on the equilibrium moisture content can
be analyzed by comparing the measured results of earth bricks with
different bulk densities. As shown in Fig. 5, it is interesting to observe
that there are some small variations between the earth bricks with
different bulk densities, especially in the region of high relative hu-
midity (97.3 %RH). Further, it can be seen from the measured results at
high relative humidity that the equilibrium moisture content reduces
firstly with increasing bulk density (from 1.5 g/cm3 to 1.9 g/cm3) and
then increases as the bulk density increases from 1.9 g/cm3 to 2.1 g/
cm3.
2.4.3. Water vapour permeability and water vapour resistance factor
Table 1 presents the water vapour permeability and water vapour
resistance factor of the earth bricks with different bulk densities. As
shown in Table 1, the water vapour permeability of samples reduces
with increasing bulk density, and then the water vapour resistance
factor increases gradually. This phenomenon is potentially due to the
developing compactness of sample matrix with increasing bulk density,
which can reduce the pore accessibility inside the earth brick. There-
fore, higher porosity (lower compactness of matrix) results in the in-
creasing water vapour permeability and the reducing water vapour
resistance factor. This trend is somewhat predictable, and the new data
presented in this study can be used in the following hygrothermal
performance analysis of the residential building. Additionally, it is
possible to compare the values in this study with the reference values of
the common building materials given in the 2012 French Thermal
Regulations (Règles, 2012). The comparison results shows that the
earth bricks exhibit lower water vapour resistance factor and are much
more permeable than concrete and fired brick.
3. Numerical simulation for an existing residential building
3.1. The main data of the studied building
An existing residential building, which was used as a case study, is
located in Turpan area, North-West China (see Fig. 6). The region suf-
fers from the continental desert climate in warm temperate zone. In the
studied building, four representative rooms were selected for the
thermal environmental measurements in order to test the reliability of
the simulation model. Table 2 summarises the main data of the
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Sustainable Cities and Society 55 (2020) 102070
Fig. 6. East façade of an existing residential building.
Table 2
The details of the studied rooms in the existing residential building.
No. Location Purpose Window Air condition Heater
Room 1 Ground floor Living room yes no yes
Room 2 Semi-underground Bedroom no no no
Room 3 First floor Bedroom yes no yes
monitored/simulated rooms, while Fig. 7 illustrate the location of the
rooms as well as the location of the single glazed windows with wooden
frame.
The earth brick at a bulk density of 2.1 g/cm3 was used in the nu-
merical simulation of hygrothermal performance for the earth brick
building and the physical data of the earth brick used for simulation
were shown in Table 3. In addition, the nominal values of the fired
brick’s properties provided by the manufactures were insufficient to
undertake the hygrothermal performance simulation of the fired brick
building for comparison with the earth brick building.
3.2. The measured device and weather data
TECPEL® thermo recorder (TR-72U) sensors were used to measure
and record the air temperature and relative humidity inside and outside
the rooms at 30 min intervals for the period 1 st of August to 4th of
August 2016. The sensors, which have a stated accuracy of ± 0.5 °C
and ± 5 %RH, were positioned at the centre of every measured room.
The external climate, which generated from the outdoor air tempera-
ture and relative humidity measurement, was used to simulate thermal
properties of the studied rooms for comparison with the measured re-
sults as the boundary conditions. Before the measurements, the sensors
were calibrated in the laboratory in order to ensure the accuracy of the
measured results.
The weather data, which were converted into an EnergyPlus
weather file format in order to conduct the numerical simulations of the
hygrothermal performance of the existing residential building, were
typical year data from meteorological data compiled by both China
Meteorological Administration and University of Tsinghua (China
Meteorological Administration, Tsinghua University, 2005). The used
data included air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind
speed, wind direction and air pressure, and these data were calculated
from the measured data observed by national weather station during
the last 30 years.
L. Zhang, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 55 (2020) 102070

Fig. 7. Dimensions (in mm) of the studied rooms and the simulation model of the existing residential building.

Table 3 initial indoor temperature and relative humidity of the simulated rooms
Physical data used for numerical simulation by EnergyPlus. were defined as 20 °C and 55 %RH, respectively. The simulation model
Property Units Earth brick Fired brick was run from 1 a.m. on 1 st of August to 0 a.m. on 4th of August in 1 h
time steps, in order to validate the model against the monitored data of
Bulk density kg/m3 2100 2000 the studied rooms.
Thermal conductivity W/(m K) 0.9308 0.9080 The simulated results of indoor air temperature and relative hu-
Specific heat capacity J/(kg K) 729 836
Water vapour permeability Kg/(s m Pa) 2.38E-11 –
midity are presented with the standard error and compared well with
Water vapour resistance factor – 8.7 23.0 measured results, as shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the black spots
represent the measured results of air temperature and the black dotted
lines represent the simulated results which are generated from simu-
3.3. The simulation model of the existing residential building lation of studied rooms with the measured outdoor temperature. In
addition, the gray spots represent the measured results of relative hu-
A schematic configuration indicating the geometry of the studied midity in different studied rooms and the gray dotted lines represent the
rooms was provided in Fig. 7. The exterior walls were consisted of earth simulated results of relative humidity.
bricks with 400 mm thickness with a 15 mm thick external cement-lime As shown in Fig. 8, the simulated results of air temperature and
mortar, while the partition walls constructed with earth bricks were relative humidity in studied rooms are consistent with the corre-
240 mm thickness without coating. The boundary conditions of the sponding measured results. The minor discrepancies between measured
studied room were generated from air temperature and relative hu- and simulated results may be explained by residents' activity which
midity measurements in the adjoining room, and the external climate were not considered in the simulation during the in-situ measurements,
data were generated from the outdoor climate measurements. The i.e. changes of ventilation quantity caused by opening of the windows,
studied rooms were leaky as the infiltration rate of windows, which variations of residents' number and differences of indoor heat gain
consisted of single glazing with wooden frame, was estimated to be 0.5 caused by cooking. Therefore, the simulation model of the existing re-
air changes per hour. The studied building was in an unsheltered po- sidential building is deemed to be suitable and acceptable, and may
sition and the windows were regularly opened to aid natural ventilation thus be used for further predictive analyses.
in the nighttime during summer (the windows were closed during
daylight, almost from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., where ventilation rate was 0.5
air change per hour, and opened during night, almost from 10 p.m. to
next 7 a.m., where ventilation rate was 2.5 air change per hour). The

5
L. Zhang, et al.
Fig. 8. Comparison of air temperature and relative humidity between measured
results and simulated results.
3.4. Comparison of indoor hygrothermal environment between earth brick
building and fired brick building
3.4.1. Analysis of indoor hygrothermal environment in winter
The hygrothermal environment of the most representative rooms,
i.e. Room 1 was defined as living room and Room 3 was used as bed-
room, was simulated by using the verified model under weather con-
dition of typical year data. The numerical simulations of hygrothermal
environment inside the studied rooms with earth brick walls at thick-
ness of 400 mm (exterior walls) and 240 mm (partition walls) were
performed in the coldest month, in order to compare with the case of
the studied rooms with fired walls at thickness of 300 mm (exterior
walls) and 200 mm (partition walls). The diagrams in Figs. 9 and 10
indicate the simulated results of both air temperature and relative hu-
midity inside both Room 1 (living room) and Room 3 (bedroom) in the
coldest week, respectively. An obvious difference in relative humidity
has been found to exist between earth brick and fired brick, i.e. the
relative humidity values inside the earth brick room are significantly
higher than the fired brick room as well as the amplitude of relative
humidity inside the earth brick room is greater. The relative humidity
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Sustainable Cities and Society 55 (2020) 102070
Fig. 9. The hygrothermal environment of Room 1 (living room) in the coldest
week.
Fig. 10. The hygrothermal environment of Room 3 (bedroom) in the coldest
week.
maxima in the fired brick room are above 50 RH% while the relative
humidity maxima in the earth brick room are lower than 40 RH%, and
the amplitude of relative humidity in the fired brick room is close to 20
RH% which is nearly 1.5 times more than the earth brick room. This
phenomenon may be explained by adsorption/desorption properties of
the earth brick as several studies (Ashour, Korjenic, & Korjenic, 2015;
Cagnon et al., 2014; Liuzzi et al., 2013; McGregor, Heath, Shea, &
Lawrence, 2014) presented that earth materials possess moisture ca-
pacity to maintain a stable indoor relative humidity by absorbing water
vapour from the surroundings when the relative humidity increases and
releasing water vapour when the relative humidity decreases. During
the simulation process of this study, the windows and doors of the
living room were defined as always closed in winter, where it was found
that the indoor relative humidity significantly increased when the oc-
cupants were boiling water and cooking food in the studied rooms.
Compared with the fired brick room, the earth brick walls have the
moisture capacity to absorb and store water vapour from high relative
humidity surroundings in order to reduce the extreme values (ampli-
tudes) of relative humidity and to further release water vapour to
surroundings when indoor relative humidity reduces (Yan, Liu, &
Wang, 2003). In addition, water vapour resistance factor of the earth
brick is significantly lower than the fired brick as shown in Table 3,
results in water vapour enter the exterior walls constructed with the
earth bricks through interior layer faster and then relative humidity
values inside the earth brick room effectively decrease.
Air temperature values of Room 1 demonstrate an opposite trend
with relative humidity, as the relative humidity reduces with increasing
air temperature. This phenomenon can be explained by the relationship
between air temperature and saturation level: That is, the air saturation
level rises with increasing air temperature, thus air can hold more
amount of water vapour and hence less relative humidity. In addition, it
L. Zhang, et al.
can be clearly shown in Fig. 9 that the air temperature values in the
studied rooms significantly increase from 07:00 a.m. due to occupants
add firewood into stove to cook breakfast in the morning, and reduce
from 19:00 p.m. due to decreasing outdoor temperature as well as the
stove is extinguished after dinner and occupants go to bedroom for
sleep. Two convex points corresponding to 15:00 and 19:00 p.m. show
that the stove was added firework for cooking which also cause the
instant increase in the relative humidity. The air temperature results in
Fig. 9 indicate that the obvious differences of the air temperature exist
between earth brick and fired brick, i.e. the air temperature maximum
of the earth brick room is usually about 2 °C higher than the fired brick
room, and further the amplitude of air temperature inside the earth
brick room is less than the fired brick room. This phenomenon may be
caused by the differences in thermal resistance of the exterior wall with
different materials. Earth brick has a comparable thermal conductivity
value with fired brick, however the thickness of earth brick wall is
higher than fired brick wall. It means that the amount of heat transfer
through the fired brick wall, compared with the earth brick wall, is
higher.
As shown in Fig. 10, air temperature values in Room 3 significantly
increase at 20:00 p.m. and reach the maximum at 22:00 p.m. as occu-
pants usually use the existing stove in bedroom for heating after dinner
in order to create a comfortable environment for sleep. Then, air tem-
perature values in Room 3 dramatically reduce at 7:00 a.m. because
occupants extinguish the existing stove when they get up. In details, air
temperature values of the earth brick room decrease at a slower rate
than the fired brick room and air temperature values of the earth brick
room during daylight (from 8:00 a.m. to 18:00 p.m.) are about 2 °C
higher compared with the fired brick room. This phenomenon can be
also explained by the difference of heat transfer through exterior walls
which are caused by thermal resistance factor variation of exterior walls
with different building materials. In addition, the fired brick room has
higher relative humidity levels and greater fluctuations than the earth
brick room as earth bricks have larger moisture capacity. However, the
relative humidity values in Room 3 are much lower than in Room 1. For
example, the relative humidity maximum of Room 3 with earth bricks
on 14th of January is 28.30 RH% which is 12 RH% lower than com-
pared with Room 1 with earth bricks, due to that the occupants usually
do not cook and boil water in the bedroom.
Thermal sensation for occupants for a certain thermal environment
depends on occupant activities (metabolic rate and clothing insulation)
and ambient thermal conditions (air temperature, radiant temperature,
air speed and relative humidity) (ASHRAE Standard 55, 2013). How-
ever, occupants living in different climatic regions have different
thermal sensations for the same thermal conditions due to the effect of
physiological adaptation and psychological expectation on subjective
feeling (Humphreys, 1978). Zhang, Cao, Wang, Zhu, and Liu (2017)
found that Chinese have a stronger tolerance for the non-neutral
thermal conditions and a wider range of adaptive thermal environments
than people living in Europe and North America. An air temperature
range between 8 and 12 °C in winter is acceptable for occupants living
in Turpan while high relative humidity could aggravate a cold feeling
for occupants.
3.4.2. Analysis of indoor hygrothermal environment in summer
Fig. 11 presents the indoor air temperature and relative humidity of
Room 1 (living room), which was defined as closed in the daytime for
preventing heat gain and as ventilated with 2 air changes per hour from
00:00 am to 07:00 a.m. for natural cooling in the hottest week. It can be
seen in Fig. 11 that the air temperatures in the fired brick room are
always above 30 °C and the indoor temperature results of the earth
brick room are remained above 30 °C in most of the hottest week. An
interesting trend in air temperature in both the earth brick room and
the fired brick room can be found in Fig. 11. The air temperature
usually increases from 13:00 p.m. and reaches the maximum at 19:00
p.m., and then decreases from 20:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m. next day.
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Sustainable Cities and Society 55 (2020) 102070
Fig. 11. The hygrothermal environment of Room 1 (living room) in the hottest
week.
This phenomenon can be explained by thermal inertia which is usually
expressed by both peak decrement and time lag: The exterior walls,
especially constructed with earth bricks, provide a thermal capacity to
absorb and store massive heat when the outdoor temperature sig-
nificantly increases, leading to both the decrement and time lag of in-
door temperature maximum per day. When the air temperature of the
surrounding reduces, the heat stored in the exterior walls is released by
both radiation and convection in order to maintain indoor temperature
at a stable level. The air temperature profiles in Fig. 11 show that the
maximum air temperature of the earth brick room in the hottest week is
34.13 °C which is significantly lower than the maximum of the fired
brick room, and then the magnitude of the fluctuations in air tem-
perature of the earth brick room is smaller than the fired brick room, as
the earth brick wall in a larger thickness has a higher thermal capacity
when the earth brick has a comparable specific heat capacity to the
fired brick.
In addition, the maximum relative humidity in the fired brick room
reached 39.3 RH% which appeared at 19:00 p.m. on 20th of July and
the largest fluctuations in relative humidity per day was 7.8 RH%;
whereas the maximum relative humidity in the earth brick room was
35.5 RH% and the largest fluctuations in relative humidity per day was
4.9 RH%. This phenomenon may also be explained by the moisture
capacity of the earth brick walls, and the earth brick room has a pre-
ferable relative humidity condition as a high relative humidity could
aggravate a stuffy sensation to occupants at a high air temperature. Toe
and Kubota (2013) developed an adaptive thermal comfort equation for
naturally ventilated buildings and the results showed that the indoor
relative humidity significantly influenced the acceptable comfort
ranges for a hot arid climate. Further the neutral operative tempera-
tures predicted by the adaptive equation for a low relative humidity
was about 0.6–1.7 °C higher than for a high relative humidity in a hot
arid climate.
The simulation results of both air temperature and relative humidity
in Room 3 (bedroom) are illustrated in Fig. 12. Compared with Room 1
(living room), similar air temperature and relative humidity conditions
exist in Room 3 as the two studied rooms have the same system
structure and strategy except position and dimensions of the rooms.
However, the relative humidity values in Room 3 are lower and the air
temperatures in Room 3 are much higher than in Room 1. These results
may be explained by the positions of the studied room: Room 1 is lo-
cated on the ground which can be consider as a natural cold source in
summer as the ground has a huge thermal mass to maintain the surface
temperature at a relative constant level throughout the year; whereas
Room 3 is located above the semi-basement which can be seen as a
thermal insulation used to obstruct heat transfer with the ground, thus
leading to a maximum air temperature of Room 3 built with earth
bricks and with fired bricks, in the hottest week, of 36.7 °C and 40.7 °C,
respectively.
L. Zhang, et al.
Fig. 12. The hygrothermal environment of Room 3 (bedroom) in the hottest
week.
Fig. 13. Comparison of energy consumption for heating in the studied rooms.
3.5. Energy consumption for heating in studied building
In this study, the energy consumption results for heating in the
studied building constructed with different building materials are si-
mulated by using the verified EnergyPlus model in order to compare
each other to evaluate the effect of earth brick walls on the energy
consumption for heating in winter. According to the survey about local
family composition, parents and 2 children are assumed to live in the
studied building and the occupants would stay at living room between
08:00 and 21:00 every day and return bedroom after 21:00. In order to
compare the energy demand for heating of the studied building with
between earth brick and fired brick, the electrical loads of domestic
appliances, such as cookers, lamps, television, computer, etc. are ne-
glected in this simulation. Air conditions are considered in this simu-
lation as the heater to improve indoor air temperature in the studied
building.
Fig. 13 presents the energy consumption for heating in the studied
rooms and the total energy demand during the heating period. As
shown in Fig. 13, the heating energy demand of Room 1 and Room 3
constructed with earth bricks is always lower than fired bricks, re-
spectively. Especially in January (the coldest month), the heating en-
ergy consumption results of Room 1 and Room 3 constructed with earth
bricks are 2829 and 2144 kW h, which are equal to 86.57 % and 81.65
% of the energy consumption results of Room 1 and Room 3 constructed
with fired bricks, respectively. In addition, the total heating energy
demand results as shown in Fig. 13 indicate that the total heating en-
ergy consumption of earth brick building is 16,789 kW h, which is
significantly lower than the simulated results of fired brick building,
21,222 kW h.
8
Sustainable Cities and Society 55 (2020) 102070
4. Conclusion
The aim of this study was to characterize the hygrothermal prop-
erties of earth brick by experimental works and then evaluate the effect
of earth bricks on the indoor climatic environment and the heating
energy consumption by simulation researches. The hygrothermal
properties of earth brick, i.e. thermal conductivity, equilibrium
moisture content and water vapour permeability, were determined to
be intimately relative with bulk density. Compared with the common
building materials, the earth brick had lower thermal conductivity,
comparable specific heat capacity, higher equilibrium moisture content
and higher water vapour permeability, which means that the earth
brick possesses thermal capacity and moisture capacity to maintain a
stable indoor hygrothermal environment.
The experimental results of hygrothermal properties of earth brick
were used in the simulations of indoor environment of Room 1 (living
room) and Room 3 (bedroom) in order to analyze the effect of earth
brick on the indoor climate. The simulation results demonstrated that
the earth brick walls significantly reduced the maximum and amplitude
of relative humidity during the coldest and hottest week, compared
with a fired brick room, as earth brick walls had a huge moisture sto-
rage capacity to absorb/store water vapour from the indoor environ-
ment when the relative humidity of the surroundings increases and to
release water vapour when the indoor relative humidity significantly
got reduced. In addition, the simulation results of air temperature in-
dicated that the earth brick room provided a preferable indoor climate
as compared to the fired brick room in the coldest and hottest week as a
lower air temperature maximum and smaller fluctuations of air tem-
perature in the earth brick room are beneficial to reduce the discomfort
for the occupants. For the earth brick room, the occupants expressed a
better thermal senation or comfort in the coldest and hottest week than
compared with the fired brick room due to high relative humidity
which could aggravate the damp and cold feeling in winter and stuffi-
ness in summer.
Furthermore, the heating energy consumptions in the studied rooms
were simulated and the results presented that the heating energy con-
sumption of Room 1 and Room 3 constructed with earth bricks is lower
than fired bricks, respectively. In addition, the total heating energy
consumption of earth brick building is significantly lower than the si-
mulated results of fired brick building. The residential building in a
desert climate would be constructed with earth brick walls in order to
create a relatively comfortable indoor environment without air condi-
tions or reduce the heating energy consumption during the heating
period.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this article.
Acknowledgements
This study is supported by the Open Project of State Key Laboratory
of Green Building in Western China (Project No. LSKF201912) and the
National Nature Science Foundation of China (Project No. 51678482).
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