Assessment of thermal and energy performance of masonry blocks prepared with date palm ash
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(2020) 9:17
ORIGINAL PAPER
Assessment of thermal and energy performance of masonry blocks prepared with date palm ash Noman Ashraf1 · Muhammad Nasir2 · Walid Al‑Kutti2 · Faris A. Al‑Maziad1 Received: 11 November 2019 / Accepted: 22 July 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This article evaluates the thermal and energy performance of mortar blocks containing local agricultural waste. The mortar blocks were cast by the replacement of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with varying amounts of date palm ash (DPA) in the range of 10–30%. Experiments and simulations were carried out to assess the thermal characteristics and energy performance of the specimens. A prototype office building was modeled and simulated in DesignBuilder (Version 6.1.06) with modified blocks prepared with DPA under the Arabian Gulf environment characterized by hot and humid climatic conditions of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The developed blocks are characterized as lightweight blocks based on density data which satisfy the requirement of ASTM C55-11. The analysis and simulation indicate that the incorporation of DPA improves the thermal resistance of up to 47%, enhances the indoor environment and yields annual energy consumption of up to 7.6%, consequently reduces the cost of masonry block production by ~ 11% without compromising the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. The masonry blocks prepared with DPA found to be economical than conventional masonry blocks. It is postulated that the novel DPA-based developed blocks are significantly sustainable products which will contribute to the valorization of DPA waste along with the reduction in the cost of construction and operational cost of the building. Keywords Date palm ash · Thermal characteristics · Energy simulation · DesignBuilder · Blocks
Introduction The world energy consumption and associated C O2 emission are increasing at an unprecedented rate due to population growth and globalization effects. The contribution from the building’s structure to global energy consumption has gradually increased which accounts for almost 1/3rd of the greenhouse gas emissions [1]. This is because buildings represent a significant percentage of the world’s energy consumption and associated CO2 emissions [2]. For instance, in the US. and Europe, the energy consumption due to the building sector represents 39–40% while 36–38% is due to CO2 emissions [3]. In the case of the Kingdom of Saudi * Noman Ashraf [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Department of Building Engineering, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31451, Saudi Arabia
Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, College of Engineering, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31451, Saudi Arabia
2
Arabia (KSA), the energy consumption due to the buildings is about 70% of the total electrical energy consumption of the country [4–6]. Due to urbanization and population rise, the demand in infrastructure is rising, which leads to the higher consumption of building ma
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