Thermal Performance of Precast Panel Buildings

Abstract

Energy consumption by buildings plays a major role in the sustainable and economic development of a country. In Sri Lanka, the electricity supply is not adequate to meet the rising demand. Therefore, the cost of electricity can be expected to increase in the future, resulting in a corresponding increase in the operating cost of dwellings. Several energy-efficient building materials with low thermal conductivities have been developed to increase the thermal comfort of buildings and reduce operational costs. Precast sandwich panels were assumed to be one of them. This paper presents a comparative study among precast panels, bricks, and hollow concrete blocks to evaluate the merits of precast sandwich panels and methods to increase their thermal performance. A selected housing unit was modeled and analyzed for thermal performance using DEROB-LTH for different wall materials. From the obtained results, it shows the window area is a crucial factor and for a low window area, the most thermally favorable material is precast panels. Then the model was altered to investigate the passive techniques that can apply to the house for better thermal comfort. It was recommended to use window shadings with sufficient length and to increase window opening percentage.