The thermal conductivity of the masonry of handmade brick Cultural Heritage with respect to density and humidity

Abstract

It is very common that the energy refurbishment of buildings of Cultural Heritage is undertaken without considering that their materials and the methods of construction are different from those of modern buildings. Therefore, when seeking the most efficient and effective solutions from an energy point of view, the first step is to understand the thermal characteristics of the materials with which these buildings were constructed. Likewise, as part of this heritage, the fact that many such buildings were constructed using uncoated bricks and with rich voluminous ornamentation or murals must be taken into consideration. This prevents the use of normal construction solutions which consist of attaching a layer of insulating material to the interior or exterior. In addition, the rich surface ornamentation of the walls is not conducive to carrying out tests in situ, so other procedures are needed to determine the thermal behaviour of the facade and thus be able to determine the most appropriate processes for their conservation. To this end, various heat flow tests have been carried out on brick masonry specimens that have characteristics similar to those of the walls of such buildings. This allows an abacus of the approximate thermal conductivity of such brick masonry to be produced with respect to the density of the brick and the moisture content of the wall. The values ​​of this abacus will serve as a reference to guide the energy refurbishment work to be performed on these buildings.