Numerical assessment of brick walls` use incorporating a phase change material towards thermal performance in buildings during a passive cooling strategy

The integration of new building materials incorporating phase change material (PCM) into the building envelope leads to an increase of the heat storage capacity, which may have an influence on minimizing the cooling demand and heating of the building. This work addresses a thermal performance enhancement of brick walls with incorporated PCM. The improvement has been assessed through a numerical approach in dealing with a 1-D transient conduction problem with phase change, while leaning on experimental results from a transient guarded hot plates method. The simulations have been fulfilled using a hybrid method combining both the finite volume method and an enthalpy porosity technique. The results of this combined approach are in good agreement. In the light of the findings obtained, it appears that PCM incorporation into a brick masonry can both reduce peak temperatures up to 3?C and smooth out daily fluctuations. Thereby, the evaluation achieved can turns out useful in developing brick walls with an incorporated PCM for passive cooling, thus improving buildings thermal performance.