Thermal characterization of materials used in rural housing constructions in Ayacucho, Peru

Abstract

Abstract The thermal conductivity of construction materials used in rural areas of Ayacucho has been measured. For this purpose, a thermal conductivity meter for material sample plates of a size of 12 cm x 12 cm has been designed and built, based on “ASTM C177 - Standard Test Method for Steady-State Heat Flux”. The effect of the thickness of the samples and of the heating power of the central plate on the measurement results was evaluated, resulting that best results were obtained with samples less than 2 cm thick and heating powers of less than 3 W. The thermal conductivities obtained vary between 0.148± 0.005 W.m-1.K-1 for “tornillo” wood, and 0.663 ± 0.010 W.m-1.K-1 for red clay from Quinua.