Analysis of a vegetation wall influence on the building envelope thermal conductivity

Abstract

The goal of this research is to show potentials of vegetation walls in order to decrease temperature of façade surfaces of buildings during summer. Decreasing these temperatures directly affects coefficient of thermal conductivity of façade elements. The use of vegetation walls in architecture has opened up new possibilities for reducing energy needed for cooling during summer months when the experiment was performed. The research shows the design of a concrete prefabricated, modular model of a vegetation wall which contains plants and its impact on the temperature balance in the building envelope. It is noticeable that vegetative walls covered by plants play an important role in the harmonization of the parameters of the microclimate in relation to the local environment. Methodology presented in this paper was based on analysis of climate characteristics, experimental measurements of the test model and comparative analysis with the reference wall. During the experiment, the data about external climate parameters and the coefficient of heat transfer through the wall were continuously measured. Also, in order to examine the effect of plant species on the temperature parameters of the green wall, temperature of the wall with different plant species was measured. Data analysis enabled the assessment of the efficiency of thermal insulation of the vegetation wall in the summer period. The distribution of temperature values seen on thermograms of the experimental model showed a fall in temperature in regard to the reference wall, which leads to a decrease in the total energy required for cooling inside the building. Methodology presented in this paper allows quantitative analysis of the effects of vertical greenery.