Experimental and simulation study on thermal effects and energy efficiency of a green wall in the humid condition of Rasht

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Young Researchers and Elite Club, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

2 Department of Architectural Engineering, Rahbord Shomal University, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

The green wall systems have numerous benefits for buildings and urban spaces. In this study, the experimental analysis was conducted on an office building with a green wall in winter and summer times to assess the thermal effect in comparison with the bare wall through temperature and humidity data logger devices. The existing office building, which had a suitable condition, was used for evaluation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the thermal effect on the green wall. Moreover, the annual simulation was carried out to assessing energy efficiency on the green and bare walls using DesignBuilder V. 4.5 with actual office building specifications, in Rasht. The results showed that the heat transfer on the green and bare walls were measured at about 259.2 w/m2 and 241.92 w/m2, respectively, and in the summertime, about 66.5 w/m2 and 48.4 w/m2, respectively. Based on the simulation results, the green wall could reduce the heat transfer between the interior and exterior walls by about 7% and for winter, and about 27% for summertime. Further, it was observed that the green wall had about 42% have been more effective in reducing heat loss in the summertime. Eventually, the simulation indicated that the green wall has a uniform amount of consumption, which is estimated at a bare wall, and the green wall was 343 and 67 kWh per annum respectively and could have a better effective performance by about 80% on the energy efficiency in the humid climate.

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