Thermal performance of clay-straw wall incorporating phase change materials in Errachidia city (South Eastern Morocco): A simulation approach

The objective of this new study is to integrate a Phase Change Material (PCM) in a clay-straw wall to reduce the energy consumption of buildings in Saharan regions (Presented by the city of Errachidia in Morocco). The underlying idea is to fully exploit the storage capacity of walls built with clay and straw. In addition, to increase the thermal energy stored in the building envelope, a PCM has been integrated into the walls. To appreciate the importance of integrating a PCM in clay-straw walls instead of cement walls, a comparative study is carried out. This study investigates numerically the thermal performance of clay-straw walls integrating phase change materials (PCM) located in Errachidia city (Morocco). In winter, the results obtained show that the clay-straw wall integrated PCM24 is a good choice for this region in terms of thermal performance. The integration of PCM24 in clay-straw walls increases the interior heat flux density by 33.33%. Contrary, incorporating PCM24 into cement walls reduces the heat flux density by 36.36%. By using the clay-straw construction integrating PCM24 instead of the cement construction, the interior heat flux density is reduced by 72.72%. In summer, in terms of peak heat flux reduction, PCM32 is effective in Errachidia city. The integration of PCM32 in clay-straw walls reduces the interior heat flux density by 13.04% and by 23.68% in cement walls. By using the clay-straw construction incorporating PCM32 instead of the cement construction, the interior heat flux density is reduced by 73.68%.