Abstract:The UK is currently suffering great overheating issues in summer, especially in residential buildings where no air-conditioning has been installed. This overheating will seriously affect people's comfort and even health, especially for elderly people. Phase change materials (PCMs) have been considered as a useful passive method, which absorb excessive heat when the room is hot and release the stored heat when the room is cool. This research has adopted a simulation method in DesignBuilder to evaluate the effectiveness of using PCMs to reduce the overheating issues in UK residential applications and has analyzed potential factors that will influence the effectiveness of overheating. The factors include environment-related (location of the building, global warming/climate change) and construction-related (location of the PCM, insulation, heavyweight/lightweight construction). This research provides useful evidence about using PCMs in UK residential applications and the results are helpful for architects and engineers to decide when and where to use PCMs in buildings to maintain a low carbon lifestyle.

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This paper examines the thermal performance of 20 different mortar mixes, which were prepared in order to study the behaviour of mortar incorporating Phase Change Materials (PCM). The PCM was used at a rate of 10, 20 and 30% by weight of total solid materials. Silica fume was added to the mixes by 10, 20, 30 and 50% by weight of cement to enhance the mortar properties. Mortars which incorporate phase-change materials (PCM) have the capability to help regulate the temperature inside buildings, contributing to the thermal comfort while decreasing the amount of mechanical heating and cooling energy required, therefore they have the potential to reduce building carbon emissions. The mechanical characteristics and physical properties of the mortar with PCM were studied. The results show that mortar with Phase Change Materials up to PCM20% can be used with an optimal compressive strength. Silica fume (SF), up to a 20% SF addition, enhanced the mechanical properties of the mortar.

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