Thermal behavior improvement of building materials using expanded polystyrene

Abstract

Expanded polystyrene is gaining consensus within the scientific and technical communities as a viable and beneficial insulating material. In this context, the present work aims to evaluate numerically the efficiency of incorporating EPS in construction materials in two different methods. A heat transfer analysis using COMSOL multiphysics software was conducted to simulate the variation of the inner temperature of a hollow brick insulated by EPS, either by its incorporation in the facade coating mortar or its cavities. The results showed that coating the brick with reinforced mortar or filling its pores with EPS could improve the overall thermal performance. Therefore, the incorporation of EPS on building walls seems to be an adequate solution.