NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE THERMAL BEHAVIOR OF A WALL MADE OF HOLLOW CEMENT BLOCKS CONTAINING GLASS POWDER

Abstract

Improving the energy performance of buildings is a major challenge in the field of sustainable construction. In this perspective, the use of recycled materials, particularly glass powder from waste, represents a promising solution to reduce the environmental impact while improving their thermal properties. This study focuses on the numerical analysis of the thermal behavior of a wall made of hollow cement blocks incorporating glass powder. The objective is to numerically study the influence of incorporating glass powder into hollow cement blocks on the thermal behavior of a wall. In this study, the governing equations were solved using the finite element method, implemented in the COMSOL Multiphysics software (version 5.3). To this end, we focused on the analysis of the temporal evolution of the heat flux and the temperature distribution within the wall. The influence of the position of a mortar layer on the thermal behavior of the wall was also examined. Finally, a comparative study with other local construction materials (BTC, BLT, and adobe) made it possible to evaluate the thermal performance of the proposed material. Numerical simulations reveal that temperature peaks gradually decrease with the increase in the percentage of glass powder incorporated into the hollow cement blocks. These results highlight the beneficial effect of glass powder on the thermal behavior of walls. Its incorporation thus appears as an ecological solution, by promoting the recovery of glass waste, and a technical one, by improving the thermal performance of building envelopes.