Impacts of installation methods on the thermal performance of lightweight exterior cladding panels incorporating PCM: An experimental evaluation

Innovative cladding panels were developed by integrating phase change material into foamed concrete (PCMFC). The panels can be installed on walls via the wet method using cementitious/specialized adhesives or the dry method using special tools to mount the panels. The dry method creates an air cavity separating the panels from the wall, which can be of different sizes, either ventilated or unventilated. This study investigates the impacts of installation methods on the thermal performance of walls finished with PCMFC cladding panels. Experimental testing was conducted using three cells under actual weather conditions: a reference cell with cement render, a cell with PCMFC panels installed using the wet method, and a cell with PCMFC panels installed using different alternatives of the dry method. The results revealed improved performance for the dry method, showcasing reductions of about 7.10 °C in peak internal surface temperature (TSᵢ) with a 5 mm air cavity compared to the reference cell, while the reduction raised to about 8.70 °C by increasing the cavity size to 20 mm, and reached about 9.75 °C when permitting free ventilation inside the cavity. These reductions in peak TSᵢ were higher by about 1.14 °C, 1.79 °C, and 2.76 °C, respectively, compared to the wet method. Furthermore, overheating intensity decreased by 54 % with the ventilated 20 mm air cavity compared to the reference, i.e., 23 percentage points higher than the wet method. Thus, the dry installation method has proven to be highly effective in enhancing the thermal performance of PCMFC cladding panels.