Innovative PCM-incorporated foamed concrete panels for walls’ exterior cladding: An experimental assessment in real-weather conditions

This study aims to develop innovative exterior cladding panels capable of improving the walls’ thermal performance for new and existing buildings. A phase change material (PCM) was incorporated into foamed concrete (FC) to develop innovative PCM-incorporated FC (PCM-FC) cladding panels, which were assessed as an exterior finishing of cement brick wall and compared to the conventional cement rendering. The test was conducted using reduced-scale testing cells in real-weather conditions and for four cardinal orientations. The developed PCM-FC cladding panels yielded remarkable reductions in the wall's internal surface temperature and the cell's internal air temperature, reaching 6.75 ℃ and 5.50 ℃, respectively. Moreover, the developed cladding panels performed effectively for the four cardinal orientations, yet their effectiveness varied according to the intensity and the time of receiving direct solar radiation. Furthermore, a low decrement factor of 0.49 and a 32.1% reduction in the intensity of overheating were obtained when using PCM-FC cladding panels compared to Ref-CR. The developed PCM-FC cladding panels substantiated superior thermal performance in reducing external heat gain, which results from the combined effects of PCMs’ high thermal energy storage and FC's low thermal conductivity. Therefore, these PCM-FC cladding panels can potentially contribute to reducing buildings’ high energy consumption.