Experimental and Numerical Study on Energy Performance of Buildings Integrated with Phase Change Materials

An experimental and numerical study has been carried out to evaluate the energy saving potential of thermal energy storage cementitious composite (TESC) in commercial buildings. Here, TESC was fabricated by integrating a composite phase change material based on paraffin and expanded perlite into ordinary cementitious composite. The TESC developed was used to study the thermal performance of an experimental room in the laboratory. Thermal performance test revealed that TESC reduced the peak indoor temperature by approximately 5.6oC during summer design days with the peak shift of 1.5 hours. The potential application of TESC in commercial buildings evaluated by building simulation in EnergyPlus showed that TESC can provide an annual energy savings of 16-25% in major Australian cities.