Numerical simulation of building wall integrated with phase change material: A case study of a Mediterranean City Izmir, Turkey

Nowadays, improving the energy efficiency of buildings without decreasing the comfort of its occupants is of great importance in the whole world. The most widespread passive energy control strategy is the utilization of insulation materials with low thermal transmittance. This chapter proposes an alternative control strategy that would help to create more stable temperatures inside a room. This is changing the thermal capacity of a common wall with the integration of phase change material (PCM). To evaluate the performance of the PCM, user-defined scripts are coded in commercial CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT to simulate one-dimensional heat transfer through a wall within a detached cabin in a city with Mediterranean climate for 1 day in the hot season. The placement and amount of PCM in the building element are changed and analyzed. The results show a decrease in the indoor wall temperature up to 6 °C, which is promising for further research. © 2018, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature.