Thermal Properties of a Sample Prepared Using Mixtures of Clay Bricks

The measurements of thermal effusivity, thermal conductivity and specific heat of building materials such as clay used in construction have been performed using transient and steady state hot-plate methods. The estimation of these thermal characteristics is based on the simplified 1D model. Stationary and transient models are performed to estimate the thermal conductivity λ and the thermal capacity ρc, respectively. The use of a brick as a thermal insulating material requires prior knowledge of all its thermal properties. For that purpose, the authors conducted an experimental study in order to characterize the thermal properties of the sample coming from the Moroccan Slaoui's factory used to manufacture the bricks. A comparative study based on other experiments and different theoretical models was performed. The estimation errors due to the measurement on the temperature Tc was found less than 3%.The identification of the parameters is exhibiting residuals less than 0,4°C over the entire time interval. It also enables to assess the gap between the measurements and the model, which shows a good consistency.