Energy Efficiency and Thermal Properties of the Composite Material Clay-straw

Unfired clay is a sustainable building material resisting to the hard climatic conditions. In order to improve the energy efficiency of this ecological material, this work tries to develop the thermal properties of unfired clay as an insulation material by mixing it with straw. An experimental measurement of thermal properties of unfired clay mixed with straw was done by using the flash method to determine the thermal diffusivity and the state hot plate method to estimate the thermal conductivity in order to deduce the thermal capacity. A building was simulated using the unfired clay–straw envelope with the climate data of south Morocco region, for the purpose to establish its thermal inertia and its ability to bring a good comfort by limiting summer overheating and keeping the heat in winter without heating and cooling systems.