The effect of incorporating microencapsulated Phase change materials (PCMs) in brick sandwiched walls in reducing the thermal insulation thickness for hot climates

The application of Phase change materials (PCMs) in buildings' envelopes construction is considered as one of the promising methods to control the buildings heat gain/loss. In this study, the effect of incorporating microencapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) in reducing the thermal insulation thickness while maintaining the same energy input is investigated. Regional weather data were used and three standard thermal insulation (STI) thicknesses of 16, 11 and 6 cm were considered. The results have shown that a 0.5% PCM loading can reduce the STI thicknesses by 5, 4 and 2 cm respectively.