Experimental investigation of thermal performance of mortars

Increasing rate of energy consumption in building sector has led the constructors towards the low-energy consuming methods. The enhancement of thermal performance of structural elements in conjunction with mechanical properties yields to the decrease in environmental impacts. In this paper, thermal performance of ASTM mortars has been investigated. Considering the limitations of typical methods in the measurement of thermal parameters, in this investigation, the parameters of lag time, decrement factor and thermal conductivity of mortars have been measured using the method of hygrothermal chamber. Results show that type O mortar with the minimum thermal conductivity of 0.264 (watt per kelvin-meter) and the maximum lag time of 66 minutes, had the significant thermo-buffering capacity among the ASTM mortars. However, due to the low cementitious materials in the mixture of the mortar, type O lacks of the acceptable strength features. Consequently, the optimum type of mortar must be produced in which the thermal performance has the same value of the mechanical properties. KEYWORDS Mortars, Masonry structures, energy consumption, thermal performance, ASTM standard