13th International Brick and

Block Masonry Conference

Amsterdam, July 4-7, 2004

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE THERMAL

PERFORMANCE OF CAVITY AND BRICK VENEER
CONSTRUCTION
H.O. Sugo 1 , A.W. Page 2 , B. Moghtaderi 3

Abstract

Masonry housing in Australia is typically of brick veneer or cavity brick construction.

The increased emphasis on energy conservation and reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions has resulted in the thermal performance of housing systems coming under
increasing scrutiny, with a “star” rating system (based on energy efficiency) being
implemented. Little information exists on the thermal performance of masonry under
Australian climatic conditions. To address this problem, The University of Newcastle, in
conjunction with the Clay Brick and Paver Institute, has embarked on a testing program
to study the thermal performance of two purpose built modules (one brick veneer and
one cavity brick) on the University campus. This paper gives an overview of the
instrumentation and data collection and, presents typical results obtained during the
first year of monitoring.

Key Words: masonry housing, thermal performance, thermal resistance

1 Introduction

In recent years there has been growing world-wide concern on energy conservation,
the reduction of greenhouse gases, and sustainability. In Australia, it is estimated that
39% of the end energy usage in domestic buildings is used for space heating and
cooling (AGO, 1999). Therefore, achieving better energy efficiency in buildings has
become one of the major challenges for architects and builders. These concerns have
been reflected at several levels within the Australian scene with the establishment of
the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) and the Sustainable Development Authority
(SEDA) at Federal and State Government levels. Several new measures have been
introduced to the building industry including an energy star system rating similar to that
used on electrical appliances. In several states it is necessary to obtain a NatHERS

1
H.O. Sugo, Research Associate, School of Engineering, University of Newcastle,
Australia, email hsugo@mail.newcastle.edu.au
2
A.W. Page, CBPI Professor in Structural Clay Brickwork, Pro Vice-Chancellor,
University of Newcastle, Australia, email Adrian.Page@newcastle.edu.au
3
B. Moghtaderi, Senior Lecturer, School of Engineering, University of Newcastle,
Australia email Behdad.Moghtaderi@newcastle.edu.au
certificate (National House Energy Rating Scheme) for all new residential
developments prior to building approval. This involves the estimation of the energy
required to maintain the interior of the building at a comfortable temperature range,
(given the building fabric, design, orientation and locality) using specific software. A
star rating is obtained by comparing the energy estimate against set values for the
climate zone. Failure to meet minimum criteria requires changes to the building design
or fabric. The output of any thermal simulation will therefore have direct implications for
the building cost, the embodied energy of materials used in construction and on the
thermal performance of the building throughout the life of the structure.

The thermal performance of masonry housing is being investigated at the Faculty of

Engineering and Built Environment at the University of Newcastle with several
laboratory and full-scale tests being undertaken (Clark et al 2003) in combination with
the development of alternative energy simulation models. The experiment described in
this report involves the all-year-round monitoring of the thermal response of the first
two windowless testing modules, one constructed of cavity brick and the other brick
veneer. The modules have been constructed in a manner to reflect the thermal
behaviour of the masonry walls and specifically do not contain any windows or
openings that allow direct solar access or provide ventilation. In this respect the
thermal response of the modules represents an upper bound limit for summer and a
lower bound limit for winter. Construction of a third module incorporating a large north
orientated window, to allow solar ingress during winter, is currently under way. Each
module has been heavily instrumented with temperature, humidity and heat flux
sensors which are continuously monitored. The thermal response can be assessed in
two ways; a ‘free-floating’ state, where the temperature in the building is determined by
the influence of the external weather conditions or, in a ‘driven’ state, where the internal
temperature is preset using a cooling/heating system and the energy usage in
maintaining the set comfort level is measured.

The experimental data is also being used to validate zonal and computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) based models with the aim of deriving refined models to estimate the
thermal performance of buildings. This report describes the behaviour of the cavity
brick and brick veneer modules under “free floating” conditions for the first 12 months
of operation.

2 Description of Modules
The building modules are built on the Callaghan campus at Newcastle in an open
location with uninterrupted solar access. The two modules are shown in the
background of Figure 1. The module containing the window (under construction) is
shown in the foreground and will not be discussed further in this report. The modules
are comparable in size to other buildings used in similar studies (Burch, 1982). The
modules have a square floor plan of 6m x 6m and are spaced 7m apart from each
other to avoid shading and minimise wind obstruction. With the exception of the walls,
the buildings are of identical construction, being built on a concrete slab and aligned in
a manner so that the north wall of the buildings is perpendicular to astronomical north.
Timber trusses are used to support the roof, consisting of clay tiles placed over a layer
of foil sarking. The timber trusses are in turn supported by a steel frame to provide the
flexibility of removing/replacing walls at a future stage. The buildings have a ceiling
height of 2450mm. The ceiling consists of 10mm thick plasterboard with glasswool
insulation bats (thermal resistance or R-value=3.5 m2.K.W-1) placed between the
rafters. The R=3.5 insulation has been used in the ceiling to minimise the “through-
ceiling” heat flow. Entry to the building is via a standard solid timber door located on the
southern face of the building. Again, to minimise the flow of heat through the door, a
75mm thick layer of polystyrene foam has been attached to the back of the door. The
door is well fitting and normally kept shut. It is only opened only to allow necessary
access, making the building as air-tight as possible. No carpet or other floor covering
has been placed over the concrete slab.

Figure 1. The Three Building Modules for Thermal Testing.

The cavity brick construction consists of two 110mm thick masonry skins separated by
a 50mm air cavity. The inside wall surfaces are rendered using a cement/sand render
with a nominal thickness of 10mm. The brick veneer construction consists of an outer
brick skin, 50mm air cavity, low glare reflective foil insulation fixed onto a pine timber
frame (70x35mm studs at 600mm centres) and finished with 10mm thick plasterboard.
The interior walls of both building are painted white. Standard steel wall ties, placed at
600mm centres, are used in both buildings to connect the outer and inner walls. The
masonry units used in construction are of extruded type, having two rows of five 25mm
diameter core holes, are light brown to pink in colour with the nominal dimensions
being 230x110x75 mm (LxWxH). The normal 10mm thick mortar joints were used in
construction. Laboratory tests have determined the R-value for the brick veneer wall to
be 1.2 m2.K.W-1 and the wall density to be 210 kg/m2. Tests on the cavity wall have not
yet been completed but are anticipated to be in the order of 0.7 m2.K.W-1 and
400 kg/m2 respectively.

3 Instrumentation of Modules

The instrumentation records the external weather conditions; wind speed and direction,
air temperature, relative humidity and, the incident solar radiation on each wall (vertical
direction) and also on a horizontal plane. For each module, temperature and heat flux
profiles through the walls, slab and ceiling are recorded in conjunction with the internal
air temperature and relative humidity. In total 104 data channels are scanned and
logged every 10 minutes for each of the modules all year round. The data is recorded
using a Datataker DT600 data logger located in each building. All temperatures are
read using Type T thermocouples connected to three 30 channel expansion modules.
To minimise any cold junction compensation errors, all the thermocouple inputs are
maintained at uniform temperature through the use of a thick wall aluminium box. The
temperature recording system (thermocouple wire characteristics, cold junction
compensation etc.) has been cross-referenced using a Prema Precision Thermometer
and the corresponding temperature offsets are adjusted automatically in the logging
process.

Heat fluxes are measured using 100mmx100mm sensors with typical sensitivities in the
order of 25µV/W/m2. The heat flux sensors were placed on the wall in such a manner
that the proportion of masonry unit/mortar ratio being measured was representative of
that in the masonry wall. An attempt was made to match the absorbance and emissivity
of the heat flux sensors to that of the masonry units by painting the exterior sensors a
similar colour to that of the bricks. The interior sensors were painted white, to match
the walls, whilst the sensors located in the cavity were painted black to allow radiation
heat transfer. Figure 2 shows the typical sensor layout used in the brick veneer wall.

(a) Heat flux (b)

sensors

Profile
thermocouples

Air temperature Solar radiation

Figure 2. Wall sensors used in the Brick Veneer Wall, (a) internal and (b) external.

4 Results
The buildings have been monitored in the ‘free-floating’ state since February 2003. Due
to the large volume of data available, the behaviour of the buildings will be compared
for two different seasons representing periods of cool and hot weather.

4.1 Cool Weather Conditions

Figure 3 shows the external and internal air temperature for both buildings during the
third week of May 2003. The mean external air temperature for this week was 17.5ºC
and the air temperatures within the cavity brick and brick veneer buildings were 18.5ºC
and 19.0ºC respectively. As expected, the day-night temperature swing in the buildings
was much less than that shown by the external air. At the beginning of the week, the
swing in the brick veneer building was in the order of 3.5ºC and for the cavity brick
about 2.5ºC whilst the external air swing was in the order of 10-12ºC. Also, note the
marked reduction in day-night variation and minor decrease in the internal
temperatures during the latter part of the week due to the presence of cloud cover. In
the absence of strong solar radiation, the temperature of the external wall surfaces
followed closely the external air temperature. The temperature of the roofing material
cooled down to below ambient during the night, regularly reaching 5-7ºC for the time
period shown in Figure 3. Under sunny conditions, the maximum roof temperatures
were in the range of 50-52ºC.

At this time of the year the solar altitude is approaching a minimum and this resulted in
the north facing wall receiving a greater quantity of solar radiation than that observed
on the horizontal plane, as shown by Figure 4. Note the reduced irradiation levels
experienced by the east and west facing walls and, the diffuse radiation received by the
south (shaded) wall which is in the order of 80 W/m2.
 24
Brick Veneer - Internal Air
22

20
Temperature (oC)

18

16

Cavity Brick - Internal Air

14
External Air
12

10

03 03 03 03 03 03 03 03
5/20 5/20 5/20 5/20 5 /20 5 /2 0 5 /2 0 5 /2 0
/0 /0 /0 /0 / 0 / 0 / 0 /0
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Time (Days)
Figure 3. External and Internal Air Temperatures for the Cavity brick and Brick Veneer
Modules, May 2003.
1000

North Wall

800
2
Solar Irradiation (Watts/m )

Roof Top (horizontal plane)

East Wall
600
West Wall

400

200
South Wall

0
12:00 AM 3:00 AM 6:00 AM 9:00 AM 12:00 PM 3:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 PM 12:00 AM
Time of Day (Hours)

Figure 4. Incident solar irradiation on the exterior building surfaces for 22nd May 2003

The effects of solar radiation can be observed by the rise in wall temperatures and the
changes in the heat flux entering via the walls. During May, the exterior of the North
facing walls regularly reached 35ºC during sunny days. For clarity, only the data
recorded by the North and South heat flux sensors, mounted on the internal walls, is
shown in Figure 5. Note that the polarity of the sensors has been arranged with heat
entering the interior space being recorded as positive whilst heat ‘flowing out’ being
seen as negative. The flux entering through the North wall of the Cavity Brick building
is greater than that observed for the Brick Veneer. Also, the heat flow balance, either in
or out, favours a greater proportion of heat ‘flowing in’ for the Cavity Brick building. The
time when the maximum in-flowing flux occurs is also different, with the Brick Veneer
Building showing a shorter lag time, (4.5 hours) compared to the Cavity Brick module of
about 8 hours. The heat flux entering via the North wall also influences the South wall
behaviour, with maximum and minimums being observed. In these cases, heat is
continuously flowing out via the South walls since the values are always negative. Flux
variations can also be observed in the East and West walls but are not as pronounced.

12
Cavity Brick - North Wall Brick Veneer- North Wall
Heat Flow In

4
Heat Flux (W/m2)

0
Heat Flow Out

-4

-8
Cavity Brick - South Wall Brick Veneer - South Wall
-12
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2:0 8:0 0:0 6:0 2:0 8:0 0:0 6:0 2:0
031 031 003 003 031 031 003 003 031
/20 /20 /2 /2 /20 /20 /2 /2 /20
/05 /05 /05 /05 /05 /05 /05 /05 /05
21 21 22 22 22 22 23 23 23
Time of Day (Hours)

Figure 5. Heat Flux Measurements on the Interior North and South walls
of the Cavity and Brick Veneer Buildings for 22nd May 2003.

4.2 Hot Weather Conditions

During February 2004 Newcastle experienced heat wave conditions with a maximum
air temperature of 43ºC being recorded. Figure 6 is similar to Figure 3 and shows the
external and internal air temperature for both buildings during the third week of
February 2004. The mean external air temperature for this week was 24.7ºC and the
mean air temperatures within the cavity brick and brick veneer buildings were 26.2ºC
and 25.9ºC respectively. The maximum external air temperature recorded adjacent to
the test buildings was 42.5ºC at 2pm. At this time, the internal air temperature in the
Cavity Brick module was 28.5ºC and 28.7ºC in the Brick Veneer building. The
maximum internal air temperature for the Cavity Brick occurred at 8:30pm and was
29.7ºC. For the Brick Veneer building a maximum of 30.5ºC occurred at 6:00pm. The
maximum external surface temperature recorded on this day was 72ºC on the tiled
roofs at 2pm. The hottest external wall temperature was 46ºC recorded on the west
facing walls at 4:30pm.

The external air day-night temperature swing was much greater at this time of the year
than that in May, being in the order of 15-20ºC. However, the temperature swing within
the buildings shows only a minor increase, being 3-3.5ºC for the Cavity Brick and about
5ºC for the Brick Veneer building as indicated in Figure 6. Note the cooler weather
conditions at the end of the week and the steady decline in internal temperatures of the
buildings. Both buildings remained warmer than the external air conditions for several
days.
 45

Temperature (oC) 40

35
Cavity Brick
Internal Air
30

25

20
External Air Brick Veneer
Internal Air
15
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0:0 0:0 0:0 0:0 0:0 0:0 0 :0 0 :0
004 004 0 04 0 04 0 04 0 04 004 004
/2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2
/02 /02 /02 /02 /02 /02 /02 /02
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Time (Days)

Figure 6. External in Internal Air Temperatures for the Cavity brick and Brick Veneer
Modules, February 2004.

The incident solar radiation on the exterior surfaces of the buildings has also changed,
with the East and West orientated walls receiving higher radiation levels for longer
periods of time. The radiation falling on the North wall has decreased significantly
(≈450 W/m2) due to the higher solar altitude and is further attenuated by the eave
providing shade on the wall. The level of radiation observed on the horizontal plane has
increased, reaching a maximum of just under 1000W/m2. The diffuse radiation being
received by the South wall has increased marginally up to a maximum of 100 W/m2.
These trends are shown below in Figure 7.

1200
Roof Top (horizontal plane)

1000
Solar Irradiation (Watts/m )
2

North Wall

800

East Wall West Wall

600

400
South Wall
200

0
12:00 AM 3:00 AM 6:00 AM 9:00 AM 12:00 PM 3:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 PM 12:00 AM

Time (Hours)

Figure 7. Incident solar irradiation on the exterior building surfaces, 20th February 2004.
These changes in solar radiation influenced the thermal behaviour of the walls. The
exterior surface temperature of the South and North walls followed closely the external
air temperature. The East and West walls reached higher temperatures, with the West
wall recording the hottest temperatures in the range of 40-52ºC in the afternoon. When
the walls were out of direct sunlight, in shade or at night, the exterior surface of the
walls cooled down to the external air temperature. Examination of the heat flux
readings on the interior surfaces shows that heat enters via the East and West walls
and leaves via the South wall. Figure 8 shows this behaviour although for clarity only
the West and South wall interior flux are shown. The peak flux entering through the
West walls is in the order of 12-13W/m2 for both buildings (also note that some heat
flows out as well). Figure 8 also shows that heat generally flows out via the South wall
with maximum and minimums being observed. Again, note the different lag time for the
buildings, the peak solar radiation on the West wall was at 5:30pm however, the peak
heat flux occurred around 8pm for the Brick Veneer and 10pm for the Cavity Brick
building.

15
Brick Veneer - West Wall Cavity Brick - West Wall
Heat Flow In

10
Heat Flux (W/m2)

0
Heat Flow Out

-5

Brick Veneer- South Wall Cavity Brick - South Wall

-10
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2:0 8:0 0:0 6 :0 2:0 8:0 0:0 6 :0 2:0
041 0 41 004 0 04 041 041 004 0 04 041
/20 /20 /2 /2 /20 /20 /2 /2 /20
/02 /02 /02 /0 2 /02 /02 /02 /0 2 /02
20 20 21 21 21 21 22 22 22
Time of Day (Hours)

Figure 8. Heat Flux Measurements on the Interior West and South walls
of the Cavity and Brick Veneer Buildings for 21st February 2004.

Comparison of Figures 7 and 8 shows that there is a substantial attenuation of the

solar radiation flux, the peak value is in the order of 800W/m2, yet only a small
proportion of that enters the building. This behaviour is explained more clearly by
observing the through-wall flux profile presented in Figure 9. Again, for clarity only the
profile through the West wall of the Cavity Brick building is shown. The flux attenuation
through the West wall of the Brick Veneer building has very similar characteristics.

The data in Figure 9 shows that the maximum heat flux entering the external brickwork
on West wall is about 200W/m2 compared to the incident flux of 800 W/m2 falling on the
wall over the same time period shown in Figure 7. This would indicate that a large
portion of the heat is reflected or radiated back to the external environment by the
exterior surface of the brick. Figure 9 also shows that significant amounts of the heat
stored in the wall is released back to the exterior environment, indicated by the large
negative flux regions occurring during the night. Also, note the significant difference
between the observed heat flux on the external and cavity surfaces of the exterior
masonry skin. This attenuation reduces the peak heat flux from about 200W/m2 to
50W/m2. This behaviour is again repeated by the interior masonry skin and further
attenuates the flux down to peak values of 12-13W/m2 as shown in Figure 8. The flux
reversal occurs through both masonry skins and reduces the net flux entering the
building. This reversal is driven by day-night temperature swing with cooler night time
temperatures increasing the radiation and convective heat transfer rate from the
masonry wall to the outside environment.

250
Exterior wall - exterior surface
200
Heat Flow In

Exterior wall - cavity surface

150

100 Interior wall - interior surface

Heat Flux (W/m )
2

50

0
Heat Flow Out

-50

-100
Interior wall - cavity surface
-150
:00 :00 :00 :00 :00 :00 :00 :00 2:0
0
12 18 40 46 12 18 40 46 41
04 04 00 00 00
4
00
4 00 00 00
/2 0 /2 0 2/2 2/2 /2 /2 2 /2 2 /2 2/2
/02 /02 21
/0
21
/0 /0 2 /0 2 22
/0
22
/0 /0
20 20 21 21 22
Time of Day (Hours)

Figure 9. Through-Wall Heat Flux Profile of the West walls of the

Cavity Brick Building on the 21st February 2004.

5 Discussion
The data presented here represents only a small portion of the overall volume of data
collected to date. The thermal behaviour of the buildings is influenced by the day-to-
day and seasonal variations. The thermal behaviour of the modules also represents
upper and lower extremes as there is no direct entry of solar radiation, to provide solar
passive heating in winter, or night-time ventilation during summer to cool the building’s
interior. The response of the modules is also affected by several other parameters
related to the geometry of the building including wall/floor area ratio and the lack of
internal partitions. Whilst these factors may not allow the internal air temperature data
to be directly compared to domestic housing, the data provides a useful understanding
of the thermal performance of masonry walls under Australian climatic conditions. As
mentioned previously, the data is also being used to calibrate CFD and zonal models
for describing the thermal performance of buildings.

It also important to note, that under ‘free-floating’ conditions, the internal temperature of
the buildings will rise/fall in an attempt to reach equilibrium with the external conditions.
This can be observed by comparing the internal/external mean temperatures. These
temperatures are similar, with the internal temperatures generally being slightly higher.
The higher mean internal air temperature in the buildings is likely to be due to the
absorption and conduction of solar radiation by the masonry walls. The presence of
cloud cover significantly reduces the maximum temperatures observed on the surface
of the external masonry walls. Both buildings show the ability of masonry walls to
attenuate the day-night temperature variation. The internal air variations were in the
order of 2.5-3.5ºC for the Cavity Brick module and 3-5ºC for the Brick Veneer for
external air variations up to 20ºC. The Cavity Brick module showed a smaller variation
despite this walling system having only approximately half the R-value of brick veneer
construction.

The data also demonstrates the ability of masonry walling systems to attenuate
incident solar radiation. For summer conditions, Figures 7-9 show that the peak solar
radiation levels falling on the West wall are in the order of 800W/m2 with only about
200W/m2 being absorbed by the exterior masonry surface. However, the peak flux
values entering the buildings are very low, 12-13W/m2. The reduction of flux values is a
result of the thermal properties of the masonry walls and the cooler night time
temperatures allowing much of the stored heat in the masonry wall to be re-radiated to
the outside environment. The results also emphasise the need for appropriate roof
insulation due to the extreme temperature range experienced by roofing materials (-4
to 70ºC). The roof cools down below ambient temperature during the night and
receives high levels of solar radiation for prolonged periods of time during summer.

6 Conclusions
The data presented here gives a brief insight into the actual thermal performance of
cavity brick and brick veneer walls. As mentioned previously, the behaviour is
influenced by several factors including the day-to-day and season-to-season weather
patterns. Given the available data, both cavity brickwork and brick veneer construction
show the ability to attenuate the effects of direct solar radiation. From a building point
of view both modules respond slowly to extreme hot/cold weather conditions,
moderating the internal temperature. The greater thermal mass of cavity brickwork
construction reduces the internal day-night temperature swing when compared to the
brick veneer despite the latter form of construction having a higher thermal resistance
value. This work is continuing with the next stages of the project involving controlled
internal conditions.

Acknowledgements
This research was initially funded by the Clay Brick and Paver Institute and their
support is gratefully acknowledged. The assistance of the laboratory staff within the
Discipline of Civil, Surveying and Environmental Engineering is also greatly
appreciated, especially the dedication of Mr Roger Reece and Mr John Noonan.
Support for this work is continuing under an Australian Research Council Linkage
Project in conjunction with the Clay Brick and Paver Institute.

References
Australian Greenhouse Office (1999). “Australian Residential Building Sector,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions 1990-2010, Executive Summary Report 1999”,
Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra.
Burch, D. M., Remmert, W. E., Krintz, D. F. and Barnes C. S., (1982) “A Field Study of
the Effect of Wall Mass on the Heating and Cooling Loads of Residential Buildings”,
Proceedings of the Building Thermal Mass Seminar, Knoxville, TN 1982, NBS,
pp.265-312.
Clark, M.G., Sugo. H.O. and Page, A.W. (2003). “Thermal Performance of Australian
Masonry Housing – A Preliminary Study.” Proc. 9NAMC, Clemson, TMS, pp. 597-
608.