Experimental Setup for Thermal Performance Study of Phase Change Material Admixed Cement Composites—A Review

Abstract

Phase change material (PCM) is a prospective material with a caliber to store thermal energy. The hasty development in the modern world and lavish life style amplified the energy demand. Building and infrastructure are the leading energy and material consumers over the globe. Conservation of building energy associated to heating and cooling is made possible by embedding PCM in construction materials (like concrete) which has a great potential to improve the thermal comfort of the residents. The concrete coupled with PCMs has a tendency to improve the thermophysical properties like heat capacity/thermal mass and thermal insulating property besides with an ability to save energy for the development of sustainable built environment. There are so many techniques and experimental setups used by the researchers to analyze the thermal performance of PCM-admixed cementitious systems. In line to this, an attempt has been made to review the different experimental setup used by various researchers to study the thermal facets (heat capacity, thermal cycle, thermal conductivity, etc.) of PCM-doped cementitious systems. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.