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Thermal Insulating Concrete Tiles

Article · December 2012

DOI: 10.17656/jzs.10163

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 International Journal of Engineering and Technology Volume 2 No. 11, November, 2012

Thermal Insulating Concrete Tiles

Sarkawt.A. Saeed, Shler.S. Qadir, Ryadh .H. Shaan
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Koya University
Koya, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

ABSTRACT
This Paper studies the shape of high-thermal insulating concrete tiles used for roof tiling. The theoretical part consists of a
comparison between this invented tiles and ordinary terrazzo tiles. The analysis depends on the values of thermal
conductivity of the material used. The results showed that when these tiles are used for roof tiling, the temperature difference
between the outside of roof surface and the inside room can be reduced about six times compared with the use of ordinary
terrazzo tiles. In addition, these specimens were fabricated and tested for rupture and absorption tests. The test results showed
that, they had a good resistance to the applied test loads, and high resistance to water absorption. The authors believe that, the
results are remarkable, highly applicable and should be taken into consideration in building constructions.

Keywords: Concrete tiles, Terrazzo tiles, Thermal insulating, power saving

LIST OF SYMBOLS
k: thermal conductivity of the material (watt/m.ºk)
R1: thermal resistance, when the 90 mm tiles are used (m2. ºk /watt)
R2: thermal resistance, when the 30 mm terrazzo tiles are used (m2. ºk /watt)
ΔT1: difference in temperature between the external invited tile surface and the internal ceiling surface (Cº).
ΔT2: difference in temperature between the external surface of traditional terrazzo tiles and the internal ceiling surface (Cº).
y: depth of neutral axis of the tile section measured from the tensioned face ( mm).
I: moment of inertia of the section about neutral axis (mm4).
M: ultimate bending moment of the section (N.mm)
σ: maximum tension stress of the section (MPa).

1. INTRODUCTION standards C168-97 define thermal conductivity (k-value,

w/m.ºk) as the time rate of steady state heat flow through
The key to maintaining a comfortable temperature in a a unit area of a homogeneous material induced by a unit
building is to reduce the heat transfer out of the building temperature gradient in a direction perpendicular to that
in the winter and reduce heat transfer into the building in unit area [7].
the summer. Heat is transmitted across confined air spaces
by radiation, convection and conduction [1, 2]. In Arab gulf countries, especially in Iraq, nominally, the
Conduction is the direct flows of heat throw a material tiles used are either concrete 800 mm x 800 mm x 40 mm
resulting from physical contact. The transfer heat by or 300 mm x 300 mm x 30 mm laid on roofs with cement
conduction is caused by molecular motion in which mortar. But due to large range of temperature difference
molecules transfer their energy to adjoining molecules between the outside and the comfortable temperature both
and increase their temperature. in summer and winter, a heavy use of air conditioning
system is needed in order to reduce his temperature
Heat transfer by conduction is governed by a fundamental differences, which demands high power consumption and
equation known as Fourier’s law [2- 5]. therefore, a high cost to both private and national income.
Thus, the need for proper insulating material is
Rate of heat flow  k  area  temp. gradient . K mandatory. People with high standard of living apply
insulation of the roofs by using insulating styro pore
value is a measure of a heat conductivity of particular sheets with various thicknesses; some other use soil as an
materials, and it is called thermal conductivity. The lower insulation layer below the tiling. But the problem with
of the k-value for a material, the better it insulates [6]. this is that when water penetrates through the joints to the
insulating layer, it will cause the tiles to be isolated from
The k of insulation materials is the most important the insulating sheets and make them come up, and this
property that is of interest when considering thermal will render failure. As for the soil (when used), the
performance and energy conservation measures. ASTM
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 International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 2 No. 11, November, 2012

penetrated water causes grass to grow and hence swelling surface, and ΔT2 is the difference in temperature between
of earth which will also render failure of roofing. It is the the external surface of the traditional terrazzo tiles and the
intension of this research to show that an invented shape internal ceiling surface, therefore:
of concrete tile provides a high thermal insulation. This
will increase the temperature difference between the  T1 :  T2  3.0371 : 0.1218  24.935 : 1
external tile surface and the internal room ceiling surface.
Also the work indicates that the tile resists the applied
service loads and has a low absorption percentage of rain Taking care of the reduction of insulation due to the
concrete ribs; By multiplying by 415 / 500  0.69 ,
water. If water penetrates through tiles joints, it will not 2
cause harm to the roofing system as the tiles (with
about 30 kg) are solidly fixed with cement mortar through where the 415 mm is average internal dimension of the
their parameters on the reinforced concrete roofs. tile specimen, and reduction of the fact that walls and
openings of the room are not 100% multiplied by 0.7.
Also, taking care of the bad workmanship, by multiplying
2. THEORY by 0.5, the ratio becomes:

2.1 Thermal Insulation ( 24.935 x 0.69 x 0.7  0.5 ) :1 = 6 :1

The theory on which this research is based depends on the
invented shape of the concrete tile with the cross section which is a high ratio. This means that if temperature
shown in Fig. (1). difference with terrazzo tiles is only 5 Cº, the difference
in temperature with these invented tiles will be (5 Cº x 6 =
30 Cº). That is if the maximum outside surface
temperature of tile in summer = 55 Cº, the internal ceiling
temperature with ordinary terrazzo tiles = 50 Cº, then the
internal ceiling temperature with the new tiles will be (25
Cº). This means a great reduction in the daily running
hours of air conditioning units and a very short yearly
running duration. That’s if insulation is applied to walls as
well as the roof, it will only be necessary to use air
Fig. (1): the invented cross section of the tile conditioning for nearly three months a year (i.e. January,
July and August) instead of nine months (i.e. January,
Assuming 20 mm thick mortar is to be used to fix the tile February, March, May, June, July, August, September and
on the reinforced concrete roof. K-values for variable December). Also instead of daily running of 18 hours as
materials are taken from Ref. [3], with: an average, it will only about 3 to 4 hours as a daily
average. This will result in a yearly saving of electric
(1) a 42 mm thick plain concrete of k-values = 1.8 power. If the normal yearly national consumption of
watt/m. ºk power = W mega watts, then the yearly power saving will
be given by:
(2) a 73 mm thick trapped air (formed of 53 mm air
contained within the tile plus 20 mm mortar   3 4 
underneath) of k-value = 0.025 watt/m. ºk W  1      100  92.5 % W
  9 18 
These values approximately are as same values which are
listed in Refs. [1, 2]. Thermal resistance of 95 mm tile and When, these insulating tiles are used for roofing.
the underneath mortar 15 mm ceiling plaster = R 1
2.2 Experimental
0.042 0.073 0.15 0.015 2
R1      3.0374 m .  k / watt
1.8 0.025 2.2 0.58 A mould was manufactured, made of 3 mm folded steel
plate, designed to be 500 mm x 500 mm x 95 mm depth.
Thermal resistance of the traditional 30 mm terrazzo tiles Another mould of smaller dimensions was made to fit
+ the underneath 20 mm mortar + 150 mm reinforced inside the pervious mould so that the cast concrete inside
concrete slab + 15 mm ceiling plaster = R2 will have a cavity of 53 mm depth. The cavity is the
essence of the design.
0.03 0.02 0.15 0.015 Three specimens were cast using mentioned pair of
2
R2      0.1218 m .  k / watt moulds and an electrical table vibrator with 1250 mm x
1.8 1.8 2.2 0.58 625 mm with frequency 2880 rpm. These specimens were
made of 1:2:4 concrete with water cement ratio of 0.45.
If ΔT1 is the difference in temperature between the
external invented tile surface and the internal ceiling
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 International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 2 No. 11, November, 2012

3. MATERIALS
Ordinary Portland Cement: The cement used in the
investigation from Marden Turkish Company with
fineness 3100 cm2/gm (Blain method), initial setting time
150 minutes and final setting time was 3.5 hours (Vicat
apparatus).

Sand: The river sand used having a fineness modulus Fig.2: Rupture testing machine
2.73 and specific gravity equal to 2.69 with good
gradation The diagrammatic placement of the specimen under the
testing machine was shown in the Fig. (3) and the
Gravel: The river gravel with maximum size of 19 mm specimens after failure have shown in Fig. (4).
and specific gravity to 2.7 was used as a coarse aggregate.

3.1 Rupture Test

After 28 days curing, the three specimens were tested for
rupture testing machine as shown in Fig. (2).

Fig.3: Tile specimen under Rupture test

Fig. 4: Specimens after failure

The loads under which the tiles failed in rupture were as

follows: Which is high value compared with the allowed of (4.25
MPa) according to specification [8].
1st specimen = 8830 N
3.2 Absorption Test
2nd specimen = 9614 N
Two pieces of the ruptured tiles were immersed in water
3rd specimen = 11282 N for (24) hours, then left to dry in an oven. The average
absorption was 3.72% as follow:
This gives an average value of 9909 N
Sample No. 1 2
To evaluate this test result: Weight when immersed in 4.958 5.061
water (gm)
The maximum probable load on a tile will be a foot step Oven dry weight (gm) 4.778 4.882
load on the middle of the tile which is 1000 N (a Absorption % 3.77 3.67
maximum man load). Multiplying this by a load factor for This value is satisfied the limit absorption of 6.5%
jerking of 2.5 will give a maximum probable load of according to specification [8].
2500N. The results of the test shows a resistance of tile
nearly four times (i.e. 9909/2500 = 3.96) as much as will 4. CONCLUSIONS
be needed for this supposed worst loading condition. The
calculating resisting flexural stress in the tiles (σ), 4.1 Thermal Insulating
M.y W. L The above mentioned work indicates that the invented
 ;M  ; Therefore,   8.56 MPa ,
I 4 shape Fig. (1) of a concrete tile intended to be used in

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 International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 2 No. 11, November, 2012

tiling roofs of buildings has a high insulating feature the executed absorption test the whole sample was
which can change the inside room temperature of the immersed into water.
ceiling from 50 Cº when ordinary terrazzo tiles (i.e.
mosaic kashi) are used to only 25 Cº when the outside REFERENCES
(i.e. external surface temperature is 55 Cº), provided that
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4.1.1 Rupture Test
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ISSN: 2049-3444 © 2012 – IJET Publications UK. All rights reserved. 1880

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