Enhancing Thermal Performance of Roofs Within Heavy-Weight Thermal Mass Residential Buildings in The Warm Mediterranean Climate of Lebanon
Abstract
The research aims to analyze the thermal performance of the common practice roof construction types in fully exposed heavy-weight buildings in the coastal warm zone of Lebanon. Two roof types in one residential house, are monitored simultaneously during the summer of 2023, one with a reinforced concrete slab and the other with a steel structure covered by red clay tile. Once the house was simulated using Insight 360 software, results were compared to the recorded data of every room's indoor dry bulb temperature during the day and night. This is followed by further shading and spatial manipulation to enhance the construction materials’ thermal properties, giving an in-depth overview of the thermal performance of those materials. The research concludes with practical design recommendations and solutions for keeping with the same construction material yet considerably reducing the annual cooling load and relying on scarce non-renewable energy. However, enhancing the roofs’ thermal performance can decrease 56% of the energy used for indoor cooling.