Article Details
  • Published Online:
    January  2026
  • Product Name:
    The IUP Journal of Structural Engineering
  • Product Type:
    Article
  • Product Code:
    IJSE050126
  • DOI:
    10.71329/IUPJSE/2026.19.1.63-79
  • Author Name:
    Geeta Girish Nagarkar and Parag Govardhan Narkhede
  • Availability:
    YES
  • Subject/Domain:
    Engineering
  • Download Format:
    PDF
  • Pages:
    63-79
Volume 19, Issue 1, January-March 2026
Investigating the Thermal Comfort of Buildings with Insulated Sandwiched Ferrocement Panels
Abstract

This paper investigates the thermal comfort of a building with ferrocement insulated sandwiched panels. A quantitative method is used to measure the thermal transmittance or U-value along with other environmental parameters like air temperature, humidity, etc. Extech-RHT20 humidity and temperature USB datalogger is used to measure temperature and relative humidity. These field values are evaluated for thermal comfort with ASHRAE 55 adaptive thermal comfort model. U-value field measurements are compared with green rated buildings in India like IGBC, GRIHA ECBC (Eco-Niwas) for prescribed limit for climate of Pune, i.e., warm and humid. Field measurements reveal average U-value of 0.124324 W/m².K for the ferrocement sandwiched wall, which is much lesser compared to the prescribed Uvalue 0.44 W/m².K in green rated buildings. The thermal images and field measurement reveal that operative temperature ~27 °C is within ASHRAE adaptive comfort limits for Pune monsoon.

Introduction

One of the major issues in construction is the achievement of thermal comfort in buildings and design of buildings.