Optimization of the thermal comfort of an eco-friendly house: open foam modeling of sandwich-type walls with ichu (stipa ichu) insulation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22320/07190700.2026.16.01.04Keywords:
Thermal insulation, bioclimatic architecture, air conditioning, cold areasAbstract
The use of sustainable materials is an important means of achieving thermal comfort in homes in cold climates. The study performs CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis in OpenFOAM of an eco-friendly house to optimize the sandwich-type walls (wood chipboard/stipa ichu/wood chipboard) using response surface methodology in a complete central design, to achieve thermal comfort in extreme cold environments using the PMV average vote prediction index. The evaluation collected data from an on-site weather station, validated it, simulated it, and predicted its performance at extreme cold ambient temperatures. The results indicate the optimal wall thickness for thermal comfort in the eco-friendly house at external temperatures of -10 ºC and -20 ºC, and explain the complex effects of external temperature on PMV. The study concludes by providing the optimal minimum dimensions of the sandwich-type wall (wood chipboard/stipa ichu/wood chipboard) that preserve thermal comfort.
Downloads
References
ATAHUACHI LAYME, G. M., & CARCAUSTO QUISPESAYHUA, Y. N. (2018). Aislante termoacústico a base de Stipa Ichu para atenuar el ruido y cambios drásticos de temperatura en viviendas de sectores en expansión urbana de la ciudad de Puno. [Tesis de maestría, Universidad Nacional del Altiplano]. Repositorio Institucional - UNAP. https://repositorio.unap.edu.pe/handle/20.500.14082/11138
CÁRDENAS CRISTOBAL, J. M., & ESPINOZA RAMÍREZ, K. (2024). Utilización de unidades termo-modulares de vivienda para combatir el friaje extremo con materiales oriundos de Tayabamba - La Libertad – 2021 [Tesis de pregrado, Universidad Nacional del Santa]. Repositorio Institucional - UNS. https://alicia.concytec.gob.pe/vufind/Record/UNSR_09f576f8c5882bcc0a5e467258693592/Description#details
CHARCA, S., NOEL, J., ANDIA, D., FLORES, J., GUZMAN, A., RENTEROS, C., & TUMIALAN, J. (2015). Assessment of Ichu fibers as non-expensive thermal insulation system for the Andean regions. Energy and Buildings, 108, 55–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.08.053
FANGER, P. O. (1970). Thermal comfort: analysis and applications in environmental engineering. Danish Technical Press.
FRÍAS, M., CANEDA-MARTÍNEZ, L., SÁNCHEZ DE ROJAS, M. I., TENAZOA, C., & FLORES, E. (2020). Scientific and technical studies on eco-efficient binary cements produced with thermally activated ichu grass: Behaviour and properties. Cement and Concrete Composites, 111, 103613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103613
GILANI, S. I. U. H., KHAN, M. H., & PAO, W. (2015). Thermal Comfort Analysis of PMV Model Prediction in Air Conditioned and Naturally Ventilated Buildings. Energy Procedia, 75, 1373–1379. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EGYPRO.2015.07.218
GONZÁLEZ-DOMÍNGUEZ, P. I., MONZÓN-VERONA, J. M., & GARCÍA-ALONSO, S. (2019). New Thermal-Conductivity Constitutive Matrix in Fourier’s Law for Heat Transfer Using the Cell Method. Applied Sciences, 9(21), 4521. https://doi.org/10.3390/APP9214521
HILLS, J. (2012). Getting the measure of fuel poverty: final report of the Fuel Poverty Review. CASE report 72. https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cr/casereport72.pdf
HODSON, T. O. (2022). Root-mean-square error (RMSE) or mean absolute error (MAE): when to use them or not. Geoscientific Model Development, 15(14), 5481–5487. https://doi.org/10.5194/GMD-15-5481-2022
MARCHANTE GONZÁLEZ, G., & GONZÁLEZ SANTOS, A. I. (2020). Evaluación del confort y disconfort térmico. Ingeniería Electrónica, Automática y Comunicaciones, 41(3), 21–40. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=9513886
MENDOZA, M. A., PIÑAS MOYA, M. J., HORN MUTSCHLER, M. J., & GÓMEZ LEÓN, M. M. M. (2021). Conductividad térmica de compuestos tipo sándwich usados en la industria de la construcción. TECNIA, 31(1), 42–50. https://doi.org/10.21754/tecnia.v21i1.1198
MOLINA-FUERTES, J. O., HORN-MUTSCHLER, M. J., & GÓMEZ-LEÓN, M. M. (2024). Evaluación del comportamiento térmico de un sistema constructivo de pared en zona altoandina utilizando un módulo experimental. Tecnia, 34(2), 53–61. https://doi.org/10.21754/TECNIA.V34I2.2170
MORA, R., & BEAN, R. (2018). Thermal Comfort: Designing for People. Ashrae Journal, (02), 40-46. https://commons.bcit.ca/besys/files/2018/08/Thermal-Comfort-Design-for-People.pdf
MORENO-CASAS, P. A., SCOTT, F., DELPIANO, J., & VERGARA-FERNÁNDEZ, A. (2020). Computational tomography and CFD simulation of a bio filter treating a toluene, formaldehyde and benzo [a] pyrene vapor mixture. Chemosphere, 240, 124924. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124924
Naciones Unidas. (2019). Informe de Los Objetivos Del Desarrollo Sostenible 2019. Naciones Unidas Nueva York https://ods.org.mx/docs/doctos/SDG_Report2019_es.pdf
OLESEN, B. W., & PARSONS, K. C. (2002). Introduction to thermal comfort standards and to the proposed new version of EN ISO 7730. Energy and Buildings, 34(6), 537–548. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7788(02)00004-X
ORTIZ CAICEDO, P. L., GONZALES VEGA, A. A., MONTAÑO ROLDAN, V. L., CHICA TAMBACO, A. J., & ÁLAVA VÉLEZ, C. E. (2023). Eficiencia de sistemas de aislamiento térmico. Ibero-American Journal of Engineering & Technology Studies, 3(2), 43–50. https://doi.org/10.56183/IBEROTECS.V3I2.631
PIÑAS, J. M., LIRA, L., HORN, M., SOLIS, J. L., & GÓMEZ, M. M. (2020). Influence of Stipa ichu on the thermal and mechanical properties of adobe as a biocomposite material. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1433(1), 012003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1433/1/012003
Presidente de la Comisión Organizadora de la UNAAT. (24 de enero de 2017). Año del Buen Servicio al Ciudadano. RESOLUCIÓN DE PRESIDENCIA N° 007-2017-CO-P-UNAAT. Universidad Nacional Autónoma Altoandina de Terma [https://cdn.www.gob.pe/uploads/document/file/2178617/RESOLUCI%C3%93N%20DE%20PRESIDENCIA%20N%C2%B0%20007-2017-CO-P-UNAAT.pdf
RAT, E., MARTÍNEZ-MARTÍNEZ, S., SÁNCHEZ-GARRIDO, J. A., PÉREZ-VILLAREJO, L., GARZÓN, E., & SÁNCHEZ-SOTO, P. J. (2023). Characterization, thermal and ceramic properties of clays from Alhabia (Almería, Spain). Ceramics International, 49(9), 14814–14825. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CERAMINT.2022.05.328
ROELOFSEN, P., & JANSEN, K. (2024). Modification in the (NEN-)EN-ISO 7730 Model, with Regard of the Thermal Indoor Climate Assessment in Dutch Offices. Jounarl of Building Design and Environment, 2(2), 35033. https://doi.org/10.37155/2811-0730-0302-15
SUÁREZ, C., & MOLINA, J. L. (2015). Análisis del efecto chimenea en fachadas ventiladas opacas mediante correlaciones del flujo másico inducido. Aplicación para el dimensionado de anchos de cámara. Informes de la Construccion, 67(538), e087. https://doi.org/10.3989/IC.13.155
SULEIMAN, B. M., LARFELDT, J., LECKNER, B., & GUSTAVSSOR, M. (1999). Thermal conductivity and diffusivity of wood. Wood Science and Technology, 33(6), 465–473. https://doi.org/10.1007/S002260050130
TOMINAGA, Y., MOCHIDA, A., YOSHIE, R., KATAOKA, H., NOZU, T., YOSHIKAWA, M., & SHIRASAWA, T. (2008). AIJ guidelines for practical applications of CFD to pedestrian wind environment around buildings. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 96(10–11), 1749–1761. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JWEIA.2008.02.058
VAN NIEKERK, A. J. (2020). Inclusive Economic Sustainability: SDGs and Global Inequality. Sustainability 12(13), 5427. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU12135427
ZHENG, Z., ZHANG, Y., MAO, Y., YANG, Y., FU, C., & FANG, Z. (2021). Analysis of SET* and PMV to evaluate thermal comfort in prefab construction site offices: Case study in South China. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, 26, 101137. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CSITE.2021.101137
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Henry Javier-Ninahuaman, Kenny Montalvo-Morales, Jose Rojas-Guillén, Grimaldo Quispe-Santivañez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The content of articles which are published in each edition of Habitat Sustentable, is the exclusive responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the thinking or compromise the opinion of University of the Bio-Bio.
The author(s) conserve their copyright and guarantee to the journal, the right of first publication of their work. This will simultaneously be subject to the Creative Commons Recognition License CC BY-SA, which allows others to share-copy, transform or create new materials from this work for non-commercial purposes, as long as they recognize authorship and the first publication in this journal, and its new creations are under a license with the same terms.
Scientific Information Program/Concurso Fondos de Publicación de Revistas Científicas 2018/ Proyecto Mejoramiento de Visibilidad de Revistas UBB (Código:FP180007).
