Investigation of thermal effects of different growing media used in green wall applications

As a result of the concreting of the cities, the relationship of the people living here with the natural environment has decreased. This situation has increased the longing of people living in big cities for natural environments and has caused them to want to see the elements of the natural environment more in their living spaces. The solution that today's architecture brings to this situation is green wall applications in which plants are integrated into architectural design. Besides the aesthetic benefits of green wall applications, these applications have become quite common thanks to important functions such as sound and heat insulation and treatment of gray water. Although the studies on the subject reveal the positive effects of green wall applications on thermal insulation, the contribution of the growing media used in these applications to this effect has not been fully explained. This study was carried out in order to reveal the usability of municipal and agricultural origin organic wastes as a growing medium in green wall applications and to examine the effects of this use on heat insulation. For this purpose, the growing media were prepared by mixing the main materials, peat and municipal solid waste compost, with 12.5, 25, 50% (v / v) of rice hull and perlite. Some physical properties of the prepared growing media were examined and it was determined that the compost was composed of very small particles, its volume weight was high, and its porosity could not provide the desired values in ideal growing media. However, when these values are mixed with rice hull and perlite, it has been determined that they approach the ideal values. In the thermal measurements made in green wall applications with and without plants, it was understood that both applications have significant effects on thermal insulation. According to the measurements, it was observed that the applications containing only growing medium were 6 degrees (50% Peat + 50% Perlite), and the green wall applications using plants were 14 degrees lower than the control application without the green wall. The results obtained in growing media containing compost are similar to those using peat. In addition, although the effects of rice husk and perlite additions to thermal insulation are similar, it can be said that the use of perlite increases thermal insulation. When all the obtained results are examined together, it is concluded that the green wall applications have an important role in providing thermal insulation, besides the shading provided by the plants, the growing media also plays an important role.