Experimental investigation of the thermal performances of an extensive green roof in the Mediterranean area

Piero Bevilacqua - Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy, Domenico Mazzeo - Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy, Roberto Bruno - Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy, Natale Arcuri - Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy

Nowadays green roofs are a well-consolidated technology used in several countries since these systems can be employed both to generate considerable energy savings and to improve the thermal performances of buildings. This paper deals with an experimental analysis of an extensive green roof, installed on a building of the University of Calabria (Italy, Lat. 39.3◦ N). The thermal performances of different layering solutions are analysed under typical Mediterranean climate conditions with reference to a traditional roof system. The analysis showed that the green roof is able to reduce the temperature at the interface with the structural roof, on average, by 12 ◦C with respect to a black bituminous roof in summer and to maintain, onaverage, a value thatis 4 ◦Chigher in winter. Themeasured temperatures allowed to calculate the transferred heat through the building roof, showing negative heat fluxes for the whole period and a reduction ofthe thermal energy entering the indoor environment of 100% in summer, proving the passive cooling effect of the green roof, and a reduction between 30% and 37% of the thermal energy exiting the indoor environment in winter. The experimental data have been employed also to conduct a dynamic characterization of the different vegetated solutions, showing that the different green roofs solutions are able to generate values of decrement factor varying between 0.135 and 0.193 and a time lag between 3.1 h and 4.8 h, which can substantially improve the dynamic properties of traditional roof structures, especially in the case of roofs with limited dynamic performances.

//Show ZOHO chat on Geoplast.it English