Experimental assessment of a green wall modular system: effects on heat transfer and internal surface temperature control

This work presents the first results of an experimental monitoring campaign conducted on a vertical green modular system (VGMS) mounted on a test cell. Three different types of growing media and one plant species, Lonicera nitida, have been so far tested. The industrial residue of the local production of chair felt pads was chosen as sustainable experimental alternative substrate material. The three different substrata were made by changing the percentage of shredded felt. Nine green modules, south exposed, have been mounted on a reference wall in a test box; three of them were contemporary monitored and compared with a plastered reference wall. During the measurement campaign data concerning boundary conditions and module thermal behaviour have been continuously measured. In addition to these parameters, in order to investigate the influence of the plant species on the environmental parameters, leaf area of six plants for each combination of species and substrata was calculated.The data analysis allowed to assess the thermal insulation effectiveness in the winter period and the behaviour of the system for what concern cooling loads in the summer period. Particularly interesting was the investigation of the influence of different substrata and plant species on heat fluxes and external surface temperatures.