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This paper presents a study on energy performance of an earth air heat exchanger (EAHE) for buildings in Maghreb climatic context (Oran, Bechar and Adrar cities in Algeria). In order to check the influence of the material, two air conducts (one of galvanized sheet metal and the other in polyvinyl chloride–PVC) are considered under the same geometric conditions (a 20 m conduct length, 120 mm diameter and 2 m burial depth). They are used separately for the ventilation in simple current flow of two adjoining rooms constituting a test cell located at the university campus IGCMO-USTOMB (Oran, Algeria). An experimental device has been set up to measure the temperature at different points (air inlet/outlet air duct). Measurements were run in August 2015, and the monitoring of both exchangers allowed us to evaluate their cooling performance: 35.41% for the Zinc pipe and 58.42% for the PVC pipe. Experimental results were compared to those obtained from the simulation (under the Trnsys 16) and a fair similarity is obtained. In order to optimize the energy performance of the exchanger (EAHE), numerical simulations are carried out by varying different parameters: climate, burial depth, length and diameter of the duct. Other simulations have shown that the energy supplied by the cooling exchanger (EAHE) is more significant in the south of the country (Adrar and Bechar) than in the north (Oran). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adobe constructions have always existed, particularly in the Sahara's dry and scorching regions. This material has a high thermal inertia and can protect buildings from inclement weather. Its mechanical resistance, on the other hand, is still low and has to be increased. The current research, thus, investigated the effect of sand salinity on the thermal and mechanical properties of adobe. The sand needed to create adobe blocks was purchased from 2 distinct locations. The first one was normal sand while the other one was salty sand rich in SO4 - sulfate. We considered different ratios of each sand from 10, 20 up to 90 %. The results showed that the adobe made from the sulfate-containing sand improved the compressive strength by about 36 % from 1.91 to 2.58 MPa, and flexural strength by about 71 %, from 0.35 to 0.60 MPa, and reduced the thermal conductivity by 14 % from 0.86 to 0.72 w/mk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]