Thermal properties of historical Hungarian masonry bricks

Abstract

Hungary’s building stock, primarily constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries from traditional masonry, includes bricks of varying quality and material properties. Current renovation legislation mandates compliance with thermal requirements, but aged materials’ thermal properties are often unknown, complicating energy conformity verification. This research examined historical masonry bricks from 11 Hungarian brickworks from the early 20th century to create a database for better understanding and preserving historical buildings’ energetic performance. Thermal properties, including diffusivity, conductivity, and volumetric heat capacity, were determined using the modified transient plane source method, and density was tested. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the measured data. The findings provide essential data for building energy calculations and computational modelling of masonry constructions’ thermal performance.