Thermal performance of plaster composites reinforced with date palm fibers: experimental and numerical analysis
Youssef Khrissi, Mohamed Char, Amine Tilioua, Mohamed Azrour
Abstract. Trends towards sustainable construction growing interest in sustainable design and development has inspired a new generation of innovative composites for energy-efficient buildings. Date palm fibers are an abundant and widely available agricultural waste in arid and desert regions. Several works have shown the advantages of plant fibers for thermal insulation, but have not yet notably reported on plasters with these plant fibers. In this study, the thermal performance evaluation of date palm leaf fiber and treated composites was studied towards their potential applications for building materials. The formulation was employed using the gypsum with levels of fiber (0% to 5%, mass of fiber) added. The thermal characteristics of these formulations were further investigated through experiments. These values were then included in a COMSOL Multiphysics numerical model related to heat transfer across a wall containing referred materials. Results showed that a clear decrease in heat conductivity occurred when the fiber content increased. 5% fiber addition had the best insulating performance, folded with the optimum. This enhancement is attributed to the inherent thermal insulating characteristics of the fiber components of the plant. The numerical analysis supported the results obtained experimentally by showing a notable decrease in heat transfer through the composite wall.
Keywords
Sustainable Materials, Gypsum, Date Palm Fibers, Thermal Insulation, Numerical Simulation
Published online 1/10/2026, 8 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Youssef Khrissi, Mohamed Char, Amine Tilioua, Mohamed Azrour, Thermal performance of plaster composites reinforced with date palm fibers: experimental and numerical analysis, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 58, pp 54-61, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903933-8
The article was published as article 8 of the book Emerging Research in Materials for Environment, and Civil Infrastructure
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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