Thermal Performance Assessment of Walls Made of Three Types of Sustainable Concrete Blocks by Means of FEM and Validated through an Extensive Measurement Campaign
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is an interesting paper by using finite element to evaluate the insulation of building envelope. ANSYS is the appropriate software to conduct the simulation and the results are sound.
Author Response
Answer: Thank you very much for your kind words. We fully agree with the Referee and have conducted the research through ANSYS as one of the most powerful packages for this purpose.
Besides, an English language polishing throughout the whole manuscript was carried out by a native speaker.
Reviewer 2 Report
Overall, well-written paper with very good attention to detail. The only part that surprised me was Figure 13, where I was expecting to see the thermal bridging stand out visually, due to the presence of insulation in the cavities- however the image does not show it- wonder if it is due to the color choice used for gradation in the image?
Author Response
Answer: Thank you very much for your kind words. Yes indeed the shape of the thermal bridging observed in figure 13 due to the presence of insulation doesn’t stand out visually as would have been expected but the color scale selected is the one that offers the best resolution as possible but comparing to the results previously obtained for these walls without insulation, as were shown previously in Figure 10, the differences are quite remarkable indeed. We have inserted in the manuscript some explanations in that sense (Page 12, lines 396-408, highlighted in red color).
Besides, an English language polishing throughout the whole manuscript was carried out by a native speaker.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The topic of the paper is very current and in full accordance with the focus of the journal. The article has a good structure and sufficient length. The citation apparatus is sufficient and current. The methods and results are well described. However, I would still pay a little attention to the discussion and conclusion. Here I recommend to generalize and emphasize the obtained results.
Thank you for the opportunity to review this quality paper. It was a pleasure to read it.
Author Response
Answer: Thank you very much for your kind words. We have emphasized the obtained results, highlighted in red color in the revised version of the manuscript mainly throughout the discussion section (page 12, lines 396-408 of the revised version) because we have considered the conclusion section clearly showed the obtained results in terms of comparative tests, although a final sentence has been added (page 14, lines 466-467 of the revised version).
Besides, an English language polishing throughout the whole manuscript was carried out by a native speaker.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
