1 Thermal: Heat Flow Paths

The thermal behaviour of a building is basically a function of its form (architecture), its construction (materials and workmanship), local macro and micro-climate conditions, and by its use.

A typical building structure consists of many components of different thermal conductances arranged variously in series and parallel. For example, the side of a house may have some regions of cavity brick wall into which are inset some metal window frames fitted with single sheets of glass.

Thus, there will be some parts of the room behind that are separated from the outside by only one layer of glass, in parallel with some parts that have two layers of thin metal (the window frame), in parallel with some parts that have a layer of brick in series with an air gap, another layer of brick and a coating of plaster. The overall thermal performance of the wall will be a function of all of these.

Fortunately, enough is known about various materials to enable the calculation of an overall thermal character for most common building systems so that an overall conductance (or resistance ) can be derived. Such values can be calculated for single glazed and double glazed windows, concrete slab floors, suspended wooden floors, walls and so on. These characteristics are usually written as an Rvalue or a U-Value for each of the various forms of construction and/or structural elements. More complex simulation techniques add a lag and decrement value or a set of response factors to describe the dynamic thermal behaviour of the element.

A whole building can therefore be modelled mathematically by taking all the various components and their areas into account, and by subjecting the hypothetical structure to a dynamic regime of internal energy inputs, external solar loads, outside air temperatures, wind velocities, etc.

Thus, if all the fundamental sources of heat loss and heat gain in a building are properly considered, it is possible to determine quite accurately the resulting internal conditions within it and, more importantly, how comfortable it is likely to be or how much air-conditioning energy will be required to make it so. Losses and Gains

It is well understood in the building services industry that commercial office buildings tend to be dominated by the need for cooling, almost regardless of the local climate. This is because offices are usually characterised by a very high volume-to-exposed-surface ratio and the amount of electrical

2 and electronic equipment as well as its occupancy results in more heat being generated inside than is lost to the outside. On the other hand, houses and other domestic buildings tend to be dominated far more by the extremes of local climate as rooms are much smaller compared to the extent of exposed surfaces.

To determine the thermal state of a building, we first add up all the different sources of heat gain within and around it, and then subtract off all the sources heat loss. If the gains are greater than the losses, then the building will gradually heat up - requiring some sort of auxiliary cooling in order to maintain a steady internal temperature. Similarly, if losses are greater than gains, the building will gradually cool down - requiring some auxiliary heating. The amount of auxiliary heating and cooling required depends on the magnitude of the loss/gain differential.

Thus, to understand how a building might perform under different conditions, and therefore allow us to come up with energy efficient and comfortable designs, knowledge of all the potential sources of heat and energy flow within a building is essential. Energy Flow Paths

Without attempting to be entirely complete, the main energy flow paths in all buildings include the following: Long-wave Radiation

Long-wave radiation refers to heat energy radiated by objects at terrestrial temperatures (below 100C). All elements both inside and outside a building are always exchanging heat by radiation when they are at different temperatures.

Thus the designer must consider radiant exchanges from adjacent structures, paved areas, asphalt car parks and any other dark-coloured surfaces that face towards the building. In most cases the concern is excessive heat gains as these dark surfaces can sometimes be heated by direct solar radiation to well above 50C. In colder climates where solar radiation is not as high, the external surfaces of the building tend to be at roughly the same temperature as other adjacent surfaces so heat loss by this mechanism is not normally a concern. Short-wave Radiation

Short wave radiation is basically solar radiation from the Sun in the form of infra-red and visible light. It comprises both sunlight (direct solar radiation) and daylight (diffuse radiation from the sky

3 and reflected off other external surfaces). Window glass is almost completely transparent to this form of energy so window size and orientation as well as shading devices and the absorptance/reflectance of both internal and external surfaces are very important. Depending on the climate, this source of heat gain is often quite desirable, offering the designer an effective and free heating system in winter. In hotter climates, a balance must be struck between unrestricted solar access in winter and complete solar exclusion in summer. Air Flow

This refers to both the flow of air into and out of a building and any convection currents that occur within it. Flow in or out of a building occurs by ventilation through vents, open windows and doors, or by infiltration through gaps in the fabric and porous materials.

It is greatly affected by opening sizes, construction detailing and by local wind velocity and direction. Convection currents refer to the movement of internal air due to temperature differentials within it, usually referred to as the 'stack effect' as it was originally noticed in large chimney stacks. This effect is most likely to occur near atria or other voids between floors and acts to transport large amounts of heat upwards. In many buildings the stack effect is used as the primary means of inducing natural ventilation and removing excess heat from spaces. Once again, this effect can be useful at some times and detrimental at others so the designer must consider possible controls. Casual Gains

Casual gains refer to heat entering a space from the lighting and equipment systems within it, as well as the occupants themselves. A standard office lighting system may add around 20 W/m of floor area whilst the average office worker would add around 70 W or heat. Such gains have both a sensible and a latent component. Sensible heat acts to increase the sensorable air temperature of the space whilst latent heat occurs when moisture evaporates, increasing the humidity of the air (and therefore its energy content without necessarily increasing it temperature) and storing it for release later when the air cools slightly and condensation occurs. Climate

Whilst heat flows due to climate only really occur through the mechanisms described above, it does have a significant effect on the magnitude of gains or losses and where they come from. The nature of climate adds extra complexity as it establishes a pattern within which the amount and type of flow can change quite dramatically at different times of the year.

For example, in summer large areas of window may be desirable for natural ventilation, however in winter it may be so cold outside that any gains through direct solar radiation are not sufficient to

4 offset losses by conduction through the glass. This requires the designer to carefully consider many options and their effects as the solution may not be as simple as just specifying double glazing. HVAC & Other Plant

In most cases, it is the job of the Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning (HVAC) system to offset any thermal imbalance in the building so that internal conditions remain stable at comfortable levels. Your job, as the designer, is to ensure that you do not unnecessarily waste energy by carelessly creating too large an imbalance, requiring excessive HVAC systems to compensate. Unfortunately it is never as simple as just pumping in hot air when it is too cold and cold air when it is too hot. Everyone has been to at least one building in which the guy sitting in the summer sun next to the window is quite comfortable whilst those at their desks near the lift core freeze. Such a situation requires quite complex zoning strategies, which many architects are completely oblivious to. They simply deliver their completed design to the services engineer who then tries to make it work. What the architect is not told is that, to actually make it work, many of the air outlets have to have their own little heater so that, when the massive chiller on the roof pumps out air at 12C to meet the requirements of the window guy, the heaters near the lifts have to heat it back up to 16C so that those guys don't freeze.

Whilst some VAV and distributed systems overcome such problems, you get my point. Efficient HVAC design rally starts with the architect, whether they know it or not. Many firms are now including the services engineer as a fundamental part of the design team right from the concept stage. However, a good working knowledge of HVAC systems is still important for the designer.

Thermal: Insulation

Essentially, insulation is the use of a material with a low overall conductance to reduce the energy flow across another material. The insulation acts to retard and/or reduce the flow of heat, thus it must have a high resistance (resistance being the inverse of conductance).

In general, apart from vacuum, the worst conductors of heat are gases, and these insulate best when convection within the gas can be suppressed. Fibrous blankets in which the gas is trapped in a mat made from a low conductivity solid - such as glass or organic fibre (wool or polyester) - are good insulators, and closed-cell foams in which the gas is trapped in bubbles in a poor conductor such as polystyrene or polyurethane are even better. Insulation Effects

5 Many materials can be thought of as insulative, but basically there are three main types of insulative effect. Resistive

Resistive insulation, also called bulk insulation, insulates against the transfer to heat simply through its resistance to conduction. Because air has one of the highest resistances to conduction, the best resistive insulators are those that trap small pockets of air within themselves.

Insulators such as glass-fibre, mineral wool and expanded polystyrene work extremely well as long as the air within these pockets cannot move and thus transfer heat by convection. Some of the worst resistive insulators are, obviously, highly conductive metals such as steel and copper. Reflective

Reflective insulation works by reducing radiative heat transfer. The ability of a material to absorb or emit infra-red radiation depends on both the nature and colour of its surface. In most building materials there is a proportional relationship between the ability to emit and absorb radiation. The best absorbers and emitters are usually matte-black whilst the worst are shiny, white and reflective. Because they only reduce radiative transfer, reflective insulation is only useful on the inner or outer surfaces of a composite material or within a cavity. Capacitive

Capacitive insulation has virtually no effect in steady-state heat flow, that is when temperatures are relatively constant on each side of a material. If the temperature on either side fluctuates, however, capacitive insulation effects become important. Because heat transfer is not instantaneous, diurnal variations take time to pass through building elements. For some materials like glass this is not that noticeable, however for double-brick or rammed earth walls this can take up to eight or nine hours. This delay is termed thermal lag and is measured as the time difference between peak outside temperature and the peak temperature on the inside surface of a element. Forms of Insulation

Although insulation can be made from a variety of materials, it usually comes in five physical forms: blankets, blown-in, loose-fill, rigid foam board or reflective films. Each type is made to fit a particular part of a building. Blankets

6 In the form of bats or rolls, blankets are flexible products made from glass or mineral fibres. They are available in widths suited to standard spacings of wall studs, ceiling or floor joists. Continuous rolls can be hand-cut and trimmed to fit. They are available with or without vapour retarding facings. Bats with a special flame-resistant facing are available in various widths for basement walls where the insulation may be left exposed. Fibre glass is manufactured from sand and recycled glass, and rock wool is made from basaltic rock and recycled material from steel mill wastes.

Blown-in

Loose-fill insulation includes loose fibres. or fibre pellets that are blown into building cavities or roof-spaces using special pneumatic equipment. Another form includes fibres that are co-sprayed with an adhesive to make them resistant to settling. The blown-in material can provide additional resistance to air infiltration if the insulation is sufficiently dense. This type of insulation is usually made of fibre glass, rock wool or cellulose, although there are some local products based on sheeps wool. Cellulose is made from recycled plant material treated with fire retardant chemicals.

Foamed in Place

Polyurethane foam insulation can be applied by a professional applicator using special equipment to meter, mix, and spray the foam directly into cavities within the building. The foam then expands as it sets to fully seal the cavity. This form of insulation can therefore help to reduce air leaks.

Rigid Board

This kind of insulation is made from fibrous materials or plastic foams and is pressed or extruded into board-like forms and moulded pipe-coverings. These provide both thermal and acoustical insulation, strength with low weight, and coverage with few heat loss paths.

Rigid foam boards are made of polyisocyanurate, extruded polystyrene (XPS or blueboard), expanded polystyrene (EPS or beadboard), or other materials. These boards are lightweight, provide structural support, and generally have a high R-values. Rigid board insulation is made to be used in confined spaces such as exterior walls, basements, foundation and stem walls, concrete slabs, and cathedral ceilings. Such boards may also be faced with a reflective foil that reduces heat flow when next to an air space. Reflective

Reflective films are usually fabricated from aluminium foils with a variety of backings such as craft paper, plastic film, polyethylene bubbles or cardboard. The resistance to heat flow depends on the heat flow direction, with this type of insulation being most effective in reducing downward heat flow. Reflective systems are typically located between roof rafters, floor joists, or wall studs.

If a single reflective surface is used alone and faces an open area, such as a roof-space, it is often termed a radiant barrier. Radiant barriers are installed in buildings to reduce both summer heat gain and winter heat loss. They are most effective in hot climates rather than in cool climates. All radiant barriers must have a low remittance (0.1 or less) and high reflectance (0.9 or more). Selecting an Insulation

The type of insulation you use will be determined by the nature of the spaces in the building that you plan to insulate. For example, since you cannot conveniently 'pour' insulation into an overhead space, blankets, spray or board products, or reflective systems are used between the joists of an unfinished basement ceiling. The most economical way to fill closed cavities in finished walls is with blown-in insulation applied with pneumatic equipment or with foamed-in-place polyurethane foam.

It is important to know that the different forms of insulation can be used together. For example, you can add bat or roll insulation over loose-fill insulation, or vice-versa. Usually, material of higher

8 density (weight per unit volume) should not be placed on top of lower density insulation that is easily compressed. Doing so will reduce the thickness of the material underneath and thereby lower its Rvalue.

Thermal: Resistance

Conduction occurs when a temperature differential causes heat flow within a material or between materials in thermal contact. The ability of materials to transfer heat as a result of a given temperature difference varies by factors of many thousands - from metals like silver and copper which are excellent conductors, to gases like argon which are very poor conductors.

The rate at which heat flows through a slab of homogenous material under steady-state conditions is given by:

where Q = the resultant heat flow (Watts) A = the surface area through which the heat flows (m) dT = the temperature difference between the warm and cold sides of the material (K), and R = the thermal resistance per unit area of the piece of material (mK/W).

The value of the thermal resistance of a piece of material can be thought of as the temperature difference across it required to produce one unit of heat flow per unit area. Resistance vs Resistivity

Resistivity is a material property and refers to that material's ability to resist the flow of heat. Resistance on the other hand is an object property and depends on both the resistivity of the material and its overall thickness within that particular object. Conductance vs Conductivity

9 Conductivity ( k ) is a material property and means its ability to conduct heat through its internal structure. Conductance on the other hand is an object property and depends on both its material and thickness.

Conductance equals conductivity multiplied by thickness, in units of W/mK. As conductivity is the reciprocal of resistivity, the total resistance of a material can therefore be given as its total thickness divided by total conductivity.

As resistivity is the inverse of conductivity, and conductivity values are far more readily available for most building materials than resistivities, it is possible to calculate the material's resistance using conductivity as follows:

where R = the thermal resistance per unit area of the piece of material (mK/W), t = represents the thickness of the material (m), and k = represents the conductivity of the material(W/mK). Total Thermal Resistance

A building structure is usually composed of a number of different materials which may be considered to act: In Series When materials are place in series, their thermal resistances are added so that the same area will conduct less energy for a given temperature difference. An example of this is a cavity-brick wall, with two layers of brick, an air gap and 12mm of plasterboard - all in series. In Parallel When materials are placed in parallel, their thermal conductances are added and the total energy flow is increased for a given temperature difference. An example of this would be a cavity-brick wall with a window inserted within it.

10 The total resistance of an element includes all of the resistances of the individual materials that make it up as well as both the internal and external air-film resistance. It's units are the inverse of conductivity, ie: mK/W. Air Film Resistance

Air film resistance results from convection currents at the surface of a material. As the surface heats up or cools down, it affects the temperature of the air immediately adjacent. This then starts to rise or fall depending on whether it is hotter or colder. This has the same effect as increasing the resistance of the material to the flow of heat. The following table gives standard air-film resistance values.

CONDITION

R (mK/W) 8.13 18.18

Internal Air-Film Resistance ( Rsi ) External Air-Film Resistance ( Rso )

Table 1 - Standard air-film resistances.

Composite Building Materials

For a composite building element made up of a number of layers of different materials, its total resistance is given as:

And the resistance of the nth layer is:

11 where Rt = the total overall resistance of the element (mK/W), Rn = the resistance of the nth material within a composite element (mK/W), tn = the thickness of the nth material in a composite element (m), and kn = is the conductivity in of the nth material in a composite element.

Fortunately, enough is known about various materials to enable the calculation of an overall thermal character for most common fixed-dimension building systems so that an overall resistance (or conductance) can be derived.

Figures can be derived for single glazed and double glazed windows, concrete slab floors, suspended wooden floors, walls and so on. These characteristics are usually written as either an R-Value (for insulations) or a U-Vaue for other elements. The R-Value

Resistance is usually given as an "R" value which is the resistance of one square metre of the material subject to a one degree temperature difference. Thus an R value of a typical fibreglass bat may be given as R = 2.4, with the implication that it has the units mK/Watt. This means that if one takes the area of insulation in square metres multiplied by the temperature difference in degrees Kelvin and divided by 2.4, one gets the heat flow in Watts. For example, 100 square metres of R2.4 insulation, exposed to a 20K difference, will pass about 833 Watts.

In fact, the heat loss would be expected to be slightly from this because there is an additional resistance in getting the energy from the inside air to the wall surface, and from the outside wall surface to the outside air. Moreover, the heat transfer on the outside surface may vary with wind speed. The U-Value

The U-Value is an important concept in building design. It represents the air-to-air transmittance of an element. This refers to how well an element conducts heat from one side to the other, which makes it the reciprocal of its thermal resistance. Thus, if we calculate the thermal resistance of an element, we can simply invert it to obtain the U-Value ( U = 1 / Rt ):

12

The U-Value is a property of a material. Thus its units are Watts per metre squared Kelvin (' W/m K' ) . This means that, if a wall material had a U-Value of 1 W/m K, for every degree of temperature difference between the inside and outside surface, 1 Watt of heat energy would flow through each metre squared of its surface.

As an example, assume a wall with a U-Value of 4.5 W/mK and a surface area of 10 m. If the outside temperature was 30C and the inside was 25C, we could calculate the total heat gain due to conduction through the wall as follows:

where Q = the resultant heat flow (Watts) A = the surface area through which the heat flows (m) dT = the temperature difference between the warm and cold sides of the material (K), and R = the thermal resistance per unit area of the piece of material (mK/W). Cavities and Air Spaces

Heat is transferred across an air space by a combination of conduction, convection and radiation. Heat transfer by conduction is inversely proportional to depth of the air space. Convection is mainly dependant on the height of the air space and its depth. Heat transfer by radiation is relatively independent of both thickness and height, but is greatly dependent on the reflectivity of the internal surfaces. All three mechanisms are dependent on the temperatures of surface temperatures. When all three heat transfer processes occur at the same time, the overall thermal resistance of air spaces, both reflective and non-reflective, becomes virtually independent of gap depth when it is greater than around 25mm.

The resistance of a thick air space can be increased by subdividing it into several thin layers. The resistance of the whole space is then the sum of the resistances of the thin air spaces plus the

13 resistances of the separators. This approach is most effective when the material used to subdivide the space has a low emissivity, such as an aluminium foil.

In this case the heat transfer by radiation is reduced to less than 10 per cent of what it would be if the separator were ordinary craft paper. It is important to remember, however, that foil by itself does not provide thermal resistance; foil facing an air space increases the resistance of the air space. The increase in resistance achieved by subdividing will be reduced if any air is allowed to move from one space to another or if the reflective surface becomes coated with dirt or condensation. Thermal Bridges

The introduction of a section of good conductor in parallel with materials of high resistance is often referred to as "thermal bridging" because it provides a path for heat flow which by-passes the main insulation.

An example of this may be a stud wall with metal C-channels. Even if the spaces between are insulated, each stud provides a direct conduit for heat to flow from one side of the wall to the other. Some of the references below provide an excellent discussion on thermal bridges.