ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 1

ARCH 1421/ BMP 111

THERMAL PERFORMANCE
IN BUILDING
 What does this mean to Architects

Improving thermal performance of buildings

through energy efficient design is an important
program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In other words:

 Through design, reduce the amount of energy used to

achieve comfortable levels of temperature and humidity,
and adequate levels of lighting in buildings.

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 Thermal performance of buildings

Under all situations, heat flows either into or

out of a building.

Conduction
Convection
Radiation

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 What is Conduction?
 Heat energy travels through/transfer between
bodies in direct contact.

 Heated excited molecules bump into and

transfer some of their energy into adjacent,
cooler ones.

 The faster the rate of heat flow, or molecular

interaction at a given temperature through a
material, the higher the conductivity.
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 What is Convection?

Sawdust movement in bowl

 Heat is transferred by the bodily movement of a carrying

medium (gas or liquid).

 Movement maybe self-generating due to temperature

differences or propelled by an applied force.

 The rate of heat transfer in convection depends on:

 Temperature difference
 The rate of movement of carrying medium
 Specific heat of the carrying medium.
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 What is Radiation?
 Heat energy transmitted from the source
through the space to the bodily contact without
a medium.
 Radiant energy is transmitted as electromagnetic
waves.
 Rate of heat flow depends on:
 Temperature of emitting and receiving surfaces.
 Certain qualities of these surfaces.
 Radiation received by a surface can be partly
absorbed and partly reflected (a + r =1).
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 Reflectance & Absorption ?
 Light colored, smooth & shiny surfaces tend to
have higher reflectance.
 A perfect reflective surface : r=1, a=0
 A perfect absorber (black surface) : r=0, a=1
 Measurement of radiation = W/m2

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 Thermal balance

Heat may be lost  outwards flow

or
Heat may be gained  inwards flow.

The net result may be either too hot,

too cold,
just right.

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 Heat Flow
 Heat energy tends to distribute itself evenly until
a perfectly diffused uniform thermal field is
achieved.

 It tends to flow from high temperature to lower

temperature zones by conduction, convection
and radiation.

 The greater the temperature difference the

faster the rate of heat flow.
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Heat Flow Rate Density of Heat Flow Rate

 It is equivalent to  In heat calculations – the

Power – the ability
term Intensity (which is
to carry out certain
work (energy to heat flow in relation to
carry out the work) unit area) is used.
in unit time.)  I = W/m2
 J/s = Watt (can be
measured in kilowatt
(1kW = 1000 W)

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 Modifications to adjust thermal
comfort

If it is likely to be too hot or too cold, then:

 Design the building to control heat flow,

and
 Add heating or cooling to modify temperature.

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Three basic considerations of design to
control heat flow

 Consider thermal properties of materials

(insulation or heat storage)

 Consider solar radiation (shading)

 Consider airtightness (ventilation)

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 Thermal properties of
materials

 Insulation
 Thermal mass heat storage

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 Insulation
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).
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Thermal Mass Heat Storage
 Solid mass elements such as concrete,
bricks, stone, wood, earth,
absorb and release heat slowly.

 The effect is to stabilize the effects of

diurnal temperature changes.

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 Airtightness and Ventilation

 Heat may be lost (exfiltration), or gained

(infiltration)
 Control of airflow in and out of a building
is an essential design consideration.
- Window design,
- vent and opening location
- avoid uncontrollable gaps and cracks

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 Conductivity, k-value
 In order to calculate heat transfer and to
compare different materials it is necessary to
quantify just how well a material conducts heat

Thermal conductivity (k-value)

 k = rate of heat flow in watts across a thickness
of 1m for a temperature difference of 1 degree C
and a surface area of 1m2

 Unit measurement is W/m* C

 The lower the k-value, the better the insulation

(good insulator = 0.03 W/m deg. C)

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 Resistance (Rt) and
Resistivity (r)
Rt = t / k m2C/W
where: Rt is the resistance of the material
(m² C/W),
t is the thickness of the material (m), and
k is the conductivity of the material
(W/m*C).
Resistivity is the reciprocal of k  r = 1/k
Resistivity is a material property and refers to that
material's ability to resist the flow of heat
Better insulators will have higher resistivity values
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 R-value and U-value
 Resistance is usually given as an "R" value
which is given as the resistance of one
square metre of the structural element
subject to a one degree temperature
difference.
 R includes surface air resistances.
Rt = Rso + ΣRn + Rsi m2C/W
The U-Value is the overall heat transfer
property of a structural element (W/m² C)
and is the reciprocal of its total resistance.
U= 1 W/m² C
Rt 22
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 Transmittance, U-value
 The reciprocal of the air to air resistance
is the air to air transmittance or U-value
(use for heat gain/loss calculation)
 U = 1/Rt (total thermal resistance) or U =
1/Rsi+1/R1+1/R2+….+1/Ra+Rso

 unit is W/m2 deg C except that the

difference is the air temperature.
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U = 1/Rsi+1/R1+1/R2+….+Rso
U  over all heat transmission

Rsi  standard inside surface resistance

R1, R2  Resistance of that particular material

Rso  standard outside surface resistance

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 Conduction Heat Gain or Loss

Also: Qc = U *A *Δ T
Watts

where: Qc is the resultant heat flow (Watts)

A is the surface area through which
the heat flows (m²)
⊿T is the temperature difference
between the warm and cold sides
of the material
U is the heat transmission 25
 A. Calculate the U-value for the
following plastered wall facing Tutorial
south and sheltered. Thermal
conductivity, in W/m*C, are:
cement sand plastering 0.53
and dense concrete 1.5 The
standard thermal resistances,
in m2.C/W are: outside surface
0.128, inside surface 0.123.

 (B) Given the wall is 7.00m

length by 4.00m height and
the outside air temperature is
33oC and inside air
temperature is 27oC. Calculate
the heat gain through
conductance (Watts) for the
plastered wall based on the U-
value from question (A). 26
Thank You

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