Experimental study of the influence of thermal mass on thermal comfort and cooling energy demand in residential buildings

Kuczyński, T.; Staszczuk, Anna

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2020.116984

Cited by 80 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…In fact, any material that has greater thermal mass can store more heat and therefore it will take longer to release the thermal energy after the heat source or the sun is gone. Studies has shown maintaining healthy and comfortable conditions inside a residential building without causing high energy consumption can be implemented by using high thermal mass build material like concrete instead of lightweight timber [23,24].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Control-Oriented, Data-Driven Models of Thermal Dynamics

Boskic¹,

Korda²,

Mezić³

2021

Energies

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We investigate data-driven, simple-to-implement residential environmental models that can serve as the basis for energy saving algorithms in both retrofits and new designs of residential buildings. Despite the nonlinearity of the underlying dynamics, using Koopman operator theory framework in this study we show that a linear second order model embedding, that captures the physics that occur inside a single or multi zone space does well when compared with data simulated using EnergyPlus. This class of models has low complexity. We show that their parameters have physical significance for the large-scale dynamics of a building and are correlated to concepts such as the thermal mass. We investigate consequences of changing the thermal mass on the energy behavior of a building system and provide best practice design suggestions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Control-Oriented, Data-Driven Models of Thermal Dynamics

Boskic¹,

Korda²,

Mezić³

2021

Energies

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“…A net-zeroenergy townhouse in Toronto [48] and low-energy timber house in the UK [49] have been shown to have the lowest heating demand in winter, but the risk of summer overheating in these dwellings were higher due to low thermal mass. Replacing lightweight wall material with cellular concrete lowered severe discomfort from 18.6 days to only 8 h in an experimentally designed test house, in central-western Poland [50].…”

Section: Absorbing the Transferred Heatmentioning

confidence: 97%

Building Adaptation to Extreme Heatwaves

Kumar

Alam

Sanjayan

2021

Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering

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Climate change is aggravating the summer heatwaves, making them more severe, frequent and prolonged. During the heatwave period, buildings are overheated due to heat gain from surroundings which poses significant risks to the occupants. Therefore, adapting our buildings to extreme heatwaves is of paramount importance. This chapter aims to identify the factors contributing to overheating buildings and the associated mitigation measures. The identified overheating factors are low energy building design, lightweight construction materials, internal heat gain, occupant behaviour and urban heat island effect. The overheating mitigation measures are divided into four categories (1) Modification of local microclimate, (2) resistance to heat transfer from outdoor to indoor (3) Absorption of transferred heat through thermal mass, and (4) Release of trapped heat from indoor to outdoor. The effectiveness of each mitigation measure category depends on indoor and outdoor environmental conditions. Numerical analysis showed that the risk of experiencing heat stress during extreme heatwave decreases with increasing energy star rating of the houses in Melbourne, Australia. If the entire existing lower energy star rated houses can be upgraded to 5.4 star, the percentage of Melbourne population experiencing six severe heat stress hours will decrease from 50% to only 4% at 36 °C mean outdoor temperature. The heat-related mortality and morbidity also decreases with increasing house energy rating. Net-benefit analysis showed that upgrading the lower energy rated houses to 5.4 star is highly beneficial with net-benefit becoming positive within 2-5 years. Emerging technology like dynamic insulation material (DIM) which changes the resistance of the external walls and ceilings depending on the indoor and outdoor temperature can help to minimise overheating in a highly insualted and air-tight building. Numerical simulation showed that DIM reduces the indoor air temperature in bedroom and living room by up to 1.1 °C and 1.2 °C, respectively, in the case study building in Melbourne, Australia.

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“…The majority of the studies uses dynamic modeling to identify this potential [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70]. Fewer studies have been implemented through the realization of experimental campaigns [71][72][73][74]. We provide in this paper (Section 5) the findings from a case study of a multifamily residential building located in Milan, Italy, which has been assessed via modeling and verified through experimental tests.…”

Section: Energy Flexibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining Sufficiency, Efficiency and Flexibility to Achieve Positive Energy Districts Targets

Erba

Pagliano

2021

Energies

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Energy efficiency, generation from renewable sources and more recently energy flexibility are key elements of present sustainability policies. However, we are beginning to see a recognition of the need to couple technological solutions with lifestyle and behavioral changes, sometimes labeled under the term “sufficiency”. Appropriate policies and design principles are necessary to enable sufficiency options, which in turn reveal that there is a bidirectional influence between the building and the district/city level. In this context, the authors discuss how city and building re-design should be implemented combining energy efficiency, flexibility, production from renewables and sufficiency options for achieving a positive energy balance at the district level even within the constraints of dense cities. Based on a review of recent advances, the paper provides a matrix of interactions between building and district design for use by building designers and city planners. It also compares possible scenarios implementing different strategies at the building and urban level in a case study, in order to evaluate the effect of the proposed integrated approach on the energy balance at yearly and seasonal time scales and on land take.

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Experimental study of the influence of thermal mass on thermal comfort and cooling energy demand in residential buildings

Cited by 80 publications

References 62 publications

Control-Oriented, Data-Driven Models of Thermal Dynamics

Control-Oriented, Data-Driven Models of Thermal Dynamics

Building Adaptation to Extreme Heatwaves

Combining Sufficiency, Efficiency and Flexibility to Achieve Positive Energy Districts Targets

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