Thermal Simulation of Buildings and Rooms in VTB through Thermal

Resistance Circuit Equivalents

Felician Stratmann, USC, summer 2009

Advisors: Dr. Dougal, Dr. Kondratiev, Dr. Smith

Abstract

The thermal performance of a building is a quintessential element of efficient design. In order to

build an efficient structure, its qualities must first be understood and tested through simulation.
Using thermal resistance circuits, it is possible to model the performance of a building or room
through an analogy to electrical concepts. To further advance the application of this analogy,
models were programmed for use in USC’s Virtual Test Bed (VTB) software. These models
represent the basic thermal properties of heat transfer, resistance, capacitance, and temperature.
Each model provides parameters so as to closely simulate actual properties and conditions. The
models can then be arranged in a VTB schematic to be run for a given time frame, with specific
properties (such as heat or temperature) plotted for analysis. The initial stages of this simulation
were validated against a small-scale room model, designed to mirror actual construction.
Although the results of the experiment and the simulation were not without difference, they
validated the underlying theory and proved the utility of VTB in thermal simulation through
thermal resistance circuits.

Introduction

As climate change becomes an increasingly meaningful factor in the lives of people across the
globe, a new upturn in “green” engineering has risen to the challenge of creating a more
sustainable style of living and construction. At the heart of this endeavor lays the need to be more
efficient, and in turn, it is essential to understand exactly what makes a certain design more
efficient. To tackle the wealth of possibilities presented in the design of a product, simulation
must inevitably play a major role.

An area of particular interest in efficiency is that of the construction of buildings. The greatest
priority here lies in the thermal dynamics of its structure. A particular building can be made
vastly more efficient by use of materials that, by way of their properties or design, filter out or
take advantage of the dynamics of the environment in which they are placed. By using materials
that properly insulate a building, or designing a building to make maximum use of light and solar
radiation, vast amounts of energy can be stored through decreases in the need for heating, air
conditioning, and lighting. To best analyze the factors that determine the efficiency of a building
or space, thermal simulation can be applied, and one such method is through thermal resistance
circuits.
The theory behind thermal resistance circuits is actually the same theory that lies behind any
normal electrical circuit. Heat is analogous to current and temperature is analogous to voltage.
There are components that provide heat, components that provide a temperature setting,
components that resist the flow of heat, components that store and discharge heat, and
components that do a combination of storing and resisting. Almost any material can be modeled
as one of these basic elements. Providing the heat to flow through these components is a heat
source of a certain wattage, analogous to a current source. An ambient temperature can provide a
temperature setting for components, just as a voltage source provides voltage to a circuit.

In a thermal resistance circuit, a thermal resistor is any material that resists the flow of heat, just
as a resistor in an electrical circuit resists current. Thermal capacitors store the heat that they
receive and can discharge it, similar in nature to an electrical capacitor. There are also
components that not only resist heat in a meaningful way, but also store it. These components
can be seen as those with a significant thermal mass and resistance.

Given a material, its thermal resistance (RT) in conductive heat transfer can be computed by a
relation of length (L), area (A), and conductivity (k):

RT-Conduction = L / (k*A)

In a situation of convective heat transfer (as likely on an exterior wall), the resistance can be
computed as:

RT-Convection = 1 / (h * A)

Where h is the heat transfer coefficient:

h = ΔQ / (A * ΔT * Δt)

Where ΔQ is the heat input or lost (Joules), A is the area, ΔT is the difference in temperature
between the solid surface and surrounding fluid area, and Δt is the time period (seconds).

For a thermal capacitor, its capacitance (C) can be calculated by its specific heat (c) and mass
(m):

C=c*m

Based on these underlying concepts, a thermal circuit can so be arranged as to closely simulate
the thermal dynamics of an actual structure. This, combined with USC’s powerful Virtual Test
Bed software, can provide a useful tool for simulation.

VTB is a piece of software developed by USC’s Electrical Engineering department used to

prototype dynamic systems. The utility of VTB lies in its capability of proof-testing new designs
prior to hardware construction. (For more information: http://vtb.engr.sc.edu/)
Methods

Actual model construction –

So as to have an actual model to test the simulation against, a small-scale model had to be built.
This model consisted of one wall, one floor, and four sides of Styrofoam insulation. The wall
was construction in a fashion similar to actual building construction. The layers were arranged as
follows (from the outside in, with function in thermal resistance circuit):

● 1’ x 1’ x ¼” Ceramic Tile – thermal mass

● 1’ x 1’ x ¼” Plywood – thermal resistor

● 9” x 9” x ¾” Styrofoam Insulation enclosed in 1x2 lumbar – thermal resistor

● 1’ x 1’ x ½” Drywall – thermal resistor

The floor was constructed as follows:

● 1’ x 1’ x ¼” Plywood – thermal resistor

● 10 ½ ” x 10 ½ ” x 1 1/2” Styrofoam Insulation enclosed in 1x2 lumbar – thermal resistor

● ¼” Copper Tubing – theoretical cooling system

● 10 ½” x 10 ½” – Copper plate – theoretical cooling system

The cooling system was found to be ineffective and was not used.

To provide heat to the system, a 500W work lamp was placed approximately one foot away from
the model. This lamp was then wired to a relay which was in turn controlled by a TIP120 power
transistor. The TIP120 was connected to a National Instruments USB-6009 I/O for control
through LabVIEW software.

In order to collected data on the temperatures inside and outside the model room, thermocouples
were placed on the outside surface of the wall, as well as on the inside surface of the wall. These
thermocouples provided a voltage based on temperature which could then be read from across a
resistor using the NI USB-6009 units. Using LabVIEW, readings were taken every minute and
inserted directly into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

To assure that the model room represented a well-mixed system, a small fan was placed inside
the room so as to provide circulation and minimize the resistance of the air in the enclosed space.
The fan was controllable via a TIP120 wired in the same manner as that of the light.

The cooling system, which was discarded after realization of its inefficiency, consisted of a
reservoir from which a small aquarium pump pumped cold water into an elevated Coke bottle, -
modified so as to act as a Y connector (providing water to both the model room and to a separate
experiment). The pump was wired to a transformer to provide the appropriate 12V. The system
was again wired to a relay, controlled by a TIP120 just as the light. Running off the head pressure
from the elevated coke bottle, the water ran through the pipes in the model room and back into
the reservoir. The copper plate was added in hopes of increasing the system’s cooling power by
way of adding surface area on which heat transfer could take place.

Programming of the Models –

To simulate a thermal system in VTB, several new models (called entities in VTB) had to be
constructed. These models, and their respective parameters and/or inputs, were:

 Thermal resistor for conduction

o Thickness (m) o Conductivity – k - (W/mK)

o Area (m2)

 Thermal resistor for convection

o Area (m2) o Input – Fluid temperature (°C)

o Input – Surface temperature (°C) o Input – Heat flow (W)

 Thermal capacitor

o Density (kg/m3) o Specific heat (J/gK)

o Initial temperature (°C) o Volume (m3)

 Thermal mass (resistance and capacitance)

o Area (m2) o Initial temperature (°C)

o Conductivity (W/mK) o Specific heat (J/gK)

o Density (kg/m3) o Thickness (m)

 Heat source – signal dependent

o Input – heat level

 Ambient temperature – signal dependent

o Input – temperature level

 Thermometer

o Output – temperature (°C)

  Solar flux * (not yet functional)

o Angle - ° o Input – hour

o Atmospheric transmissivity o Input – month

o Latitude - ° o Input – day

o Longitude - ° o Input - year

o Orientation - °

Most of these entities function in essentially exactly the same as their electrical counterparts,
with the only real difference being the units and parameters. To distinguish a thermal resistance
circuit from a standard circuit, new icons were created that reflected the component’s function.
These new entities also had parameters that reflected the properties of the materials they would
be simulating.

The programming for these entities was then done in C# using the VTBPro framework. The basis
of this programming was the modeling of the elements in the resistive companion (RC)
technique. This method requires that a component be expressed in a specific form that allows for
handling interconnections between devices. (For a detailed description and more on modeling in
VTB: http://vtb.ee.sc.edu/developers/ModelingGuide.pdf)

The completed entities appear as such in VTB:

Thermal Mass
Thermal Resistor Thermal Resistor Thermal Capacitor
Convection
 Signal Dependent Heat Solar Flux*
Thermometer
Source Ambient Temperature

With the entities complete, a schematic could be created in VTB to simulate the setup of the
actual experiment:

The various entities were configured with the follow parameters:

 Thermal Mass - "Tile"

o Area - .093 m o Initial Temperature - 24 °C

o Conductivity - .34 W/mK o Specific Heat - .92 J/gK

o Density - 2709.34 kg/m3 o Thickness - .00635 m

 Thermal Resistor - "Plywood"

o Area - .093 m2 o Conductivity - .13 W/mK

 o Thickness - .000635 m

 Thermal Resistor - "Insulation"

o Area - .052 m2 o Thickness - .019 m

o Conductivity - .033 W/mK

 Thermal Resistor - "Drywall"

o Area - .092 m2 o Thickness - .0127 m

o Conductivity - .17 W/mK

 Thermal Capacitor - "Air"

o Density - 1.293 kg/m3 o Specific Heat - 1.012 J/gK

o Initial Temperature - 24 °C o Volume - m3

 Thermal Resistors - "InsulationTop", "InsulationFloor", "Insulation1", "Insulation2",

"Insulation3", "Insulation4"

o Area - .093 m2 o Thickness - .019 m

o Conductivity - .033 W/mK

The "WallOutsideTemp" Ambient Temperature entity to the left of the schematic is set to
replicate the outside temperatures of the model room. The signal associated with it feeds the
entity temperature values ranging from 30 to 70 degrees C, as was noted through
experimentation. The component was placed in parallel to the heat source so as to simulate the
"parallel" nature of heat/temperature in the environment.

To the right of this ambient temperature, a Signal Dependent Heat Source simulates the lamp
which was set to turn on every 2 hours - running for 1 hour and off for another. The signal was
therefore set at a frequency of .0001389Hz (T=7200sec), with an offset and amplitude of 150W.
The range was not set to 0-500W because not all of the 500W that the lamp gives off reaches the
wall. Large percentages of the 500W radiate to different sides or are otherwise dissipated.
Although, admittedly, the range of 0-300W was ultimately arbitrary in running the simulation, it
was an educated guess at the actual wattage reaching the wall.

To the right of the heat source is an instance, "WallConvection," of the special thermal resistor
for convection. In this situation, the h value (and thereby the resistance) is calculated using the
temperature of the Tile (read by the "TileTemp" Thermometer), the heat flow from the heat
source (taken from its respective signal), and the ambient temperature in front of the wall (taken
from the signal for the "WallTempOutside").

The resistors "InsulationTop", "Insulation1", "Insulation2", "Insulation3", "Insulation4", are

connected to a second Ambient Temperature entity, which is set to normal room temperature (24
deg. C +/- 1 deg. C). This second Ambient Temperature entity was necessary because, other than
the wall, the temperature around the sides the room was relatively near to room temperature at all
times (they were not affected by the lamp). The floor was grounded rather than hooked up
ambient temperature to simulate its role as the foundation.

Results

The experimental setup with the light and model room was run for 65 hours (over the weekend),
with the light coming on an off with a period of 2 hour. That is, the light was on for 60 minutes
and then off for 60 minutes. Temperatures were recorded every 60 seconds. The distribution of
the temperatures was as follows:

The data presented the following trends:

● Inside

○ Average – 86.27 °F (30.15 °C) ○ Maximum - 90.30 °F (32.39 °C)

○ Minimum – 82.24 °F (27.91 °C) ○ Range – 8.06 °F (4.48 °C)

 ● Outside

○ Average – 123.06 °F (50.59 °C) ○ Maximum – 159.21 °F (70.67 °C)

○ Minimum – 88.27 °F (31.26 °C) ○ Range – 70.94 °F (39.41 °C)

The VTB simulation was then run with the following results:

“Inside” temperatures are plotted in blue and “outside” temperatures are in orange. Specific
trends are not available in VTB.

Discussion

As apparent from the results, the VTB simulation managed to reproduce the experimental results
rather closely. However, it is also apparent that the VTB simulation exhibits some eccentricities
not apparent in the experimental data. This is mainly seen in the variation of the peaks in the
inside temperature. This is most likely due to the resistance by thermal convection. When
removed, the distribution of temperature normalizes. Still, it seems that removal is not the best
solution, seeing as thermal convection does play a part in a thermal exchange of this nature.

With regards to the experimental data, it might be expected that the temperatures start at room
temperature. However, due to certain time constraints, an experiment was run prior to the one
outlined above, and so pre-heated the air inside the model. This does not affect the validity of the
results because it is the general trend that is being observed. As seen in other experiments
conducted before and after this trial, the temperatures would have naturally leveled out to the
ones observed here.

Despite some incongruence, the observed similarity of the simulation and experimental results is
a good initial validation of the thermal resistance circuit simulation in VTB. Success so far has
outlined some clear highlights in the future of this VTB-based simulation:

● Ease of configuration

○ Parameters can be easily set to model any sort of material.

● Scalability

○ This model has the potential to scale to any dimension.

● Depth of application

○ The model can not only simulate the thermal performance due to incident radiation, it
can also be modified in the future to model the influence of heat-dissipating
electronics, or the efficiency of a heating or cooling system. This means that the
model can be used even in post-building stages.

● Extension

○ The model can be comprised of any amount of layers, giving it the ability to simulate
everything from a room to a multi-story building.

The simulation develops even more potential with the addition of the Solar Flux entity. Granted,
this model is not yet fully functioning. However, given further development, the model should be
able to simulate the amount of solar energy incident on a surface, given its latitude, longitude,
angle, orientation, and the atmospheric transmissivity of the sky at that location. As such, the
Solar Flux entity also promises to be useful for research in any sort of analysis of solar power,
such as for a photovoltaic system or other solar-dependent system.

Further Resources

● Thermal Resistance Circuits:

 Thermal Resistance Circuits - MIT

 Design and Simulation of Thermal Systems

o pp. 114 – 115

 A large-displacement thermal actuator designed for MEMS pitch-tunable grating

o Application of thermal resistance circuits - p. 6

  Engineering Heat Transfer

o pp. 20-23

 Heat Transfer Resistance Modeling

 A Simplified Thermal Resistance Network Model for Building Thermal

Simulation

 Calculation of Solar Insolation (Solar Flux):

 Biophysical Ecology

o Ch. 6

 Modeling Solar Radiation at the Earth’s Surface

o pp. 146-onward

Notes

* The code for the Solar Flux Entity is derived from a lab by Dr. Myrna Hall from the Systems
Ecology Lab at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. This lab is available
here: http://www.esf.edu/es/mhall/EFB519_labs/Lab_8/Lab8_08.doc . The code for this lab was
originally developed at the Systems Ecology Lab at SUNY College of Environmental Science
and Forestry. The original authors are Dr. Charles Hall, Kathy Wooster, Win Everham, and David
Murphy.

Special Thanks

In addition to the many thanks I give my mentors, Dr. Smith, Dr. Kondratiev, and Dr. Dougal,
special thanks go to USC EE Lab Manager David Metts for assistance with experiments, Blake
Langland for assistance in programming and VTB use, Myrna Hall for help with the Solar Flux
entity, and to all the USC Staff who were immensely helpful and kind. This research would not
have been possible without them.