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www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv
Received 1 April 1999; received in revised form 10 May 2001; accepted 31 May 2001
Abstract
The study concerns the evaluation and comparison of the thermal performance of building roof elements subject to periodic changes in
ambient temperature, solar radiation and nonlinear radiation exchange. A numerical model, based on the /nite-volume method and using
the implicit formulation, is developed and applied for six variants of a typical roof structure used in the construction of buildings in Saudi
Arabia. The climatic conditions of the city of Riyadh are employed for representative days for July and January. The study gives the
detailed temperature and heat 1ux variations with time and the relative importance of the various heat-transfer components as well as the
daily averaged roof heat-transfer load, dynamic R-values and the radiative heat-transfer coe2cient. The results show that the inclusion of
a 5-cm thick molded polystyrene layer reduces the roof heat-transfer load to one-third of its value in an identical roof section without
insulation. Using a polyurethane layer instead, reduces the load to less than one-quarter. A slightly better thermal performance is achieved
by locating the insulation layer closer to the inside surface of the roof structure but this exposes the water proo/ng membrane layer to
larger temperature 1uctuations. c 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Thermal insulation; Building roofs; Heat transmission; R-value; Finite-volume method
1. Introduction et al. [2] compared the thermal load predictions of six such
programs for a number of cases and found signi/cant di9er-
The use of thermal insulation and special types of build- ences in the results of the various methods. Jensen [3] re-
ing materials has increased signi/cantly in recent years in ported procedures for validating complex simulation codes.
both hot and cold climates. This was due to the increasing Utilizing a prede/ned computer program, based on the ther-
demand on the thermal comfort of people inside residential, mal response factor method, Eben Saleh [4,5] investigated
commercial and governmental buildings besides the ever the e9ects of using di9erent insulation materials, thicknesses
increasing cost of energy. The thermal design of buildings and arrangements on the thermal performance of buildings.
depends on the indoor conditions required, the outdoor The studies that deal with the thermal performance of
prevailing climatic conditions, and the choice of building speci/c building components, and not the building as a
construction materials and insulation. Accurate methods whole, have their own merits. Indeed, computer codes for
of analysis to predict the thermal performance of a whole building energy simulation can bene/t from improvement
building envelope or an element are, therefore, sought. in the modeling of their components. The problem can thus
A whole building thermal analysis is quite involved since be reduced, in general, to solving the Fourier heat con-
all mechanisms of heat transfer are present and the building duction equation through a composite structure subject to
components are composite of many layers of di9erent mate- time-dependent boundary conditions. Ozisik [6] described
rials. The analysis is often time dependent since the outside various analytical methods for solution of one-dimensional
ambient temperature, wind speed and solar radiation vary problems with temperature-independent properties; such
with time. Also, the heat gains due to occupants, equipment, methods include the separation of variables, orthogonal
lighting, and solar radiation transmission through fenestra- expansion technique, Green’s function, Laplace transform
tion, besides the ventilation and in/ltration of the outside and integral method. By separating the thermal capacitance
air will have to be accounted for. Therefore, various meth- into discrete components, Letherman [7] determined the
ods with di9erent levels of simpli/cation exist for building temperature response of a slab wall to a sinusoidal heat
energy calculations such as the transfer function, the degree 1ux input wave. Han [8] described a numeric-analytical
day and bin methods [1]. Computer codes are also available approach using complex algebra of analyzing linear pe-
to perform complicated building load analysis. Mathews riodic heating-cooling problems in laminates. Chen and
0360-1323/02/$ - see front matter c 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 6 0 - 1 3 2 3 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 7 7 - 4
666 S.A. Al-Sanea / Building and Environment 37 (2002) 665–675
Nomenclature
Lin [9] extended the hybrid application of the Laplace Yarbrough and Anderson [15] compared the solar heat
transform technique and the /nite-element method to in- gains for a 1at concrete roof deck with and without radiation
clude nonlinear radiation boundary conditions in composite control coating. Reductions in cooling loads ranging from
layers. 60% to 85% were calculated. Ozkan [16] investigated the
Al-Turki and Zaki [10] predicted the thermal performance performance of 1at roofs, water proo/ng, and insulation
of building walls in which the general solution was obtained under hot and dry climatic conditions. Insulation materials
by superposition of the steady-state solution and harmonic were tested and properties were compared under di9erent
terms. They studied the e9ect of insulation and energy stor- aging conditions. Under the climatic conditions of Greece,
ing layers upon the cooling load; the analysis showed that Eumorfopoulou and Aravantinos [17] studied the thermal
dispersion of the insulation material within the building ma- behavior of planted roofs and compared it with a bare roof. It
terial was less e9ective than using a continuous equivalent was concluded that planted roofs contributed to the thermal
insulation layer placed on the outdoor facade. Zedan and resistance of buildings, but that was not enough to replace
Mujahid [11] developed applications of the Fourier series the thermal insulation layer.
technique to inverse Laplace transforms to solve the problem The /nite-di9erence method was utilized by Kuehn and
of heat conduction in composite plane walls. The tempera- Maldonado [18] to calculate the time-dependent thermal
ture distribution was obtained in closed form in the Laplace response of a composite wall. The explicit formulation was
s-domain and was transformed back to the time domain us- used and the radiation boundary conditions were included.
ing a series formula. Using the concept of the sol–air tem- Using the /nite-di9erence method, Kosny and Christian
perature, Threlkeld [12] studied the periodic heat transfer [19] modeled various metal stud walls and calculated their
through walls and roofs based on the periodic solution of R-values. For the climatic conditions of Riyadh, Al-Sanea
the heat conduction equation. This latter analysis was used [20] evaluated the thermal performance of di9erent wall
by Kaushika et al. [13] to investigate the solar thermal gain structures used in construction of buildings in Saudi Arabia.
of a honeycomb roof-cover as a means for passive solar The study was conducted under one-dimensional periodic
space heating and energy conservation. The same method conditions using a control-volume /nite-di9erence method.
of analysis was used by Bansal et al. [14] to study the ef- The e9ect of wall orientation was studied and the R-values
fect of external surface color on the thermal behavior of a under dynamic conditions were determined.
building. They, also, carried out measurements on a scaled The objective of the present study is to evaluate and
model. compare the thermal performance of building roof elements
S.A. Al-Sanea / Building and Environment 37 (2002) 665–675 667
subject to steady periodic changes in ambient temperature, where is the thermal di9usivity (k=)c) and the subscript
solar radiation and nonlinear radiation exchange. An im- j refers to the layer, i.e. j = 1; 2; : : : ; N , k is the thermal
plicit, control volume /nite-di9erence method is developed conductivity, ) is the density and c is the speci/c heat.
and applied for six variants of a typical roof structure used The problem is principally concerned with the solution
in the construction of buildings in Saudi Arabia. The dy- of Eq. (1), applied to all layers, to obtain the variations
namic R-values of the roofs are determined under the cli- of temperature and heat-transfer rates subject to prescribed
matic conditions of Riyadh for representative days for July initial and boundary conditions.
and January. The initial temperature is taken as uniform and equal to
the daily mean of the outside ambient temperature, Tf ; o; mean .
Of course, any other value can be used in the model since
the steady periodic solution is independent of the initial tem-
2. Mathematical formulation
perature distribution. The boundary conditions are given as
follows:
The geometrical con/guration is depicted in Fig. 1. The
roof section consists of a number of layers with di9erent (i) Boundary conditions at the inside surface (x = 0):
thicknesses and physical properties. The outside surface
is exposed to solar radiation (Is ), convection heat transfer @T
−k1 = hi (Tf ; i − Tx=0 ); (2)
(qc; o ) and radiation exchange with the sky (qr; o ). The inside @x x=0
surface is subject to combined convection and radiation heat where hi is the inside-surface combined heat-transfer coef-
transfer (qi ) which relates directly to the air-conditioning /cient; from the ASHRAE handbook of fundamentals [1]:
load required to maintain the inside design temperature
(Tf ; i ). The mathematical model is formulated using the hi = 9:26 W=m2 K for upward direction of heat 1ow;
following assumptions.
and
(i) There is no heat generation. hi = 6:13 W=m2 K for downward direction of heat 1ow:
(ii) The layers are in good contact, hence the interface
resistance is negligible. (ii) Boundary conditions at the outside surface (x = L):
(iii) The variation of thermal properties is negligible.
@T
(iv) The thickness of the composite roof is small compared −kN = hc; o (Tx=L − Tf ; o ) − (Is − qr; o ; (3)
@x x=L
to the other dimensions. Hence, a one-dimensional tem-
perature variation is assumed. where hc; o is the outside-surface convection coe2cient, Tf ; o
(v) The convection coe2cient is constant and is based on is the outside ambient temperature and ( is the solar absorp-
the direction of heat 1ow and daily average wind speed. tivity of the outside surface.
Based on the above assumptions, the conduction equation The coe2cient (hc; o ) is a function of wind speed (v).
governing the heat transfer through the composite roof is Empirical values are taken from Ito et al. [21] as
given by
hc; o = 18:63 V 0:605 in W=m2 K (4)
2
@ Tj 1 @Tj
= ; (1) and,
@x2 j @t
0:25 v if v ¿ 2 m=s;
V=
0:50 v if v ¡ 2 m=s:
The temperature (Tf ; o ) is /tted by a sinusoidal function
over a 24-h period, with t = 0 corresponds to midnight, as
Tf ; o = Tf ; o; mean + Ao sin(!t − +); (5)
where Ao is the amplitude, ! is the frequency, and + is the
phase shift angle; these parameters are given in Section 4.
The solar radiation (Is ) is calculated for horizontal roofs
in Riyadh by using the ASHRAE clear-sky model [1].
The nonlinear radiation exchange (qr; o ) is given by
4 4
qr; o = '*(Tsky − Tx=L ); (6)
where ' is the surface emissivity, * is the Stefan–Boltzmann
constant, and Tsky is the sky temperature and is taken equal
Fig. 1. Schematic showing a typical composite roof structure. to (Tf ; o − 12); see for example, Garg [22].
668 S.A. Al-Sanea / Building and Environment 37 (2002) 665–675
+ = 0:8333:
The daily average wind speed is 4:1 m=s for July and
2:6 m=s for January. The solar radiation 1ux on horizontal
Fig. 4. Schematic of roof structures R3, R4 and R5; (1) tiles, (2) mortar roofs Is is calculated from the direct and di9use components
bed, (3) sand /ll, (4) thermal insulation, (5) membrane, (6) foam concrete, based on the ASHRAE clear-sky model [1]. The latitude,
(7) reinforced concrete, and (8) cement plaster.
longitude and the standard meridian of the local time zone
pertinent to the city of Riyadh are speci/c input to the model.
5.1. Introduction
Fig. 6. Temperature variations across the roof thickness at di9erent times Fig. 7. Temperature variations with time at di9erent locations for structure
for structure R1 in July. R1 in July; (1) inside room, (2) inside roof surface, (3) inside interface of
membrane, (4) outside interface of membrane, (5) outside roof surface,
and (6) outside ambient.
Table 2
Summary of total and daily-averaged thermal values
Fig. 9. Layer energy-storage variations with time for structure R1 in Fig. 10. Temperature variations across the roof thickness at di9erent times
July; (1) cement plaster, (2) reinforced concrete, (3) foam concrete, (4) for structure R3 in July.
membrane, (5) sand /ll, (6) mortar bed, and (7) tiles.
22:30 and a net heat dissipation outside this period. The to-
The sum of the above three components is the net heat tal amount of heat storage must equal the total amount of
transfer rate at the outside surface (qnet ). Fig. 8 shows a heat dissipation over a complete cycle (one day). Similar
net heat loss starting in the late afternoon and continues behavior is obtained for other layers but with di9erent rates
until sunrise; at other times, there is a net heat gain which and time lag.
is attributed to solar radiation. The /gure also reveals that
much of the heat gained by the roof is stored inside the 5.3. Roof structure R3
various layers of the structure and then dissipated to the
outside. This has a great advantage in reducing the rate of This represents a typical insulated roof with a 5-cm layer
heat transmission into the space as indicated by relatively of molded polystyrene placed above the water proo/ng
small inside-surface heat 1ux (convi ). membrane; except for the insulation layer, this structure is
Further insight into the thermal behavior of the roof sec- identical to R1. Fig. 10 shows the variations of temperature
tion can be obtained by studying the daily variation of the across the roof thickness for July and are to be compared
rate of energy storage in each layer as shown in Fig. 9 for with the results in Fig. 6. It is seen that the presence of the
July. The rate of energy storage depends upon both the ther- insulation has a marked e9ect in which sharp changes in the
mal capacitance and temperature 1uctuation. Considering temperature slopes are calculated across the interfaces with
the reinforced concrete slab (curve 2), for example, it is the insulation layer. Also, the bulk of the temperature drop
noted that there is a net storage of heat between 11:30 and through the roof takes place across the insulation leaving
672 S.A. Al-Sanea / Building and Environment 37 (2002) 665–675
Fig. 11. Temperature variations across the roof thickness at di9erent times
for structure R6 in July. Fig. 12. Inside-surface heat 1ux variations with time for all roof structures
in July.
the layers on the inside having a relatively very small tem- tion. However, when interest lies beyond the steady-periodic
perature drop and also much smaller variations with time. conditions, the two roof sections are expected to behave dif-
This has two advantages; /rstly, the transmission load is ferently during the transient periods of operation. This point
reduced in magnitude and, secondly, the amplitude of load is left for further research as, indeed, with the di9erent ef-
1uctuation is reduced in size. It is noted that the variation of fects the two arrangements would have on possible moisture
◦
temperature on the inside surface amounts to less than 0:3 C condensation in wet climates.
◦
during the whole day and is only 1 C higher than the inside
◦
room temperature of 25 C. These characteristics are supe- 5.5. Comparisons between all roofs
rior when compared to those obtained for roof structure R1.
With regard to the large temperature variations across the The inside-surface heat 1ux variations with time for all
outer layers, a strong resemblance is seen with those for R1. six roof structures (R1–R6) are presented in Fig. 12 for July.
The /gure reveals a relatively large heat 1ux 1uctuation for
5.4. Roof structure R6 structure R1 and a much greater mean value as compared
to the results of the other structures. Roof R2 shows a more
This represents a typical insulated roof with the thermal moderate 1uctuation and a mean value that is about one
insulation placed close to the inside surface; except for the half of that calculated for R1. The thermally insulated struc-
location of the insulation layer, this structure is identical to tures (R3–R6) show much smaller 1uctuations and mean
R3. Fig. 11 displays the variations of temperature across the values that are particularly low. The heat 1ux for structure
roof thickness for di9erent times of day. It is seen that the R1 reaches a minimum value at about 13:00 and a max-
results are similar to those in Fig. 10 for the three layers that imum value at about midnight. For structures R3–R6, the
lie close to the outside surface. Starting from the membrane heat 1ux reaches its minimum at about 14:30 and its maxi-
layer and moving inwards, the results in Fig. 11 are distin- mum at about 2:30; this time lag is due to the added e9ect
guished by higher temperature levels and larger 1uctuations. of insulation. It is interesting to note that the heat 1ux vari-
The membrane layer is now exposed to a higher tempera- ations with time for roofs R3 and R6 are close but with a
ture and a greater temperature variation with time which are slight di9erence in favor of R6. The calculations reveal that
unfavorable since they can cause cracks and property dete- the daily average inside-surface heat 1uxes are the same for
rioration after a certain period of use. The insulation layer roofs R3 and R6; however, the peak load for R6 is about
gives rise to a substantial temperature drop across its thick- 3% smaller than that for R3.
ness and acts to reduce the daily temperature 1uctuation sig- Fig. 13 presents the energy storage variations with time
ni/cantly. It is seen that the e9ect on the inside surface is of day for the concrete slab for all roofs. The results show
quite similar to that for R3, i.e. an inside surface temperature that the concrete slab stores heat at various rates from about
◦ ◦
of about 26 C (1 C higher than the inside room tempera- 12:00 to 24:00. The maximum storage rate is calculated at
ture) and with a very small variation throughout the day. about 17:00 for R1, R2 and R6 and at about 18:00 for R3, R4
It may be concluded, therefore, that the two structures, R3 and R5. The slab dissipates heat from about 24:00 to 12:00
and R6, behave similarly with respect to their e9ect on the with a maximum rate of dissipation calculated between 7:00
mean cooling load, further details are given in the next sec- and 8:00. It is also noted that the energy storage behavior
S.A. Al-Sanea / Building and Environment 37 (2002) 665–675 673
Fig. 13. Energy storage variations with time of the reinforced concrete
slab for all roof structures in July.
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