Climatology

scientific study of climate.

LECTURE 10
THERMAL HEAT GAIN OR
LOSS
HEAT LOSS & HEAT GAIN
Just as the human body has heat
exchange processes with the
environment, the building can be
similarly considered as a defined unit
and its heat exchange processes with
the outdoor environment can be
examined. Heat energy tends to
distribute itself evenly until a perfectly
diffused uniform thermal field is
achieved. Heat tends to flow from
higher temperatures to lower
temperature zones by conduction,
convection and radiation.

Prepared by - Ar. Anusha Patil

Steady state & Periodic heat flow:
Energy flow may simultaneously be happening into and out of
the system depending on the setup. Eventually, a stage is
reached when the energy flowing in and the energy flowing out
balance and become equal. Once this happens, the temperature
profile stops changing and becomes fixed. At this stage, the
system is aid to have reached a steady state.

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Steady state & Periodic heat flow:
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY:

Thermal conductivity (often denoted k, λ, or κ) is the property of a material

to conduct heat. It is evaluated primarily in terms of Fourier's Law for heat
conduction.

Units:

In SI units, thermal conductivity is measured in watts per meter-kelvin.

Other units which are closely related to the thermal conductivity are in
common use in the construction and textile industries. The construction
industry makes use of units such as the R-value (resistance) and the U-
value (transmittance). Although related to the thermal conductivity of a
material used in an insulation product, R- and U-values are dependent on the
thickness of the product.
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THERMAL RESISTIVITY:

The reciprocal of thermal conductivity is thermal resistivity,

Thermal resistance is a heat property and a measurement of a temperature

difference by which an object or material resists a heat flow.

Thermal resistance is the temperature difference, at steady state, between

two defined surfaces of a material or construction that induces a unit heat
flow rate through a unit area.

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THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY:

The thermal conductivity of a substance divided by the product of its

density and its specific heat capacity.

The thermal diffusivity is a ratio, thermal diffusivity of a material is k/pc.

Where k – thermal conductivity, p – density and c -specific heat of a
material.

This ratio expresses the speed with which the heat generated diffuses out.

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THERMAL TRANSMITTANCE OR U - VALUE:

Thermal transmittance, also known as U-value, is the rate of transfer of heat

through a structure (which can be a single material or a composite), divided by the
difference in temperature across that structure.

U-values measure how effective a material is an insulator. The lower the U-value
is, the better the material is as a heat insulator. For example, here are some typical
U-values for building materials:

• a cavity wall has a U-value of 1.6 W/m²

• a solid brick wall has a U-value of 2.0 W/m²
• a double glazed window has a U-value of 2.8 W/m².

The cavity wall is the best insulator and the double glazed window is the worst
insulator.

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THERMAL TRANSMITTANCE OR U - VALUE:

The basic U-value calculation is relatively simple. In essence, the U-value can be
calculated by finding the reciprocal of the sum of the thermal resistances of each
material making up the building element in question. Note that, as well as the
material resistances, the internal and external faces also have resistances, which
must be added. These are fixed values.

There are a number of standards that cover calculation methods for thermal
transmittance.

Simple U-value calculations can be made in the following way, by considering the
building element’s construction layer-by-layer. Note, however, that this does not
account for cold bridging (by wall ties for example), air gaps around insulation, or
the different thermal properties of e.g. mortar joints.

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THERMAL TRANSMITTANCE OR U - VALUE:
U – Value calculation for a multilayered wall.

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THERMAL TRANSMITTANCE OR U - VALUE:

The accuracy of measurements is dependent on a number of

factors:

•Magnitude of temperature difference (larger = more accurate)

•Weather conditions (cloudy is better than sunny)
•Good adhesion of thermopiles to test area
•Duration of monitoring (longer duration enables a more
accurate average)
•More test points enable greater accuracy, to mitigate against
anomalies

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THERMAL GRADIENT:
A temperature gradient is a physical quantity that describes in which
direction and at what rate the temperature changes the most rapidly around a
particular location.

The temperature gradient is a dimensional quantity expressed in units of

degrees (on a particular temperature scale) per unit length. The SI unit
is kelvin per meter (K/m).It can be also seen in the formula of dQ/dt i.e. the
formula of rate of heat transfer per second.

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TIME LAG:
The time delay due to the thermal mass is known as a time lag. The thicker
and more resistive the material, the longer it will take for heat waves to pass
through.
TIME LAG GRAPH.

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TIME LAG GRAPH.

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Summary:

Thermal resistivity (reciprocal of thermal conductivity)

Thermal resistivity is the ability of a material to resist heat
conduction through it. Like k-value, this property is not
dependent on the thickness of the material in question. The
units of thermal resistivity are K⋅m/W.

Thermal conductance (reciprocal of thermal resistance)

This refers to the amount of heat conducted through a material
of a given volume, in unit time i.e. the rate of conduction. As
such, the units of measurement are W/K.

Prepared by - Ar. Anusha Patil