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Building Physics

ASSIGNMENT NO 4
1. The inner and outer surfaces of a 5-m × 6-m brick wall of thickness 30 cm and thermal conductivity
0.69 W/m · °C are maintained at temperatures of 20°C and 5°C, respectively. Determine the rate of
heat transfer through the wall, in W.
2. A furnace wall is made of a layer of fire clay ( ) thick and a layer of red
brick ( ) thick. If the wall temperature inside the furnace is and that
on the outside wall is . Determine the heat loss per unit area of the wall. If it is desired to
reduce the thickness of the red brick layer by filling the space between the two layers by diatomite
( ) such that total thickness remains same. Determine the required thickness of the
filling to ensure the amount of heat transfer for the same temperature difference is reduced by 60 %.
3. A composite wall consists of thick layer of common brick of thermal conductivity
and thick plaster of thermal conductivity . An insulating material of thermal
conductivity is to be added to reduce the heat transfer through wall by . Determine
the required thickness of the insulating layer.
4. Consider the constant transfer of energy from a warm room at 200C inside a house to the colder
ambient temperature of −100C through a single-pane window. The temperature variation with
distance from the outside glass surface is shown by an outside convection heat transfer layer, but no
such layer is inside the room (as a simplification). The glass pane has a thickness of 5 mm (0.005 m)
with a conductivity of 1.4 W/mK and a total surface area of 0.5 m2. The outside wind is blowing, so
the convective heat transfer coefficient is 100 W/m2 K. Determine the rate of heat transfer in the
glass and an outer glass surface temperature.
5. You drive a car on a winter day with the atmospheric air at −150C, and you keep the outside front
windshield surface temperature at 20C by blowing hot air on the inside surface. If the windshield is
0.5 m2 and the outside convection coefficient is 250 W/m2 K, find the rate of energy loss through the
front windshield. For that heat transfer rate and a 5-mm-thick glass with k = 1.25 W/m K, what is the
inside windshield surface temperature?
6. Consider a 0.8-m-high and 1.5-m-wide glass window with a thickness of 8 mm and a thermal
conductivity of k = 0.78 W/m·°C. Determine the steady rate of heat transfer through this glass
window and the temperature of its inner surface for a day during which the room is maintained at
20°C while the temperature of the outdoors is −10°C. Take the heat transfer coefficients on the inner
and outer surfaces of the window to be h1 = 10 W/m2·°C and h2 = 40 W/m2·°C, which includes the
effects of radiation.
7. Consider a 0.8-m-high and 1.5-m-wide double-pane window consisting of two 4-mm-thick layers of
glass (k = 0.78 W/m·°C) separated by a 10-mm-wide stagnant air space (k = 0.026 W/m·°C).
Determine the steady rate of heat transfer through this double-pane window and the temperature of its
inner surface for a day during which the room is maintained at 20°C while the temperature of the
outdoors is −10°C. Take the convection heat transfer coefficients on the inner and outer surfaces of
the window to be h1 = 10 W/m2·°C and h2 = 40 W/m2·°C, which includes the effects of radiation.
8. To reduce frosting it is desired to keep the outside surface of a glazed window at 4°C. The outside is
at – 10°C and the convection coefficient is 60 W/m2K. In order to maintain the conditions a uniform
MS EEB: Building Physics 2020 Assignment 4
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heat flux is provided at the inner surface which is in contact with room air at 22°C with a convection
coefficient of 12 W/m2K. The glass is 7 mm thick and has a thermal conductivity of 1.4 W/mK.
Determine the heating required per m2 area.
9. The walls of a house are constructed using a cavity wall design. This comprises an inner layer of
brick (k = 0.5 W/m.K and 120 mm thick), an air gap and an outer layer brick (k = 0.3 W/m.K and 120
mm thick). At the design condition the inside room temperature is 200C, the outside air temperature is
–100C, the heat transfer coefficient on the inside is 10 W/m2.K, that on the outside is 40 W/m2.K and
that in the air gap is 6 W/m2.K. What is the heat flux through the wall?

10. Consider a person standing in a room maintained at 22°C at all times. The inner surfaces of the
walls, floors, and the ceiling of the house are observed to be at an average temperature of 10°C in
winter and 25°C in summer. Determine the rate of radiation heat transfer between this person and the
surrounding surfaces if the exposed surface area and the average outer surface temperature of the
person are 1.4 m2 and 30°C, respectively.

MS EEB: Building Physics 2020 Assignment 4

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11. The inner and outer surfaces of a 0.5-cm-thick 2-m × 2-m window glass in winter are 10°C and 3°C,
respectively. If the thermal conductivity of the glass is 0.78 W/m · °C, determine the amount of heat
loss, in kJ, through the glass over a period of 5 h. What would your answer be if the glass were 1-cm
thick? Investigate the effect of glass thickness on heat loss for the specified glass surface
temperatures. Let the glass thickness vary from 0.2 to 2 cm. Plot the heat loss versus the glass
thickness, and discuss the results.

12. A concrete wall, which has a surface area of 20 m2 and is 0.30 m thick, separates conditioned room
air from ambient air. The temperature of the inner surface of the wall is maintained at 25 0C, and the
thermal conductivity of the concrete is 1 W/m.K.
(a) Determine the heat loss through the wall of outer surface temperatures ranging from –150C to
380C, which corresponds to winter and summer extremes, respectively. Display your results
graphically.
(b) On your graph, also plot the heat loss as a function of the outer surface temperature of the wall
material having thermal conductivities of 0.75 and 1.25 W/m.K. Explain the family of curves
you have obtained.

MS EEB: Building Physics 2020 Assignment 4