Guided answer

Q10 and Q11

In this PDF, you will find guided answers to question 10 and a more elaborate answer for
question 11.

Q10.
Imagine a studio apartment of 50m2, located in the Netherlands.
The studio has a height of 3 meters, and only the front façade is in connection with the
outside.
The other walls, floors and roof are adjacent to other apartments in which the same
temperature is maintained and because of that we assume that there is no heat loss via
those parts.
The building has an insulated cavity wall: bricks on the outside (thickness 0.1 m lambda=1.03
W/mK), glass wool insulation in the cavity (thickness 0.1m and lambda=0.04W/mK)and
sand-lime stone in the inside (thickness 0.1m and lambda=1.3 W/mK).
Further, the building has aluminium window frames with high efficiency double glazing
(Uvalue=1.2 W/m^2K) αi=7.5 W/m^2K αo=25 W/m^2K

20 ◦C

3m 1m

3m

5m
Calculate the transmission heat transfer through the façade through transmission (cold
bridges not included).

a) 195 W
b)-195 W correct
C)207 W
d) -207 W

hint: Did you make a mistake? Don’t worry there are a lot of steps in this equation. A mistake
is easily made. At the bottom of the page you can find a pdf which describes every step of
the calculation

Answer b is correct
Start with calculating the R values of each material of the composed wall with the equation:
𝑑𝑑𝑛𝑛
𝑅𝑅𝑛𝑛 =
𝜆𝜆𝑛𝑛
You will find the following answers
d [m] λ [W/mK] R[m2K/W]
BRICKWORK 0,1 ~1.03 0.1
GLASS WOOL 0,1 ~0,04 2.5
SAND-LIME BRICK 0.1 ~1.3 0.08
Then calculate the U value of the composed wall with the equation:
1
𝑈𝑈 =
1 1
𝛼𝛼𝑜𝑜 + 𝑅𝑅1 + 𝑅𝑅2 + 𝑅𝑅3 + 𝛼𝛼𝑖𝑖
This results in:
1
𝑈𝑈 = = 0.35 𝑊𝑊/𝑚𝑚2𝐾𝐾
1 1
25 + 0.1 + 2.5 + 0.08 + 7.5

Then find the Uvalue of the window (this is given in the exercise)

Use the equation to calculate the heat transfer through transmission:

Σ𝐸𝐸𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 𝑈𝑈 ∙ 𝐴𝐴 ∙ (𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜 − 𝑇𝑇𝑖𝑖 ) ∙ 1[Wh]

𝐸𝐸𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = ((0.35 ∙ 12) + (1.2 ∙ 3))(−5 − 20) = -195 Wh

if you answered a: you probably used Ti-To instead of To-Ti; if you answered c: you probably
forgot the αi and αo in the calculation of the U value of the wall if you answered d: you
probably forgot the αi and αo in the calculation of the U value of the wall and you used Ti-To
instead of To-Ti

Q12.
Calculate the transmission heat flow through 1 m2 wall for Rc values from 0.1 to 10 and
draw a graph
Use:
Indoor temperature of 20oC
Outdoor temperature 0oC
αi=7.5 [W/m2K]
αo= 25 [W/m2K]

Hints: if results are positive there is a sign fault;

Hint: make a table

What can you conclude?

a. Transmission losses decreases when Rc increases

b. Transmission losses increases when Rc increases
 c. Rc has no influence on transmission losses
d. Doubling the Rc value from 1 to 2 has the same effect on the transmission losses as
doubling it from 2 m2 K/W to 4 m2 K/W
e. Much more transmission losses are ‘saved’ by insulating from Rc=1 m2 K/W to Rc=2
m2 K/W than from Rc=1 m2 K/W to Rc=4 m2 K/W
f. Also in well insulated houses (RC=6) it is very important to insulate further to RC>8
m2 K/W
g. Insulating above a Rc of 6 m2 K/W will have little effect on transmission heat flows

Answer g is the correct answer. However keep in mind that sometimes insulating a little bit
more will make the difference of having a heating system or not (like in a passive house) and
then of course it will be worth it to insulate more. See also the graph below
0,00
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
-10,00
Trtansmission heat flows

-20,00

-30,00
[W/m2]

-40,00

-50,00

-60,00

-70,00

-80,00
Rc [m2 K/W]

If you answered a: that is true but we think you can conclude something more out of these
results.
If you answered b: Maybe you are mixing the U value and the Rc value. Check the slides and
try again
If you answered c: check the slides and try again
If you answered d: look more closely to the graph and then you probably see that there is no
linear correlation between transmission flows and insulation rate
If you answered e: check again the graph that you made. This you cannot conclude.
However, you could conclude that insulating from 1-2 will reduce the transmission losses
more than insulating from 6-8.
If you answered f: it is not very important because the biggest reduction of the transmission
losses you get if you insulate from 1-6. However, insulating up to a value of for example an
Rc of 8 can make the difference for your building installations.