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Thermal inertia and energy efficiency - Parametric simulation assessment on a calibrated case study

Thermal inertia and energy efficiency - Parametric simulation assessment on a calibrated case study
Thermal inertia and energy efficiency - Parametric simulation assessment on a calibrated case study

The reduction of energy consumption for heating and cooling services in the existing building stock is a key challenge for global sustainability today and buildings' envelopes retrofit is one the main issues. Most of the existing buildings' envelopes have low levels of insulation, high thermal losses due to thermal bridges and cracks, absence of appropriate solar control, etc.Further, in building refurbishment, the importance of a system level approach is often undervalued in favour of simplistic "off the shelf" efficient solutions, focused on the reduction of thermal transmittance and on the enhancement of solar control capabilities. In many cases, the importance of the dynamic thermal properties is often neglected or underestimated and the effective thermal capacity is not properly considered as one of the design parameters.The research presented aims to critically assess the influence of the dynamic thermal properties of the building fabric (roof, walls and floors) on sensible heating and cooling energy demand for a case study. The case study chosen is an existing office building which has been retrofitted in recent years and whose energy model has been calibrated according to the data collected in the monitoring process.The research illustrates the variations of the sensible thermal energy demand of the building in different retrofit scenarios, and relates them to the variations of the dynamic thermal properties of the construction components.A parametric simulation study has been performed, encompassing the use of calculation tools and performance metrics at the different scales of the building (envelope-zone-overall building) considering the realistic operating conditions assumed for the initial calibrated model and different climate conditions, typical of the Italian territory and, more in general, of the Southern European and Mediterranean area.

Building retrofit, Calibration, Dynamic properties, Parametric simulation, Thermal inertia
0306-2619
111-123
Aste, Niccolò
9f0175c5-0192-4167-ac2e-c3735c794fde
Leonforte, Fabrizio
f4d9dad5-2d48-49b2-a6f7-b9dcda5ab9de
Manfren, Massimiliano
f2b8c02d-cb78-411d-aed1-c4d056365392
Mazzon, Manlio
466d009b-75b1-4356-adb8-6d537578ccea
Aste, Niccolò
9f0175c5-0192-4167-ac2e-c3735c794fde
Leonforte, Fabrizio
f4d9dad5-2d48-49b2-a6f7-b9dcda5ab9de
Manfren, Massimiliano
f2b8c02d-cb78-411d-aed1-c4d056365392
Mazzon, Manlio
466d009b-75b1-4356-adb8-6d537578ccea

Aste, Niccolò, Leonforte, Fabrizio, Manfren, Massimiliano and Mazzon, Manlio (2015) Thermal inertia and energy efficiency - Parametric simulation assessment on a calibrated case study. Applied Energy, 145, 111-123. (doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.084).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The reduction of energy consumption for heating and cooling services in the existing building stock is a key challenge for global sustainability today and buildings' envelopes retrofit is one the main issues. Most of the existing buildings' envelopes have low levels of insulation, high thermal losses due to thermal bridges and cracks, absence of appropriate solar control, etc.Further, in building refurbishment, the importance of a system level approach is often undervalued in favour of simplistic "off the shelf" efficient solutions, focused on the reduction of thermal transmittance and on the enhancement of solar control capabilities. In many cases, the importance of the dynamic thermal properties is often neglected or underestimated and the effective thermal capacity is not properly considered as one of the design parameters.The research presented aims to critically assess the influence of the dynamic thermal properties of the building fabric (roof, walls and floors) on sensible heating and cooling energy demand for a case study. The case study chosen is an existing office building which has been retrofitted in recent years and whose energy model has been calibrated according to the data collected in the monitoring process.The research illustrates the variations of the sensible thermal energy demand of the building in different retrofit scenarios, and relates them to the variations of the dynamic thermal properties of the construction components.A parametric simulation study has been performed, encompassing the use of calculation tools and performance metrics at the different scales of the building (envelope-zone-overall building) considering the realistic operating conditions assumed for the initial calibrated model and different climate conditions, typical of the Italian territory and, more in general, of the Southern European and Mediterranean area.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 22 January 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 February 2015
Published date: 1 May 2015
Keywords: Building retrofit, Calibration, Dynamic properties, Parametric simulation, Thermal inertia

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 414000
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/414000
ISSN: 0306-2619
PURE UUID: 93a42f3f-2c82-40c8-b483-3e992953b3c9
ORCID for Massimiliano Manfren: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1438-970X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 12 Sep 2017 16:31
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:59

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Contributors

Author: Niccolò Aste
Author: Fabrizio Leonforte
Author: Manlio Mazzon

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