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Uncertainty and parameter ranking analysis on summer thermal characteristics of the hydronic thermal barrier for low-energy buildings

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  • Building Systems and Components
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Abstract

The hydronic thermal barrier (HTB) makes the building envelope gradually regarded as a multi-functional element, which is an opportunity to transform thermal insulation solutions from high to zero-carbon attributes. However, inappropriate design, construction, and operation control may lead to issues like low efficiency and high investment, and even the opposite technical effects. In this paper, a comprehensive uncertainty and variable ranking analysis is numerically conducted to explore the influence mechanism of twelve risk variables on three types and five thermal performance indexes under summer conditions. The uncertainty analysis results showed that the correct application of HTB could significantly reduce the heat gain that needs to be handled by the traditional air-conditioning system and even have the technical effect of auxiliary cooling if the variables are appropriately selected. The comprehensive influences of water temperature, room temperature, charging duration, and thermal conductivity of the HTB layer were in the first 1/3 range. Among them, the first two variables were identified as the two most influential variables, and they had a significant mutual restriction relationship in all other four indexes except for the exterior surface cold loss. The recommended charging duration was not less than eight hours in practical application, and the HTB layer with a higher thermal conductivity value but less than 3.3 W/(m·°C) was suggested. Besides, the climate zone was no longer the most influential variable affecting the mean radiant temperature of the interior surface due to the combined effects of HTB and static thermal insulation measures. In addition, pipe spacing should preferably be selected between 100 and 250 mm to help form a continuous thermal buffer zone inside the building envelope.

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Abbreviations

A :

area (m2)

C :

volume (m3)

c p :

specific heat (J/(kg·°C))

h :

convective heat transfer coefficient (W/(m2·°C))

I :

intensity of solar radiation (W/m2)

n :

number of input variables

Q ex :

total cold loss (kWh)

Q IC :

total injected low-grade cold energy (MJ)

Q in :

total cooling load (kWh)

Q s :

total stored cold energy (MJ)

q :

heat flux (W/m2)

q ex :

instantaneous cooling loss (kWh)

q in :

instantaneous cooling load (kWh)

q pipe :

cold charging rate (W)

q rad-ex :

exterior radiative heat flux (W/m2)

q rad-in :

interior radiative heat flux (W/m2)

R :

thermal resistance (°C/W)

R 2 :

coefficient of determination

S φ :

source term

S i :

first-order effect indices

SRCi :

standardized regression coefficient

S Tí :

total effect indices

T :

temperature (°C)

T ex :

exterior surface temperature (°C)

Ti:

indoor set-point (°C)

T in :

interior surface temperature (°C)

T o :

outdoor temperature (°C)

T sol-air :

sol-air temperature (°C)

t sum :

overheating duration (h)

U :

heat transfer coefficient (W/(m2·°C))

V :

total variance

V i :

variance of the the ith variable

V ji :

variance of interaction term

v :

outdoor wind speed (m/s)

Γ φ :

diffusion coefficient

λ :

thermal conductivity coefficient (W/(m·°C))

μ s :

solar absorptance

ρ :

density (kg·m3)

τ :

time (s)

φ :

common variable

CD:

charging duration

COD:

cumulative overheating duration

CZ:

climate zone

ECL:

exterior surface cold loss

ED:

energy density

GSA:

global sensitivity analysis

HT:

heat source temperature

HTB:

hydronic thermal barrier

ICL:

interior surface cooling load

IS:

indoor set-point

Msc:

specific heat of hydronic thermal barrier layer

Mtc:

thermal conductivity coefficient of the hydronic thermal barrier layer

OT:

orientation

PD:

pipe diameter

PL:

pipe location

PS:

pipe spacing

Ptc:

thermal conductivity of embedded pipe

RA:

solar absorptance

SRC:

standardized regression coefficients

TEH:

total extracted heat

TGP:

treed Gaussian process

UA:

uncertainty analysis

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Acknowledgements

This study is co-sponsored by the Open Project Program of Engineering Research Center of Building Energy Efficiency Control and Evaluation, Ministry of Education (No. AHJZNX202103), Youth Fund of Anhui Natural Science Foundation (No. 2208085QE163, No. 2108085QE241), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. JZ2022HGTA0336, No. JZ2022HGQA0173), Natural Science Research Program of Anhui Colleges (No. KJ2020A0462), Scientific Research and Cultivation Project of Anhui Jianzhu University (No. 2021XMK04), and Open Project Program of Anhui Academy of Territory Space Planning and Ecology (No. GTY2021202).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Research Center of Building Energy Efficiency Control and Evaluation (Ministry of Education), Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, China

    Sarula Chen

  2. School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, China

    Sarula Chen & Tianxin Chang

  3. College of Architecture and Art, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230601, China

    Yang Yang

  4. Anhui Academy of Territory Space Planning and Ecology, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, China

    Sarula Chen & Yang Yang

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  1. Sarula Chen
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  2. Yang Yang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Sarula Chen, Yang Yang and Tianxin Chang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Sarula Chen, Yang Yang and Tianxin Chang, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yang Yang.

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Chen, S., Yang, Y. & Chang, T. Uncertainty and parameter ranking analysis on summer thermal characteristics of the hydronic thermal barrier for low-energy buildings. Build. Simul. 16, 27–49 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-022-0920-1

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