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Dynamic thermal performance and energy-saving potential analysis of a modular pipe-embedded building envelope integrated with thermal diffusive materials

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  • Building Systems and Components
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Abstract

In the context of racing to carbon neutrality, the pipe-embedded building system makes the opaque envelopes gradually regarded as the multi-functional element, which also provides an opportunity for thermal insulation solutions to transform from high to zero-carbon attributes. Based on the re-examination of the heat transfer process of conventional pipe-embedded radiant (CPR) walls, the modular pipe-embedded radiant (MPR) wall integrated with thermal diffusive materials is proposed to enhance the heat transfer capacity of CPR walls in the direction parallel to the wall surface, thereby forming a more stable and continuous invisible thermal barrier layer inside the opaque envelopes. A comprehensive thermal and energy-saving analysis study regarding the influence mechanism of several key factors of MPR walls, e.g., the inclination angle of the filler cavity (θ-value), geometry size of the filler cavity (a:b-value) and thermal conductivity of the filler (λf-value), is conducted based on a validated numerical model. Results show that the dynamic thermal behaviors of MPR walls can be significantly improved due to that the radial thermal resistance in the filler cavity of MPR walls can be reduced by 50%, while the maximum extra exterior surface heat loss caused by the optimization measures is only 2.1%. Besides, a better technical effect can be achieved by setting the major axis of the filler cavity towards the room side, where the interior surface heat load/total injected heat first decreases/increases and then increases/decreases with the increase of the θ-value. In particular, the MPR wall with θL = 60° can obtain the best performance when other conditions remain the same. Moreover, the performance indicators of MPR walls can be further improved with the increase of the cavity size (a:b-value), while showing a trend of rapid improvement in the λf-value range of 2–5λC and slow improvement increase in the λf-value range of 5–12λC. In addition, the improvement effect brought by optimizing the θ-value is more obvious as the a:b-value or λf-value increases.

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Abbreviations

A s :

solar absorptance (—)

c p :

specific heat (J/(kg·°C))

g :

gravitational acceleration (m/s2)

I :

solar irradiance (W/m2)

P :

pressure (Pa)

q :

heat flux (W/m2)

Q :

heat load/loss (MJ/m2)

S :

source term (—)

T :

temperature (°C)

Tsol-air :

sol-air temperature (°C)

U :

water velocity (m/s)

v :

wind velocity (m/s)

α :

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

Γ Φ :

diffusion coefficient

ε :

surface emissivity (—)

θ :

inclination angle of filler cavity (°)

λ :

thermal conductivity (W/(m·°C))

μ s :

dynamic viscosity (N·s/m2)

ρ :

density (kg/m3)

σ :

Stefan-Boltzmann constant

τ :

time (s)

CHE:

conventional high-performance wall

CPR:

conventional pipe-embedded radiant wall

MPR:

modular pipe-embedded radiant wall

a:

minor axis of the filler cavity

B:

basic scenario

b:

major axis of the filler cavity

C:

concrete

e:

energy equation

ex:

exterior surface

f:

filler/thermal diffusive material

hc:

heat charging

i:

room space

in:

interior surface

ir:

radiative temperature of room space

IS:

indoor set-point

L:

left

L:

load-reduction scenario

m:

momentum equation

o:

outdoor space

or:

radiative temperature of outdoor space

R:

right

rad:

long-wave radiation

S:

supplementary heating scenario

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Acknowledgements

This study is co-sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52208103), the Youth Fund of Anhui Natural Science Foundation (No. 2208085QE163 and No.2108085QE241), the Anhui Province University Outstanding Scientific Research and Innovation Team (No. 2022AH010021), the Opening Fund of State Key Laboratory of Green Building in Western China (No. LSKF202303), and the Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Science and Technology Program of Anhui Province (No. 2022-YF062).

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Yang Yang

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

    Sarula Chen

  3. State Key Laboratory of Green Building in Western China, Xi’an, 710055, China

    Yang Yang & Sarula Chen

Authors
  1. Yang Yang
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  2. Sarula Chen
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Contributions

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

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Correspondence to Sarula Chen.

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Yang, Y., Chen, S. Dynamic thermal performance and energy-saving potential analysis of a modular pipe-embedded building envelope integrated with thermal diffusive materials. Build. Simul. 16, 2285–2305 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-1039-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-1039-8

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