New external convective heat transfer coefficient correlations for isolated low-rise buildings

Building energy analyses are very sensitive to external convective heat transfer coefficients so that some researchers have conducted sensitivity calculations and proved that depending on the choice of those coefficients, energy demands estimation values can vary from 20% to 40%. In this context, computational fluid dynamics calculations have been performed to predict convective heat transfer coefficients at the external surfaces of a simple shape low-rise building. Effects of wind velocity and orientation have been analyzed considering four surface-to-air temperature differences. Results show that the convective heat transfer coefficient value strongly depends on the wind velocity, that the wind direction has a notable effect for vertical walls and for roofs and that the surface-to-air temperature difference has a negligible effect for wind velocity higher than 2 m/s. External convective heat transfer coefficient correlations are provided as a function of the wind free stream velocity and wind-to-surface angle.     

High-resolution CFD simulations for forced convective heat transfer coefficients at the facade of a low-rise building

High-resolution 3D steady RANS CFD simulations of forced convective heat transfer at the facades of a low-rise cubic (10 × 10 × 10 m³) building are performed to determine convective heat transfer coefficients (CHTC). The focus is on the windward facade. CFD validation is performed based on wind tunnel measurements of velocity and heat transfer for reduced-scale cubic models. The CFD simulations employ a high-resolution grid with, for the 10 m cubic building, cell centres at a minimum distance of 160 μm from the building surface to resolve the entire boundary layer, including the viscous sublayer and the buffer layer, which dominate the convective surface resistance. The results show that: (1) the wind flow around the building results in highly varying CHTC values across the windward facade; (2) standard and non-equilibrium wall functions are not suitable for CHTC calculation, necessitating either low-Reynolds number modelling or specially-adapted wall functions; (3) at every facade position, the CHTC is a power-law function of the mean wind speed; (4) the CHTC distribution at the windward facade is relatively insensitive to wind direction variations in the 0–67.5° angle range; (5) the CHTC shows a stronger spatial correlation with the turbulent kinetic energy than with the mean wind speed across the facade; and (6) the CHTC distribution across the windward facade is quite similar to the distribution of wind-driven rain (WDR), with both parameters reaching high levels near the top edge of the facade. This suggests that also the convective moisture transfer coefficient will be higher at this location and that the facade parts that receive most WDR might also experience a higher drying rate.     

Determination of the convective heat transfer coefficient in three-dimensional inverse heat conduction problems

A thin steel plate probe (24 mm wide×24 mm long×3 mm thick) surrounded by insulation except for the exposed surface was constructed. Using the temperature measurements of the steel plate and the heat flux measured by a Gardon gauge and with the assistance of numerical calculations, two methods based on three-dimensional inverse conduction problems are developed to determine the convective heat transfer coefficient in fire experiments. The first one is based on optimisation of the predictions of the temperature of the steel plate using different heat transfer coefficients, while the second adopts a “predictor–corrector” method to determine the instantaneous heat transfer coefficient. Validation of both methods is accomplished by performing experiments in the cone calorimeter at a known constant heat flux. Subsequently, the two methods are applied to experiments in enclosures to examine the sensitivities of the two methods.     

Radiative and convective heat transfer coefficients of the human body in natural convection

The purpose of this study was to investigate the convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients of the human body, while focusing on the convective heat transfer area of the human body. Thermal sensors directly measuring the total heat flux and radiative heat flux were employed. The mannequin was placed in seven postures as follows: standing (exposed to the atmosphere, floor contact); chair sitting (exposed to the atmosphere, contact with seat, chair back, and floor); cross-legged sitting (floor contact); legs-out sitting (floor contact); and supine (floor contact). The radiative heat transfer coefficient was determined for each posture, and empirical formulas were proposed for the convective heat transfer coefficient of the entire human body under natural convection, driven by the difference between the air temperature and mean skin temperature corrected using the convective heat transfer area.     

Analysis of convective heat and mass transfer at the vertical walls of a street canyon

The combined effects of urbanization and global climate warming give rise to increased temperatures in urbanized areas, a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect. The higher air temperatures have a negative impact on the energy demand for cooling and on the comfort and health of the people residing in urban areas. One way to mitigate the excess heat in urban areas is to make use of evaporative cooling, for example from ponds, from surfaces wetted by wind-driven rain, or from vegetated surfaces. Therefore understanding the interaction between the urban microclimate and evaporation processes is of interest. In the current paper, a two-step methodology for the simulation of drying processes is proposed and subsequently applied to study the drying behavior of both vertical walls of a square-shaped street canyon. Simulation results reveal the importance of using location-dependent convective heat and mass transfer coefficients (CHTC and CMTC) to capture the spatially non-uniform drying behavior of the wall. Whether the CMTC is obtained via Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations or via a simplified method based on the Chilton-Colburn analogy only slightly affects the drying behavior. The potential for evaporative cooling of wet walls in a hot climate is demonstrated in a final example.     

Airflow and heat transfer in double skin facades

Airflow and heat transfer simulation was conducted for a DSF system equipped with a venetian blind, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with RNG turbulence model, for a three-level combination of slat tilt angle and blind position. The CFD prediction was validated using experimental data collected for a mechanically ventilated DSF equipped with venetian blinds. The predicted trends in glass and blind surface temperatures of the CFD model are compared well with the experimental measurements. The present study indicates that the presence of venetian blinds influences the surface heat transfer coefficients (SHTCs), the temperature and the air distribution in the DSF system. For the cases considered, the changes in the position of the blinds (outer, middle, and inner) have more effect on the distribution of temperature, velocity, and SHTCs compared to the changes in the slat angles (θ = 0°, 45°, 90°).     

Sensitivity of the predicted convective heat transfer in a cooled room to the computational fluid dynamics simulation approach

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) plays an increasingly important role in the design, analysis and optimization of engineering systems. However, CFD does not necessarily provide reliable results. The most crucial numerical solution error is caused by inadequate grid resolution, and the key modelling error sources in CFD in ventilated indoor environments are turbulence modelling and diffuser modelling. Many researchers already proposed guidelines, but they based their analyses on local variables. In response, underlying study intended to verify the impact of the CFD simulation approach on the convective heat flux, an integral quantity. The authors tested several grids, Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes turbulence models and diffuser models for three convection regimes in a cooled room. The diffuser modelling had a much larger impact than the grid and the turbulence modelling, as long as the jet dominated the airflow. So, CFD users, who want to model forced/mixed convection airflow indoors, certainly need to pay attention to the diffuser modelling.     

A novel method for full-scale measurement of the external convective heat transfer coefficient for building horizontal roof

The external convective heat transfer coefficient (CHTC) of building horizontal roof is an indispensable parameter for accurately calculating heat transfer through the roof and simulating airflow around the building. A novel method, namely naphthalene sublimation method, was developed for measuring external CHTC and was compared with heat balance method in this study. The comparative field measurements were carried out on the roof of a nine-story building using both methods simultaneously. The measured CHTCs on the roof of building show an approximate linear relation with representative wind velocities. The magnitude of results using the two methods was very close to each other, though the slope of the linear function using the naphthalene sublimation method was a little larger than that using the heat balance method. The difference can be considered as the slow response of heat flux meter used in heat balance method. In addition, the variance of temperature on test specimen's surfaces was not found to have significant effect on measurement results.     

New inflow boundary conditions for modelling the neutral equilibrium atmospheric boundary layer in computational wind engineering

Modelling neutral equilibrium atmospheric boundary layers (ABL) in CFD is an important aspect in computational wind engineering (CWE) applications. In this paper, new inflow boundary conditions are introduced from the viewpoint that these boundary conditions should satisfy the turbulence model employed. The new set of inflow turbulence boundary conditions is an approximate solution to the standard k-ε model transport equations. The capability of these boundary conditions to produce an equilibrium ABL is demonstrated by performing numerical simulations in an empty domain. The new inflow turbulence boundary conditions in this paper support future practical applications in CWE and future research in modelling equilibrium ABLs.     

Three-dimensional nonlinear analysis for the coupled problem of the heat transfer of the surrounding rock and the heat convection between the air and the surrounding rock in cold-region tunnel

According to the basic theories of heat transfer, geocryology and fluid mechanics, taking the coupled problem of the heat transfer of the rock surrounding the tunnel and the heat convective between the air in the tunnel and the rock surrounding the tunnel into account, three-dimensional calculating model of the coupled problem are presented. The finite element formulae of this problem are obtained by Galerkin’s method, and the computer program of the finite element is compiled. Using the program, three-dimensional nonlinear analyses for the coupled problem of the heat transfer of the rock surrounding the tunnel and the heat convective between the air in the tunnel and the rock surrounding Fenghuo mountain tunnel on the Qinghai–Tibet Railway are made. The agreement between the calculated results and the in-situ observed data is seen to be very good. The calculated results illustrate that the freezing–thawing situation of the rock surrounding the tunnel can correctly be predicted even if the air temperature distribution along the tunnel is unknown. In thus way, the large cost of in-situ observation for the air temperature in the tunnel can be saved.     

Experimental investigation of the influence of the air jet trajectory on convective heat transfer in buildings equipped with air-based and radiant cooling systems

The complexity and diversity of airflow in buildings make the accurate definition of convective heat transfer coefficients (CHTCs) difficult. In a full-scale test facility, the convective heat transfer of two cooling systems (active chilled beam and radiant wall) has been investigated under steady-state and dynamic conditions. With the air-based cooling system, a dependency of the convective heat transfer on the air jet trajectory has been observed. New correlations have been developed, introducing a modified Archimedes number to account for the air flow pattern. The accuracy of the new correlations has been evaluated to±15%. Besides the study with an air-based cooling system, the convective heat transfer with a radiant cooling system has also been investigated. The convective flow at the activated surface is mainly driven by natural convection. For other surfaces, the complexity of the flow and the large uncertainty on the CHTCs make the validation of existing correlations difficult.     

墙体内热湿耦合过程的时域递归展开算法

利用时域递归展开算法对墙体内热湿耦合传递方程进行求解。以木板为例,应用该算法进行了热湿耦合传递的分析计算,在时间域和空间域上分别运用递归展开法和控制容积法进行离散,从而得到递归形式的线性方程组,运用MATLAB软件对这一过程进行求解。计算结果与有限差分算法、解析解计算结果以及实验数据吻合良好,表明该算法能够用于求解多孔介质热湿耦合传递模型。时间步长的改变对计算结果影响较小,可通过增加时间步长方法来减少工作量。     

西藏节能建筑围护结构传热系数朝向修正

针对现行供暖居住建筑节能设计标准应用于西藏地区存在有供暖能耗指标却没有完整的能耗计算基本参数,即没有围护结构传热系数的朝向修正系数的问题,以拉萨典型气象年气候参数为依据,采用反应系数法对围护结构各部分供暖负荷进行了动态模拟计算,得到了围护结构各朝向修正系数,对南窗传热系数提出了变系数修正方法。