| Abstract: | The thermal properties of the layers of a wall, whether or not exposed to solar radiation, are calculated provided that the boundary conditions and some values of the transient temperature field within the wall are known. The developed procedure is based on the adjoint-solution technique and is applicable both to walls in operation and to the design of walls that are required to meet certain temperature specifications. In the former case, temperature measurements are needed. Theoretical and experimental tests have proved the accuracy of the method. Applications may be found in energy management and thermal storage in buildings, in the improvement of passive systems and in the design of multilayer slabs forming parts of heat-transfer equipment. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
