Models for describing the thermal characteristics of building components

Outdoor testing of buildings and building components under real weather conditions provides useful information about their dynamic performance. Such knowledge is needed to properly characterize the heat transfer dynamics and provides useful information for implementing energy saving strategies, for example. For the analysis of these tests, dynamic analysis models and methods are required. However, a wide variety of models and methods exists, and the problem of choosing the most appropriate approach for each particular case is a non-trivial and interdisciplinary task. Knowledge of a large family of these approaches may therefore be very useful for selecting a suitable approach for each particular case.