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Buildings
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Modelling of Heating and Cooling in Buildings
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Modelling of Heating and Cooling in Buildings

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2016) | Viewed by 56056

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Christopher Underwood

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Interests: heating system modelling; air conditioning modelling; building energy modelling; ventilation modelling; thermal comfort; comfort control; adaptive comfort; weather data for building simulation; low carbon design; low carbon building

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Progress on the modelling of energy use for heating and cooling in buildings has enjoyed a period of growth in recent years as modelling methods improve, simulation tools develop, new technologies for renewable and low carbon energy become available and a continuing demand for ever-increasing standards of thermal comfort prevails. A realisation that, whilst buildings contribute to climate change, they are also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change means that building analysts and designers are increasingly searching for methods that help them to future-proof design and performance from initial concept stage through to end-of-life disposal. This Special Issue welcomes new and previously-unpublished research contributions which report progress on the modelling of heating and cooling in buildings addressing these challenges. We welcome contributions on the modelling of novel construction techniques and materials for the reduction of energy and carbon emission, new and improved modelling procedures for dealing with plant and controls, advances in ventilation and comfort modelling, methods for analysing comfort in habitable external spaces, progress on the development of future weather data for building simulation, techniques for analysing user behaviour in relation to energy use and advances in methods for predicting comfort for vulnerable user groups. Other contributions in areas linked to these themes will also be welcome.

Prof. Dr. Christopher Underwood
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • heating system modelling
  • air conditioning modelling
  • building energy modelling
  • ventilation modelling
  • thermal comfort
  • comfort control
  • adaptive comfort
  • weather data for building simulation
  • low carbon design
  • low carbon building

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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2976 KiB  
Article
Numerical Simulation of the Application of Solar Radiant Systems, Internal Airflow and Occupants’ Presence in the Improvement of Comfort in Winter Conditions
by Eusébio Z. E. Conceição and Mª Manuela J. R. Lúcio
Buildings 2016, 6(3), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings6030038 - 16 Sep 2016
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 5377
Abstract
In this work, the use of numerical simulation in the application of solar radiant systems, internal airflow and occupants’ presence in the improvement of comfort in winter conditions is made. The thermal comfort, the local thermal discomfort and the air quality in an [...] Read more.
In this work, the use of numerical simulation in the application of solar radiant systems, internal airflow and occupants’ presence in the improvement of comfort in winter conditions is made. The thermal comfort, the local thermal discomfort and the air quality in an occupied chamber space are evaluated. In the experimental measurements, a wood chamber, a desk, two seats, two seated hygro-thermal manikins, a warm radiant floor, a solar radiation simulator and a water solar collector are used. The air velocity and the air temperature fluctuation are experimentally evaluated around 15 human body sections. The chamber surface temperature is experimentally measured. In the numerical simulation, a coupling human thermal comfort (HTC) integral model, a computational fluids dynamics (CFD) differential model and a building thermal response (BTR) integral model are applied. The human thermal comfort level is evaluated by the HTC numerical model. The airflow inside the virtual chamber, using the k-epsilon and RNG turbulence models, is evaluated by the CFD numerical model. The chamber surface and the collector temperatures are evaluated by the BTR numerical model. In the human thermal comfort level, in non-uniform environments, the predicted mean vote (PMV) and the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) people are numerically evaluated; in the local thermal discomfort level the draught risk (DR) is experimentally and numerically analyzed; and in the air quality, the carbon dioxide CO2 concentration is numerically calculated. In the validation tests, the experimental and numerical values of the chamber surface temperature, the air temperature, the air velocity, the air turbulence intensity and the DR are presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling of Heating and Cooling in Buildings)
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13635 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Void on Natural Ventilation Performance in Multi-Storey Housing
by Fakhriah Muhsin, Wardah Fatimah Mohammad Yusoff, Mohd Farid Mohamed and Abdul Razak Sapian
Buildings 2016, 6(3), 35; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings6030035 - 30 Aug 2016
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 19883
Abstract
Enhancing natural ventilation performance in multi-storey housing is very important for the living environment in terms of health and thermal comfort purposes. One of the most important design strategies to enhance natural ventilation in multi-storey housing is through the provision of voids. A [...] Read more.
Enhancing natural ventilation performance in multi-storey housing is very important for the living environment in terms of health and thermal comfort purposes. One of the most important design strategies to enhance natural ventilation in multi-storey housing is through the provision of voids. A void is a passive architectural feature, which is located in the middle of deep plan buildings. It is very crucial to consider the configurations of voids in the buildings for enhancing natural ventilation, especially for multi-storey housing. In this study, Malaysian Medium Cost Multi-Storey Housing (MMCMSH), which is an example of multi-storey housing located in a suburban area, has been selected in this study. This study aims to investigate the potential of void for enhancing natural ventilation performance in multi-storey housing by the comparison of two different void configurations. Field measurement of MMCMSH has been conducted to validate Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model and Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) is an important parameter for setting up the CFD Model’s domain. Ventilation rate (Q), which is necessary for comfort and health reasons, is an important parameter for the comparison of the different void configurations. This study revealed that the provision of void can enhance natural ventilation performance in multi-storey housing with an increase in the value of Q, from 3.44% to 40.07%, by enlarging the void’s width by 50% compared to the existing void. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling of Heating and Cooling in Buildings)
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2643 KiB  
Article
The Importance of Heating System Transient Response in Domestic Energy Labelling
by George Bennett, Clifford Elwell, Robert Lowe and Tadj Oreszczyn
Buildings 2016, 6(3), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings6030029 - 8 Aug 2016
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 7132
Abstract
European National Calculation Methods (NCM), such as the UK Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), are used to make standardised and simplified assessments of building energy performance. These NCMs contain simplifications to aid ease of use and comparability of resulting Energy Performance Certificates (EPC). By [...] Read more.
European National Calculation Methods (NCM), such as the UK Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), are used to make standardised and simplified assessments of building energy performance. These NCMs contain simplifications to aid ease of use and comparability of resulting Energy Performance Certificates (EPC). By comparing SAP with a modern, dynamic modelling system, this study quantifies internal temperatures and thereby heating energy consumption. Results show that for the considered test house SAP results correspond closely to a dynamic model using an idealistic heating system, with perfect control and instant responsiveness. However, the introduction of a dynamic, physically realistic gas fired boiler and water based heating system to the model results in a consistent increase in internal temperature (0.5 °C) and energy demand (by ca. 1000 kWh/a). Variation of further parameters within the dynamic model, controls and heat source size, are presented and compared to SAP results and assumptions. The inclusion of more realistic dynamics in building energy modelling for NCMs may provide a better basis for effective decision making with respect to a wide range of heating systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling of Heating and Cooling in Buildings)
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1471 KiB  
Article
Application of a New Dynamic Heating System Model Using a Range of Common Control Strategies
by Joshua Fong, Jerry Edge, Chris Underwood, Andy Tindale, Steve Potter and Hu Du
Buildings 2016, 6(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings6020023 - 3 Jun 2016
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 6721
Abstract
This research investigates the overall heating energy consumptions using various control strategies, secondary heat emitters, and primary plant for a building. Previous research has successfully demonstrated that a dynamic distributed heat emitter model embedded within a simplified third-order lumped parameter building model is [...] Read more.
This research investigates the overall heating energy consumptions using various control strategies, secondary heat emitters, and primary plant for a building. Previous research has successfully demonstrated that a dynamic distributed heat emitter model embedded within a simplified third-order lumped parameter building model is capable of achieving improved results when compared to other commercially available modelling tools. With the enhanced ability to capture transient effects of emitter thermal capacity, this research studies the influence of control strategies and primary plant configurations on the rate of energy consumption of a heating system. Four alternative control strategies are investigated: zone feedback; weather-compensated; a combination of both of these methods; and thermostatic control. The plant alternative configurations consist of conventional boilers, biomass boilers, and heat pumps supporting radiator heating and underfloor heating. The performance of the model is tested on a primary school building and can be applied to any residential or commercial building with a heating system. Results show that the new methods reported offer greater detail and rigor in the conduct of building energy modelling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling of Heating and Cooling in Buildings)
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4704 KiB  
Article
Hourly Calculation Method of Air Source Heat Pump Behavior
by Ludovico Danza, Lorenzo Belussi, Italo Meroni, Michele Mililli and Francesco Salamone
Buildings 2016, 6(2), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings6020016 - 5 Apr 2016
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 10575
Abstract
The paper describes an hourly simplified model for the evaluation of the energy performance of heat pumps in cooling mode maintaining a high accuracy and low computational cost. This approach differs from the methods used for the assessment of the overall energy consumption [...] Read more.
The paper describes an hourly simplified model for the evaluation of the energy performance of heat pumps in cooling mode maintaining a high accuracy and low computational cost. This approach differs from the methods used for the assessment of the overall energy consumption of the building, normally placed in the so-called white or black box models, where the transient conduction equation is deterministically and stochastically solved, respectively. The present method wants to be the expression of the grey box model, taking place between the previous approaches. The building envelope is defined using a building thermal model realized with a 3 Resistance 1 Capacitance (3R1C) thermal network based on the solution of the lumped capacitance method. The simplified model evaluates the energy efficiency ratio (EER) of a heat pump through the determination of the hourly second law efficiency of a reversed Carnot cycle. The results of the simplified method were finally compared with those provided by EnergyPlus, a dynamic building energy simulation program, and those collected from an outdoor test cell in real working conditions. The results are presented in temperatures and energy consumptions profiles and are validated using the Bland-Altman test. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling of Heating and Cooling in Buildings)
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1195 KiB  
Article
Estimation of the Heating Time of Small-Scale Buildings Using Dynamic Models
by Degurunnehalage Wathsala Upamali Perera and Nils-Olav Skeie
Buildings 2016, 6(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings6010010 - 7 Mar 2016
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5698
Abstract
Most buildings are not continuously occupied, such as office buildings, schools, churches and many residential buildings. Maintaining comfortable conditions only during the occupied periods reduces the energy costs. This can be done by lowering the temperature as much as possible during unoccupied periods [...] Read more.
Most buildings are not continuously occupied, such as office buildings, schools, churches and many residential buildings. Maintaining comfortable conditions only during the occupied periods reduces the energy costs. This can be done by lowering the temperature as much as possible during unoccupied periods and at nights and then raising the temperature for occupation. More energy can be saved by using this method. The estimation of the time taken for the temperature increase is important in determining the optimal time for switching the heating equipment on. A dynamic model for single-zone buildings is developed for estimating the heating time, and the model is validated using four case studies with real measurements. The model computes the heating time with an error of less than 3%. It can also be used to obtain a rough prediction of the space heating energy use. Further, it was observed that starting the heating at the right time returns the lowest energy cost with the introduction of usage-based energy tariff systems. The model is quick in predicting the results, and hence, physics-based models can play an influential role in building system control with advanced control strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling of Heating and Cooling in Buildings)
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