HEAT FLOW THROUGH BUILDING

ENVELOPE- CONCEPTS
Unit – III
I. The transfer of heat
through solids
SOLIDS:

Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being
liquid, gas, and plasma). It is characterized by structural rigidity and
resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike a liquid, a solid object
does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill
the entire volume available to it like a gas does.
The atoms in a solid are tightly bound to each other, either in a
regular geometric lattice (crystalline solids, which include metals and
ordinary ice) or irregularly (an amorphous solid such as common
window glass).
 What is heat transfer?
Heat transfer exchanges energy between two systems. This transfer can be
between solid objects, liquids, gases or a combination of state types. There
are three types of heat transfer: conduction, convection and radiation.
i. Conduction is the direct heat transfer of two objects in contact with
each other.
ii. Convection is transfer due to flow of a liquid or gas across another
object; the higher the speed of the liquid or gas, the higher the amount
of heat transfer.
iii. Radiation is the transfer of heat energy in the form of electromagnetic
waves.
Anything that has mass has energy. The molecules of objects vibrate in
relationship to the heat they contain; the more heat, the more vibration. This
is easy to see when water cools to the point of freezing. As the water cools,
the energy contained in the water molecules decreases, slowing them
down. At zero degrees Celsius, molecules reach a point that they are no
longer able to stay in liquid form and become ice. At the boiling point of
water, 100 degrees Celsius, water has obtained enough heat transfer to
form a gas, seen as steam. Absolute zero is the lower limit of heat. It
predicts that once this limit is reached, molecular motion of a crystal stops
entirely.
What is the definition of energy transfer?
Energy transfer describes energy in some form, usually heat or electricity,
being transferred from one object or substance to another. There are
natural examples of energy transfer like the sun heating up land, and also
manmade examples of energy transfer, such as an oven cooking food with
heat.
There are many forms that energy can exist in, including sound, heat, light,
nuclear and kinetic. Some forms are more abundant than others and
contain more energy. Since energy cannot be destroyed or created, it can
only be transferred. It can, and is often transferred from one source of
energy to more than one different forms of energy. For example, when a
candle is burnt, energy is given off in the form of heat and light.
How heat is differing from thermal energy?
Heat differs from thermal energy in that Heat is the transfer of thermal energy
from one location, object or substance to another. Thus, heat is a process
that happens to thermal energy and is meaningless without it. Thermal
energy is the random kinetic energy of the constituent molecules or atoms of a
substance and is transferred as heat via conduction, convection or radiation.
At any temperature above absolute zero, the constituent atoms or molecules of
a substance are in constant, random motion. In solids, this movement is highly
constrained and takes the form of molecular vibration. In fluids, particularly
gases, the particles move in straight lines until they encounter another particle,
bouncing off and transferring energy between them. This direct transfer is the
type of heating known as conduction. Conduction also occurs with solids in
contact with other substances, when the vibrating particles transfer energy from
one to another.
Radiation also occurs in both solids and fluids. This type of heat is the
conversion of kinetic thermal energy into electromagnetic energy. It then
travels via photons to another object, where it is absorbed and converted
back into thermal energy.
Convection, on the other hand, only occurs in fluids, where a fluid with
thermal energy travels as a current from one location to another, heating a
new area via one of the other processes.
What is the difference between heat and temperature?

Heat measures the movement of molecules in an object, while temperature

measures the average energy or heat generated by the molecules in an
object. The faster the molecules move, the more heat they produce and the
higher their temperatures become.
Molecules are clusters of atoms, which are always in motion. As they bump
and slide into each other, they vibrate back and forth and this motion produces
heat. Many types of energy are converted into heat, including electrical,
mechanical and chemical energy. Electrical energy occurs when you use a
heating pad, a toaster or a light bulb. Mechanical heat, for example, is
produced when a ball is bounced on the floor. The ball slows with each bounce
because some of the motion of the ball's bouncing heats up its surface.
Chemical heating occurs when your body uses food as fuel to warm you up.
Temperature determination depends on the size and density of the object being
heated. A large object has a lower temperature than a small one, because the
kinetic energy or movement within the smaller object is more concentrated and
there is less room for it to disperse. Therefore, these molecules just vibrate,
which causes more friction and raises the temperature of the object
 DEFINITIONS

Thermal conductivity refers to the amount/speed of heat transmitted

through a material.
Heat transfer occurs at a higher rate across materials of high thermal
conductivity than those of low thermal conductivity. Materials of
high thermal conductivity are widely used in heat sink applications and
materials of low thermal conductivity are used as thermal insulation.
Thermal conductivity of materials is temperature dependent.. Metals with
high thermal conductivity, e.g. copper, exhibit high electrical conductivity.
The heat generated in high thermal conductivity materials is rapidly
conducted away from the region of the weld. For metallic materials, the
electrical and thermal conductivity correlate positively, i.e. materials with
high electrical conductivity (low electrical resistance) exhibit high thermal
conductivity.
 DEFINITIONS

1. HEAT :
❖ Heat is a form of energy, appearing as molecular movements in a substance
or as’ radiant heat , a certain wavelength band of electromagnetic radiation in
space (700 – 1000 nm ).
❖ It is measured in joules (J)

2. TEMPERATURE
❖ It is the out ward appearance of the thermal state of the body.. If energy is
conveyed to a body, the molecular movements with in the body increases and
it appears to be warmer.
❖ It is measured in degree Celsius.
 DEFINITIONS

3. SPECIFIC HEAT :
❖The specific heat of a substance is defined as the amount of heat energy
required by a unit mass of the substance to cause unit temperature increase .
❖ It is measured in J/kg deg c.
❖The relationship between heat and temperature change is usually expressed in
the form shown below
specific heat, cv = Q / (ΔT ⨉ m) .
Q =heat energy
M = mass
C =specific heat capacity
ΔT =change in temperature
❖ The higher the specific heat of a substance the more heat it will absorb for a
given increase in temperature.
 DEFINITIONS
3. SPECIFIC HEAT :
❖ Molecules of different materials have different weights and sizes , they
require different amounts of energy to be heated to a given temperature.
❖ Knowing the specific heat of a material makes it possible to calculate how
much energy is needed to raise the material’s temperature by a given
number of degrees
❖ Of all the common substance water has highest specific heat : 4187 J/kg
deg C.

4. LATENT HEAT :
❖The latent heat of a substance is defined as the amount of heat energy
absorbed by unit mass of substance at the change of state ( from solid to
liquid or liquid to gas) with out any change in temperature.
❖It is measured in J/Kg.
 DEFINITIONS

5. THERMAL CAPACITY
❖ It is the product of mass and specific heat of the material.
❖ It is defined as the amount of heat required to cause unit temperature
increase of the body.
❖It is expressed in J/deg C

6. THE TRANSFER OF HEAT THROUGH SOLIDS

❖Heat transfer is concerned with the generation, use, conversion, and
exchange of thermal energy and heat between physical systems.
❖Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal
conduction, thermal convection, thermal radiation, and transfer of energy
by phase changes.
❖While these mechanisms have distinct characteristics, they often occur
simultaneously in the same system.
 DEFINITIONS

7. CONDUCTION
❖ Conduction (or heat conduction) is the transfer of heat energy by
microscopic diffusion and collisions of particles within a body due to
a temperature gradient.
❖ Conduction can only take place within an object or material, or
between two objects that are in direct or indirect contact with each
other.
❖ Heat transfer by conduction involves transfer of energy within a
material without any motion of the material as a whole.
❖ Conduction takes place in all forms such as solids, liquids, gases and
plasmas.
❖In the absence of external drivers, temperature differences decay over
time, and the bodies approach thermal equilibrium.
 DEFINITIONS

8. THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY ( k – value)

❖Thermal conductivity (k) is the intrinsic property of a material which relates
its ability to conduct heat.
❖Conductive heat flow occurs in the direction of decreasing temperature
because higher temperature equates to higher molecular energy or more
molecular movement.
❖ A high thermal conductivity means that heat transfer across a material will
occur at a higher rate.
❖Note that this is also temperature dependent.
❖Thermal conductivity is defined as the quantity of heat (Q) transmitted
through a unit thickness (L) in a direction normal to a surface of unit area
(A) due to a unit temperature gradient (ΔT).
 DEFINITIONS

8. THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY ( k – value)

❖In equation form this becomes the following:
❖Thermal Conductivity = heat × distance / (area × temperature gradient)
k = Q × L / (A × ΔT)
Where
(Q) = quantity of heat
(L) = thickness of material
(A) = area of material through which heat transfer takes place
(ΔT) = temperature gradient .

❖ It is Expressed in W/m deg C

 DEFINITIONS

9. THERMAL CONDUCTANCE - C-value

❖ Thermal conductance is heat flow through a unit area of a body when the
temperature difference between the two body surfaces is 1 degree Celsius.
❖The value of the thermal conductance can be calculated by dividing the thermal
conductivity with the thickness of the specimen.
C = k/b
Where R = thermal conductance
b= thickness of material
k= conductivity
Expressed in W/m2 deg C.
 DEFINITIONS
10. THERMAL RESISTIVITY
❖Resistance, is a term that describes the forces that oppose the flow of electron
current in a conductor. All materials naturally contain some resistance to the flow of
electron current. Resistance can be both good and bad
❖.Thermal resistivity is defined as a material's ability to resist heat flow.
❖It is the reciprocal of the thermal conductivity.
thermal resistivity = (distance × temperature gradient)/ heat flow rate
❖Thickness and resistivity
Increasing the thickness of an insulating layer increases the thermal resistance.
For example, doubling the thickness of fiber glass batting will double its R-value,
perhaps from 2.0 m²K/W for 11cm of thickness, up to 4.0 m²K/W for 22 cm of
thickness.
Heat transfer through an insulating layer is analogous to adding resistance to a
series circuit with a fixed voltage.
The addition of materials to enclose the insulation such as sheetrock and siding
provides additional but typically much smaller R-value.
 DEFINITIONS
11. R-value – Thermal Resistance
❖Thermal resistance is the reciprocal of thermal conductance.
❖Resistance is usually given as an "R" value which is the resistance of one square
metre of the material subject to a one degree temperature difference.
❖The value of the thermal resistance can be determined by dividing the thickness
with thermal conductivity of the specimen.
❖Expressed in m2 deg C/W.

Resistivity (R) = material thickness (d)

Thermal conductivity coefficient (k)
Where R = thermal resistance
d= thickness of material
k= conductivity
❖If a body consist of different materials, its total resistance will be the sum of the
resistance of individual layers.
 DEFINITIONS
12. Conductance Vs Conductivity
❖Conductivity (k) is a material property and means its ability to conduct heat
through its internal structure.
❖Conductance (c) on the other hand is an object property and depends on both its
material and thickness. Conductance equals conductivity multiplied by thickness, in
units of W/m²K. Or W/m²degC

13. Resistance Vs Resistivity

❖Resistivity is a material property and refers to that material's ability to resist the flow
of heat.
❖Resistance on the other hand is an object property and depends on both the
resistivity of the material and its overall thickness within that particular object.
 DEFINITIONS
14. Relevance of density
❖Density is often taken as an indicator of conductivity: higher density material
normally have higher conductivity or k value but there is no casual or direct
relationship between two quantities.
❖The apparent relation is due to the fact that air has a very low conductivity value
and light weight material tends to be porous, thus containing more air, their
conductivity tends to be less, how ever there are many exceptions.

15.Transmittance or U-Value
❖The term ‘U’ represents overall thermal conductance from the outside to inside
covering all modes of heat transfer.
❖‘U- value’ can be defined as the rate of heat flow over unit area of any
building component through unit overall temperature difference between
both sides of the component.
 DEFINITIONS
15.Transmittance or U-Value
The U-Value is an important concept in building design.
It represents the air-to-air transmittance of an element.
U-values measure how effective a material is an insulator.
This refers to how well an element conducts heat from one side to the other, which
makes it the reciprocal of its thermal resistance.
Thus, if we calculate the thermal resistance of an element, we can simply invert it
to obtain the U-Value
U = 1 / Rt
The U-Value is a property of a material.
Its units are Watts per meter squared Kelvin (W/m² K). This means that, if a wall
material had a U-Value of 1 W/m² K, for every degree of temperature difference
between the inside and outside surface, 1 Watt of heat energy would flow through
each meter squared of its surface.
 DEFINITIONS
15.Transmittance or U-Value
Workmanship and installation standards can strongly affect the thermal
transmittance. If insulation is fitted poorly, with gaps and cold bridges, then the
thermal transmittance can be considerably higher than desired. Thermal
transmittance takes heat loss due to conduction, convection and radiation into
account.
❖ Calculating U-value
The basic U-value calculation is relatively simple. In essence, the U-value can be
calculated by finding the reciprocal of the sum of the thermal resistances of each
material making up the building element in question. Note that, as well as the
material resistances, the internal and external faces also have resistances, which
must be added. These are fixed values.
Simple U-value calculations can be made in the following way, by considering the
building element’s construction layer-by-layer. This example considers a cavity
wall:
Material Thickness Conductivity Resistance =
(k-value) Thickness ÷ conductivity
(R-value)

Outside surface – – 0.040 K m²/W

Clay bricks 0.100 m 0.77 W/m⋅K 0.130 K m²/W

Glasswool 0.100 m 0.04 W/m⋅K 2.500 K m²/W

Concrete blocks 0.100 m 1.13 W/m⋅K 0.090 K m²/W

Plaster 0.013 m 0.50 W/m⋅K 0.026 K m²/W

Inside surface – – 0.130 K m²/W

Total 2.916 K m²/W

1 ÷ 2.916 = 0.343 W/m²K

U-value =
Measuring U-value
Whilst design calculations are theoretical, post-construction measurements can
also be undertaken. These have the advantage of being able to account for
workmanship.
Thermal transmittance calculations for roofs or walls can be carried out using a
heat flux meter. This consists of a thermopile sensor that is firmly fixed to the test
area, to monitor the heat flow from inside to outside.
Thermal transmittance is derived from dividing average heat flux (flow) by average
temperature difference (between inside and outside) over a continuous period of
about 2 weeks (or over a year in the case of a ground floor slab, due to heat
storage in the ground).
The accuracy of measurements is dependent on a number of factors:
•Magnitude of temperature difference (larger = more accurate)
•Weather conditions (cloudy is better than sunny)
•Good adhesion of thermopiles to test area
Measuring U-value
•Duration of monitoring (longer duration enables a more accurate average)
•More test points enable greater accuracy, to mitigate against anomalies
Two complicating factors that can affect the thermal transmittance properties of
materials include:
•Ambient temperature, due to latent heat among other factors
•The effects of convection currents (increased convection contributes to heat flow)

U-value calculators
As calculation of U-values can be time consuming and complex (particularly where
for example cold bridging needs to be accounted for), numerous online U-value
calculators have been released. However, many of these are only available on
subscription, and those that are free tend to be too simplistic. Another option is to
request a calculation from for example an insulation manufacturer, whose product
is being specified.
16. Y-value, or thermal admittance, or heat transfer coefficient,
The ability of a material to absorb and release heat from an internal
space, as that space’s temperature changes, is termed thermal
admittance (or heat transfer coefficient), The higher the thermal
admittance is, the higher the thermal mass will be.

17.Chemical phase
When a material changes state from solid to liquid, or from liquid to gas,
the thermal conductivity of that material can change. This is due to the
absorption and release of latent heat, and can also occur on smaller
scales that can be advantageous in construction.
17.Chemical phase
Materials are becoming more readily available that can provide high
thermal mass from small volumes. Known as Phase Change Materials
(PCMs), these are substances which can store and release latent heat,
when melting and solidifying respectively over a narrow temperature
range. The advantage of PCMs is that they can provide significant
quantities of thermal mass, while being in themselves very thin; i.e. the
thermal mass appears disproportionately-large compared to the physical
thickness of the material.PCMs could offer a practical solution to the
reintroduction of thermal mass in lightweight buildings.
II. Surface resistance and
air cavities.
In principle, use of cavities is similar to use of a insulating material.
If an air space is left between two layers making a wall or roof in any building,
the air trapped between two layers being poor conductor of heat acts as a
barrier to heat transfer.
Heat is transferred across an air space by a combination of conduction,
convection and radiation.
Heat transfer by conduction is inversely proportional to depth of the air space.
Convection is mainly dependant on the height of the air space and its depth.
Heat transfer by radiation is relatively independent of both thickness and height,
but is greatly dependent on the reflectivity of the internal surfaces.
All three mechanisms are dependent on the surface temperatures.
The thickness of air cavity is a very important design parameter that governs its
effectiveness by controlling the heat transfer coefficient as in case of insulation.
It has been found that with gaps broader than 5cm, movement of trapped air
due to temperature gradient starts that in turn increases the coefficient of heat
transfer.
This increase in heat transfer takes place due to convective heat transfer taking
place in addition to conductive heat transfer.

Therefore, cavities broader than 50 mm are normally not preferred. However, if

more thickness of air cavity is required for getting heavy insulation, by putting
partitions in the main broad cavity multiple cavities can be used as an alternative

In case of roof ventilate the air gap between the roof and the ceiling, then we
could expect a reduction of heat transfer especially by convection.
If the ventilation is effective then the air in the void will remain close to the
ambient temperature, thus reducing the convective heat transfer to zero.
 Ventilated air, however, does not reduce the radiative heat transfer from the roof
to the ceiling.
The radiative component of the heat transfer may be reduced by using low
emissivity or high reflective coating (e.g. aluminum foil) on either surface facing
the cavity.

In addition to application on walls and roofs, the concept of air cavities also finds
very important place in development of insulating windows using double and triple
glazing details

Air cavity Placement Thickness of air layer (mm) Thermal resistance (m2K/W)

10- 20 0.14
Vertical
20- 50 0.17

Horizontal- heat flow from

10- 50 0.17
bottom to top
Horizontal- heat flow from
10- 50 0.21
top to bottom

A typical cavity wall with insulation during construction.

III. Time lag and decrement.
Heat Transfer through Building Envelop
High thermal transmittance Low thermal transmittance
How do we assess the effectiveness of envelop thermal performance ?
 Thermal efficiency of envelop at
o Element level
o Component level
o Assembly level
 Hygro-thermal efficiency of overall building enclosure
 Air-tightness of building enclosure

Element level properties

Primary idea about thermal resistance to heat flow
Eg. Thermal conductivity
Component level properties
More precise idea about thermal performance
Eg. Thermal transmittance
Time Lag and Decrement Factor
The time delay due to the thermal mass is known as a time lag. The thicker and
more resistive the material, the longer it will take for heat waves to pass through.
The reduction in cyclical temperature on the inside surface compared to the
outside surface is knows and the decrement.
Thus, a material with a decrement value of 0.5 which experiences a 20 degree diurnal
variation in external surface temperature would experience only a 10 degree variation
in internal surface temperature.
This effect is particularly important in the design of buildings in environments
with a high diurnal range. In some deserts, for example, the daytime
temperature can reach well over 40 degrees. The following night, however,
temperatures can fall to below freezing. If materials with a thermal lag of
10-12 hours are carefully used, then the low night-time temperatures will
reach the internal surfaces around the middle of the day, cooling the inside
air down. Similarly, the high daytime temperatures will reach the internal
surfaces late in the evening, heating the inside up.
In climates that are constantly hot or constantly cold, the thermal mass effect
can actually be detrimental. This is because both surfaces will tend towards
the average daily temperature which, if it is above or below the comfortable
range, will result in even more occupant discomfort due to unwanted mean
radiant gains or losses. Thus in warm tropical and equatorial climates,
buildings tend to be very open and lightweight. In very cold and sub-polar
regions, buildings are usually highly insulated with very little exposed thermal
mass, even if it is used for structural reasons.