Building dynamic thermal simulation of low-order multi-dimensional heat transfer

Multi-dimensional heat transfers modeling is crucial for building simulations of insulated buildings,which are widely used and have multi-dimensional heat transfers characteristics.For this work,state-model-reduction techniques were used to develop a reduced low-order model of multi-dimensional heat transfers.With hot box experiment of hollow block wall,heat flow relative errors between experiment and low-order model predication were less than 8% and the largest errors were less than 3%.Also,frequency responses of five typical walls,each with different thermal masses or insulation modes,the low-order model and the complete model showed that the low-order model results agree very well in the lower excitation frequency band with deviations appearing only at high frequency.Furthermore,low-order model was used on intersection thermal bridge of a floor slab and exterior wall.Results show that errors between the two models are very small.This low-order model could be coupled with most existing simulation software for different thermal mass envelope analyses to make up for differences between the multi-dimensional and one-dimensional models,simultaneously simplifying simulation calculations.

Natural Convection in a Vertical Open-Ended Channel： Comparison between Experimental and Numerical Results

The present study deals with natural convection flow in a vertical open-ended channel with wall constant heat flux. The experimental and numerical investigations are both conducted using water as the working fluid. The numerical code is developed using finite differences scheme to solve the Navier-Stokes equations under the Boussinesq assumption. Concerning the experimental apparatus, it consists of two heated walls immersed in water. Temperature and velocity measurements are provided for different modified Rayleigh numbers based on the walls spacing b Rab = 1.67 x 10 6,3.6 x 10 6,8.97 x10 6,1.69 x 10 7,4.29 x 10 7. The numerical code is first validated with a numerical benchmark. Then, comparison between experimental and numerical results is performed. The code provides a satisfactory prediction of main quantities compared to the experimental results but only for the lowest Rayleigh numbers. For higher modified Rayleigh numbers, the flow becomes three-dimensional and turbulent. Therefore, 2D numerical simulations fail to predict flow and heat transfer for this range of modified Rayleigh number.

Modeling Water Adsorption and Retention of Building Materials From Pore Size Distribution

Water adsorption and capillarity are key phenomena involved during heat and moisture transfer in porous building materials.They account for interaction between solid matrix,liquid water and moist air.They are considered through Water Vapor Adsorption Isotherm(WVAI)and Retention Curve(RC)functions which are constitutive laws characterizing water activity within a porous medium.The objective of this paper is to present a water vapor adsorption and retention models built from multimodal Pore Size Distribution Function(PSDF)and to see how its parameters modify moisture storage for hygroscopic and near saturation ranges.The microstructure of the porous medium is represented statistically by a bundle of tortuous parallel pores through its PSDF.Firstly,the influence of contact angle and temperature on storage properties were investigated.Secondly,a parametric study was performed to see the influence of the PSDF shape on storage properties.Three cases were studied considering the number of modalities,the weight of each modality and the dispersion around mean radius.Finally,as a validation,the proposed model for WVAI were compared to existing model from literature showing a good agreement.This study showed that the proposed models are capable to reproduce various shapes of storage functions.It also highlighted the link between microstructure and adsorption-retention phenomena.

POD Analysis and Low-Dimensional Model Based on POD-Galerkin for Two-Dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard Convection

Direct numerical simulation based on OpenFOAM is carried out for two-dimensional RayleighBénard( RB) convection in a square domain at high Rayleigh number of 107 and Pr = 0.71. Proper orthogonal decomposition( POD) is used to analyze the flow and temperature characteristics from POD energy spectrum and eigenmodes. The results show that the energy spectrum converges fast and the scale of vortex structures captured by eigenmodes becomes smaller as the eigenmode order increases. Meanwhile,a low-dimensional model( LDM) for RB convection is derived based on POD eigenmodes used as a basis of Galerkin project of Navier-Stokes-Boussinesq equations. LDM is built based on different number of eigenmodes and through the analysis of phase portraits,streamline and isothermal predicted by LDM,it is suggested that the error between LDM and DNS is still large.

Thermophysical Characterization and Crystallization Kinetics of Semi-Crystalline Polymers

Final properties and behavior of polymer parts are known to be directly linked to the thermomechanical history experienced during their processing. Their quality depends on their structure, which is the result of the interactions between the process and the polymers in terms of thermomechanical kinetics. To study the actual behavior of a polymer during its transformation, it is necessary to take into account all the thermal dependencies of their thermophysical properties. In this paper, a complete experimental thermal characterization of a semi-crystalline polymer is performed. Thermal conductivity is measured using the hot wire method. The PVT diagram is obtained by means of an isobaric piston type dilatometer. Heat capacity is characterized versus temperature by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A modification of the Schneider rate crystallization equations is proposed, allowing to identify in a simple way all the crystallization kinetics parameters, using only DSC measurements. Finally, a multiphysical coupled model is built in order to numerically simulate the cooling of a polypropylene plate, as in the cooling stage of the injection molding process. Calculated evolutions of temperature, crystallinity, pressure and specific volume across the plate thickness are presented and commented.

Management and monitoring of public buildings through ICT based systems： Control rules for energy saving with lighting and HVAC services

The presented work addresses the topic of energy savings in existing public buildings, when no significant retrofits on buitding envelope or plants can be done and savings can be achieved by designing intelligent ICT-based service to monitor and contro[ environmental conditions, energy loads and plants operation. At the end of 2010 the European Commission, within the Seventh Framework Program, has founded a project entitled ＂Smart Energy Efficient Middleware for Public Spaces＂ （SEEMPubS）. To achieve this goal the project will implement, in a set of demonstrator buildings, an interoperab[e web-based software and hardware solution for real-time monitoring and control of lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning servfces, through both wired and wireless sensor networks. In this paper the first phase of the project, concerning the selection of the environments to be used as demonstrator and the definition of the control and monitoring strategies to reduce energy consumptions for lighting and air conditioning, are presented.

An optical device to homogenize a laser beam

Based on segmentation-recombination principle, a specific optical device is designed to homogenize a highpower CO2 laser beam which is used as a heating source. A model is developed to simulate the intensity distribution of converted laser beam. The results show that the theoretical simulation is consistent with experimental record. The uniformity of converted beam spot is discussed. After modifying the optical parameters of current device, a new optical system is given, through which the uniformity of shaped beam spot is improved remarkably.