Evaluating dynamic thermal performance of building envelope components using small-scale calibrated hot box tests

Shen, Zhenglai; Brooks, Adam L.; He, Yawen; Shrestha, Som S.; Zhou, Hongyu

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111342

Title: Evaluating dynamic thermal performance of building envelope components using small-scale calibrated hot box tests

Journal Article · 11 August 2021 · Energy and Buildings

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111342 · OSTI ID:1827036

Shen, Zhenglai ^[1];

^[1];

^[2]; Zhou, Hongyu ^[1]

Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The hot box test method has been applied to evaluate both the steady-state (U-value) and dynamic thermal properties of building envelopes. However, the high construction cost of full-scale hot box apparatus and the testing time required (usually several days) may prevent its wider adoption. To overcome the limitations of full-scale hot box tests, here we propose a novel method to evaluate the dynamic thermal performance of building envelope components using a small-scale calibrated hot box and scaled-down specimen. In this paper, the scaling relationships of thermal properties evaluated using a full-size specimen and a scaled-down specimen are established based on the Laplace transform of the heat transfer equations. In addition, dynamic thermal properties obtained from scaled-down experimental tests are compared to the values calculated by the EN ISO13768 (ISO) method. A small-scale hot box with a 355 mm × 355 mm metering area was constructed and calibrated to validate the correlations. Three scaled-down concrete sandwich wall panels were then tested and the scaling relationship was cross-validated using the experimental results, finite difference (FD) simulations, and the ISO method. The results indicate that the dynamic thermal properties obtained from a scaled-down hot box test can be correlated to its full-size counterpart when certain conditions are met. The scaled-down hot box test is demonstrated to be an effective yet economical alternative to a full-scale test with significantly reduced experimentation cost and turn-around time.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1827036

Journal Information:: Energy and Buildings, Journal Name: Energy and Buildings Vol. 251; ISSN 0378-7788

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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scaled-down specimen

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