DA-00-12-1 -- Simplified Analysis of Building Thermal Storage Effects PDF

Whatever performance is offered by simulation software, simple performance characterization is very welcome at all stages of a building's life cycle. Building designers, contrac-tors, and operators need such characterization in order to interpret and to judge simulation as well as measurement results. It is common knowledge that most of building perturbations are not sinusoïdal and not even harmonic. But it is, nevertheless, very convenient to define each time function as the superposition of a time average and a (fictitious) oscillation around this average. This is the old fashion method of performing a manual calculation. The CIBSE "admittance procedure" was developed on such basis. This paper demonstrates how such very simplified analysis can help in detailed simulation. A practical example is presented, which deals with overheating risk calculation and fan coil sizing for an office building located in Brussels. Detailed simulation results are "translated" into two very synthetic building characteristics, which appear as very convenient references when having to compare different cooling strategies. Such analysis should also offer better possibilities of comparisons among problems encountered and among solutions selected in different projects.

Units: SI