Impact of Occupant Behavior on Thermal Performance of the Typical-Composite Walls of a Building
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 5
Abstract
Composite walls are widely used in the external walls of buildings for their favorable thermal performance in building energy efficiency. However, the thermal performance difference under various occupant behaviors’ impacts is often ignored. This study aims to investigate the influence mechanisms of occupant behaviors on typical composite wall thermal performance in the heating rooms with combined numerical and experimental methods. Firstly, the methodology of inherent heat transfer matrix analysis is introduced to predict the original thermal performance by solving the characteristic value. Secondly, a four-in-one platform of grid-wall including four typical composite walls, single-layer insulation, exterior insulation, interior insulation, and intermediate insulation is built for the specific analysis. Thirdly, based on the specified conditions of typical walls and occupant behaviors, field test and numerical simulation are used to validate the theoretical analysis. The results reveal that the original thermal performance of composite walls may be greatly influenced under behavior intervention. It also indicates that the occupant behaviors are significant to building energy efficiency, especially in the actual operations of energy efficient buildings with composite walls.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in this published article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51478280 and 51578350).
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Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 5 • October 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 23, 2020
Accepted: May 24, 2021
Published online: Aug 11, 2021
Published in print: Oct 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jan 11, 2022
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