Multi-dimensional heat transfer through complex building envelope assemblies in hourly energy simulation programs

In most whole building thermal modeling computer programs like DOE-2, BLAST, or ENERGY PLUS simplified, one-dimensional, parallel path, descriptions of building envelope are used. For several structural and material configurations of building envelope components containing high thermal mass and/or two- and three-dimensional thermal bridges, one-dimensional analysis may generate serious errors in building loads estimation. The method of coupling three-dimensional heat transfer modeling and dynamic hot-box tests for complex wall systems with the whole building thermal simulations is presented in this paper. This procedure can increase the accuracy of the whole building thermal modeling.