- Author
- Burch, D. M. | Walton, G. N. | Cavanaugh, K. | Licitra, B. A.
- Title
- Effect of Wall Mass on the Annual Heating and Cooling Loads of Single-Family Residences for Five Selected Climates.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- American Society for Testing and Materials. Thermal Insulation: Materials and Systems. ASTM STP 922. 1987, ASTM, Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Powell, F. J.; Matthews, S. L., Editors, 541-566 p., 1987
- Keywords
- climate | thermal mass | energy conservation standards | whole building performance | steady state theory | internal heat gain utilization | thermal insulation
- Abstract
- The space heating and cooling loads for a typical house and a high-solar-gain house containing partition walls and interior furnishings are simulated using a computer program called the Thermal Analaysis Research Program (TARP). Separate computer runs are carried out for the following wall constructions: insulated wood frame, insulated masonry with mass on the exterior and insulated masonry with insulation sandwiched between interior and exterior mass. The reductions in annual space heating and cooling loads achieved in typical houses with masonry wall construction compared with identical houses with lightweight wood-frame wall construction are derived as a function of five climates. Insulation credits for energy conservation standards to account for reductions in space conditioning loads for masonry houses are investigated. The presence of interior mass features was observed to cause the typical house to approach a "Static high-mass limit" that coincided with steady-state theory. Under such a condition, wall mass was found to have a small effect on annual space heating and cooling loads.