Abstract
The paper is devoted to computer simulations of the distribution and time evolution of the temperature in a wooden house in summer. The goal of simulations was to assess the effect of covering walls inside the house with a PCM (phase change material) on its passive cooling, which prevents the undesired overheating of the house and provides the required thermal comfort for the occupants under warm summer days. Computer simulations were performed by the COMSOL Multiphysics software (COMSOL Inc., Stockholm, Sweden). A model of a house without the PCM coverage was compared with models of houses in which the PCM was located on all walls, except a floor, and on a wall opposite the window. Results of simulations proved that the wood wall thickness and PCMs location influence overheating the wooden house. Under studied conditions, the coverage of a wall opposite the window best eliminated extremes of the air temperature inside the house. The maximum temperature decrease was 3.9 °C (i.e., drop of 31.1%) comparing the house which wall opposite the window was covered by the PCM and the house without the PCM coverage.
Highlights
The popularity of wooden houses continues to increase in the Czech Republic because of their comfort and cost-effective living
In terms of the occupant’s required thermal comfort, wooden houses can suffer with problems from the thermal properties of the wood, such as during tropical summer days when the solar radiation has a high intensity and the outside air temperature is high throughout the day, including the night, which causes the building to overheat [2]
The appropriate placement of Phase change materials (PCMs) on the inner walls of the house is essential for maintaining the required thermal comfort for the occupants, which proves a comparison of the time evolutions of indoor air temperature for the studied models M2 and M3
Summary
The popularity of wooden houses continues to increase in the Czech Republic because of their comfort and cost-effective living. Wooden houses are beneficial in many ways, including a shorter period of time to build, lower cost, and environmentally-friendly building construction. Wooden houses support the environmentally-friendly lifestyle of their habitants because wood is deemed to be a healthy choice over metals, plastics, and other materials. In terms of the occupant’s required thermal comfort, wooden houses can suffer with problems from the thermal properties of the wood, such as during tropical summer days when the solar radiation has a high intensity and the outside air temperature is high throughout the day, including the night, which causes the building to overheat [2]. Traditional building materials, such as bricks, accumulate heat energy better and are more difficult to heat than the wood
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