Dimensionless resolutions for heat flux decrement factor and time lag of the wall during cyclic variations in outdoor air temperature

Abstract

The heat flux decrement factor (DF) and time lag (TL) are two vital indicators for assessing wall dynamic thermal performance. However, computing these indicators involves complex variables such as material thermal properties, wall thickness, and others. Therefore, exploring the inherent relation between these two indicators and the influencing parameters is an urgent problem for reducing building energy consumption. To this end, an analytical method based on the auxiliary function was employed to calculate the heat flux DF and TL of a single-layer wall. Then, the impact of the influencing factors on heat flux DF and TL were evaluated. The results showed that heat flux DF and TL are only determined by two dimensionless parameters: diffusion length and thermal efficiency coefficient. The heat flux DF decreases by at least 5 times as the diffusion length varies from 0 to 2. Besides, it is also affected by the diffusion length when the thermal efficiency coefficient (ε) is less than 5, and the smaller the ε, the smaller the heat flux DF. On the other hand, the heat flux TL increases linearly with the diffusion length initially but declines precipitously as the diffusion length approaches 6–7. When the diffusion length is the same, the heat flux TL slightly decreases as the thermal efficiency coefficient increases.