Dynamic process simulation of indoor temperature distribution in radiant-convective heating terminals

Abstract

Intermittent heating can achieve energy savings from a temporal perspective and effectively control building carbon emissions in certain regions. Unlike continuous heating, intermittent heating requires heating terminals with low thermal inertia and a fast room heating speed. Simultaneously, ensuring thermal comfort during the heating process is equally important. Based on this, the newly proposed radiant-convective heating terminal has demonstrated certain potential applicability and thus has gained significant attention. However, current research on radiant-convective heating terminals primarily focuses on steady-state studies of experimental terminal heating performance, lacking dynamic studies on indoor environmental fields. Nevertheless, obtaining a complete, accurate, and continuous indoor heating process solely through experiments is challenging. Therefore, this work simulates the heating process of a radiant-convective terminal through the co-simulation approach of Energy Simulation (ES) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). ES and CFD are complementary, and therefore coupling them can improve accuracy. Specifically, we establish a co-simulation model for radiant-convective heating terminals and conduct simulations of dynamic convection and radiation modes. The accuracy of the co-simulation results is verified through experimental cases, demonstrating that the convection mode has advantages regarding room temperature rise speed and the heating personnel zone. Furthermore, the radiation mode has advantages in thermal comfort during the stable period. Hence, utilizing a radiant-convective heating terminal with a convection-to-radiation sequence is an effective heating strategy that balances energy savings and thermal comfort under intermittent heating requirements.