Steady-state heat losses from a building floor slab with vertical edge insulation—II

Abstract

The steady-state heat loss from an infinitely long slab-on-ground floor, insulated at its edges by vertical insulation into the ground, is calculated in two dimensions from a Fourier series solution of the temperature field in the ground. The temperature at the surface of the ground is assumed to change linearly from the inside of the building to the outside over a distance representing the wall thickness. The heat loss is calculated as a function of γ=k i/k s, d/L and δ/L, where k i and k s are the conductivities of the insulation material and soil respectively, d is the insulation depth, δ is the insulation thickness, and L is the building half-width. The heat loss for small but nonzero values of γ and δ/L can be considerably greater than for the idealized situation of infinitesimally thin, perfectly insulating vertical edge insulation.