12 INTRODUCTION TO ARCHITECTURAL SCIENCE

The calculation of radiant heat exchange is complicated, but it is

quite simple for the effect which is most important for buildings:
solar radiation. If the flux density of incident radiation is known
(referred to as global irradiance, G) than the radiant (solar) heat
input rate would be:

Qs = A × G × α m2 × W/m2 × non-dim. = W. (1.5)

1.1.3 Humid air: psychrometry

(not to be confused with ‘psychometry’, which means psycholo-

gical measurement; this one has an ‘r’ in the middle)
Air is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, but the atmosphere 28

Absolute humidity (g/kg)

around us is humid air, it contains varying amounts of water 24

e
lin
20
vapour. At any given temperature the air can only support a lim-

n
tio
16

ra
ited amount of water vapour, when it is said to be saturated. Fig. 1.4

tu
12

Sa
shows the basic structure of the psychrometric chart: dry bulb (air-) 8
temperature on the horizontal axis and moisture content (or abso- 4
lute humidity, AH) on the vertical axis (in units of g/kg, grams of 0
0 10 20 30 40 50
moisture per kg of dry air). Dry bulb temperature (°C)
The top curve is the saturation line, indicating the maximum
moisture content the air could support at any temperature, which Fig. 1.4
is the saturation humidity (SH). Each vertical ordinate can be sub- Structure of the psychrometric
divided (Fig. 1.5 shows a subdivision into 5 equal parts) and the chart.
curves connecting these points show the relative humidity (RH) in
%, i.e. as a percentage of the saturation humidity. In this case the
20, 40, 60 and 80% RH curves are shown.
E.g. (with reference to Fig. 1.14, the full psychrometric chart) at
25◦ C the saturation AH is 20 g/kg. Halving the ordinate we get
0%
10 g/kg, which is half of the saturation humidity or 50% RH. 10 %
80
Another expression of humidity is the vapour pressure (pv), i.e. 60
%

the partial pressure of water vapour in the given atmosphere. The 40%
20%
saturation vapour pressure is pvs .

Thus RH = (AH/SH) × 100 or (pv/pvs ) × 100 (in %). Fig. 1.5

Relative humidity curves.
Vapour pressure is linearly related to AH and the two scales are
parallel:
622 ∗ pv
AH =
pt − pv
where pt = total barometric pressure, taken as 101.325 kPa
(kilo-Pascal) for the ‘standard atmosphere’.
E.g. if pv = 2 kPa, AH = (622 × 2)/(101.325 − 2) = 12.5 g/kg
(see Fig. 1.14).
Humidity is best measured by the wet-and-dry bulb (whirling)
psychrometer or an aspirated psychrometer (Fig. 1.6). These contain

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 HEAT: THE THERMAL ENVIRONMENT 13

two thermometers. One has its bulb wrapped in a gauze which is

(a) DBT WBT kept moist from a small water container. When whirled around (or
the fan is operated) to obtain maximum possible evaporation, this
will show the wet bulb temperature (WBT). The other thermometer
measures the air- or dry bulb temperature (DBT). The difference
DBT − WBT is referred to as the wet bulb depression and it is indicat-
Depression

ive of the humidity. Evaporation from the wick has a cooling effect,
which causes the wet bulb depression. Evaporation is inversely
proportional to humidity. In saturated air there is no evaporation,
no cooling, thus WBT = DBT. With low humidity there is strong
evaporation, strong cooling and a large wet bulb depression.
Fig. 1.7 shows the sloping WBT lines on the psychrometric chart.
These coincide with the DBT at the saturation curve. When a meas-
urement is made, the intersection of the DBT and WBT lines can
be marked on the psychrometric chart; it will be referred to as the
status point, which indicates both the RH (interpolated between
the RH curves) and the AH values (read on the right-hand vertical
scale).
E.g. (from Fig. 1.14) if DBT = 29◦ C and WBT = 23◦ C has been
measured and plotted, the two lines intersect at the 60% RH curve
and on the vertical scale the AH is read as just over 15 g/kg.
Enthalpy (H) is the heat content of the air relative to 0◦ C and
0 humidity. It is measured in kJ/kg, i.e. the heat content of 1 kg
(b) air. It has two components: sensible heat, (HS ) taken up to increase
Dry bulb the DBT (approx. 1.005 kJ/kg.K) and latent heat, (HL ) i.e. the heat
that was necessary to evaporate liquid water to form the moisture
content of the air. As the constant enthalpy lines almost coincide
Wet with the WBT lines (but not quite), to avoid confusion, it is indic-
bulb ated by duplicate scales on either side, outside of the body of the
Water container psychrometric chart, which are used with a straight edge (Fig. 1.8).
If enthalpy is the diagonal distance of the status point from the
Fig. 1.6 0◦ C and 0 RH point, then the horizontal component is the HS and
Principles of an aspirated
the vertical component is the HL .
psychrometer (a) and a whirling
psychrometer (b).
Specific volume of air at any condition is also shown on the
chart by a set of steeply sloping lines (Fig. 1.9). This is the volume

120 130
110
30 130
100
0.9 g)

)
(m

°C 120
3 /k

( 90
50

ure 80
at 25 110
er 70
)
kg

p
0.9

m 60 100
J/

te
(k

20 P
25

b 50
ul
0.9

90
e tb 15 40
00

W 30 80
0.8

10
20
75
0.8

5 70
0 10
0.8

50

60
0.80

25

0
0

50
0 10 20 30 40 50
0 10 20 30 40
Dry bulb temperature (°C)
(kJ/kg)

Fig. 1.7 Fig. 1.8 Fig. 1.9

Wet bulb temperature lines. Enthalpy scales externally. Specific volume lines.

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14 INTRODUCTION TO ARCHITECTURAL SCIENCE

of air occupied by 1 kg of air (at normal pressure), in m3 /kg. It is

the reciprocal of density, kg/m3 .
Psychrometric processes or changes can be traced on the chart. Cooling P Heating

Heating is represented by the status point moving horizontally

to the right. As the DBT increases, with no change in moisture
content, the relative humidity is reducing (Fig. 1.10).
Cooling lowers the DBT, the status point moves horizontally to Fig. 1.10
the left. This causes the RH to increase, but the AH is not changed. Cooling and heating: movement of
the status point.
Where this horizontal line reaches the saturation curve, the dew-
point temperature (corresponding to the given AH) can be read. For
the above example this will be at about 20.5◦ C. At this point the
RH will be 100%. If the air is cooled below this point, condensation
will start, dew will be formed. Below the dew point the status

Amount of condensation
point moves along the saturation curve and the absolute humidity Dew point
corresponding to the vertical drop will have condensed out. P
n
Continuing the above example, the 29◦ C air of 15.2 g/kg AH fic
ati
o
di
(60% RH) has its dew-point at 20.5◦ C, and if it is cooled to (say) u mi
Deh
15◦ C, at this point its (saturated) AH would be 10.5 g/kg, so the
difference of 15.2 − 10.5 = 4.7 g/kg will have condensed out in
liquid form (Fig. 1.11). Dew point temperature

Humidification, i.e. evaporation of moisture into an air volume Fig. 1.11

is said to be adiabatic, if no heat is added or removed. This causes Cooling to reduce humidity.
a reduction of temperature (DBT) but an increase of humidity (both
AH and RH). The status point moves up to the left, along a constant
WBT line (Fig. 1.12)
Adiabatic dehumidification takes place when air is passed through

Humidity increase
some chemical sorbent (solid, such as silica gel, or liquid, such
as glycol spray) which removes some of the moisture content (by
P
absorption or adsorption). This process releases heat, thus the DBT
will increase, whilst the humidity (both AH and RH) is reduced
(Fig. 1.13). Temperature reduction

Fig. 1.12
1.1.4 Air flow Evaporative cooling:
humidification.
Air flow can be characterised by
• velocity v m/s
Moisture removed by sorbent

• mass flow rate mr kg/s

• volume flow rate vr m3 /s or L/s
Air flow through an opening of A area is vr = v × A
Natural air flow is caused by pressure difference: it will flow
from a zone of high pressure towards a zone of low pressure.
Pressure differences may be due to two effects: Temperature increase
Stack effect occurs when the air inside a vertical stack is warmer
than the outside air (provided that there are both inlet and outlet
openings). The warmer air will rise and will be replaced at the Fig. 1.13
bottom of the stack by cooler outside air. A good example of this is Adiabatic dehumidification.
a chimney flue: when heated, it will cause a considerable ‘draught’.

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