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CHAPTER 3 HEAT CONDUCTION IN BUILDINGS WITH THE FINITE

DIFFERENCE METHOD

3.3 Transient One-Dimensional Finite Difference Wall Model

Transient thermal analysis of walls or rooms may be performed with the following objectives:
1. Peak heating/cooling load calculations
2. Calculation of dynamic temperature variation within walls including solar effects, room temperature
swings and condensation on wall interior surfaces.

In the transient finite difference method, we represent each wall layer by one or more sub-layers (regions).
Each region is represented by a node with a thermal capacitance C connected to two thermal resistances, each
equal to half the R-value of the layer, forming a T-section as shown in the figure below for the concrete layer.

For a multilayered wall, an energy balance is applied at each node at regular time intervals to obtain the
temperature of the nodes as a function of time. These equations may be solved with the implicit method as a
set of simultaneous equations or with the explicit method in which we march forward in time from a set of
initial conditions.

The general form of the explicit finite difference formulation corresponding to node i and time interval p is
⎛ Δt ⎞ ⎛ T (j , p) − T (i , p) ⎞
T (i , p + 1) ＝ ⎜―― ⎟ ⋅ ⎜qi + ∑ ―――――― ⎟ + T (i , p)
⎝ Ci ⎠ ⎝ j R (i , j) ⎠

Critical time step:

⎛ Ci ⎞
Δtcritical ＝ min ⎜――― ⎟ for all nodes i.
1 ⎟
⎜ ∑ ――
⎜ j R ⎟
⎝ i,j ⎠

Example: A wall employs the new concept of transparent insulation. It consists of a transparent exterior
layer, an air gap and a concrete thermal storage layer.

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2
A≔1 L ≔ 0.12

Concrete properties:

c ≔ 800 ――― specific heat

⋅

k ≔ 1.7 ――― conductivity

⋅

ρ ≔ 2200 ―― density
3

hi ≔ 10 ―――
2
⋅ film
coefficients
ho ≔ 20 ―――
2
⋅

τα ≔ 0.7 effective transmittance-absorptance

2 2
Rins ≔ 0.3 ⋅ ―― Rgap ≔ 0.3 ⋅ ――

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1
Rins + Rgap + ―
ho
Ra ≔ ―――――= 0.65 ――
A

L
Rc ≔ ――
k⋅A

Rc
Rb ≔ ― = 0.018 ――
4

Rc
Rc1 ≔ ― = 0.035 ――
2

Rc
Rc2 ≔ ―
4

1
Ri ≔ ――= 0.1 ――
A ⋅ hi

L 5
C2 ≔ ρ ⋅ c ⋅ ―⋅ A = ⎛⎝1.056 ⋅ 10 ⎞⎠ ――
2

C3 ≔ C2 thermal capacitances

Stability Test

The time step t should be lower than the minimum of the two values in the vector TS.
⎡ C2 C3 ⎤
TS ≔ ――――――――――
⎢ 1 1 1 1 ⎥
⎢ ――― + ―――― + ―――⎥
⎣ Ra + Rb Rc1 Rc1 Rc2 + Ri ⎦

3
Δtcritical ≔ min (TS) Δtcritical = ⎛⎝2.867 ⋅ 10 ⎞⎠

Choose t:

Δt ≔ 1800 ⋅

Steps ≔ 96 number of time steps

t ≔ 0 ⋅ , Δt ‥ Steps ⋅ Δt i ≔ 0 ‥ Steps

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Assume

frequency based on
w ≔ 2 ⋅ ――― ――
86400 period of one day

⎛ ⎛ ⎞ ⎞ outside
To (t) ≔ ⎜5 ⋅ cos ⎜w ⋅ t + 3 ⋅ ―⎟ − 5⎟
⎝ ⎝ 4⎠ ⎠ temperature

f (t) ≔ 500 ⋅ cos (w ⋅ (t − 43200 ⋅ sec))

incident solar radiation

qsolar (t) ≔ (f (t) > 0 , f (t) , 0 )
modeled as half-sinusoid

Teq (t) ≔ To (t) + qsolar (t) ⋅ τα ⋅ Ra equivalent "sol-air" temperature

TR ≔ 22 room temperature

Initial estimates of temperatures:

⎡ T2 ⎤
⎥≔⎡0⎤
0
⎢
⎢ T31 ⎥ ⎢⎣ 0 ⎥⎦
⎣ ⎦

⎡ ⎛ Teq (i ⋅ Δt) − T2 T3 − T2 ⎞ ⎤
⎢ Δt ⎜ i i i
⎟
⎡ T2 ⎤ ―― ⋅ ―――――― + ――― + T2 ⎥
C2 ⎜ R + R Rc1 ⎟⎠ i
⎢
i+1
⎥≔ ⎢ ⎝ a b ⎥
⎢ T3i + 1 ⎥ ⎢ ⎛ T2 − T3 TR − T3 ⎞ ⎥
⎣ ⎦ ⎢ Δt ⎜ i i i
⎥
―― ⋅ ―――+ ―――⎟ + T3
⎢⎣ C3 ⎜⎝ Rc1 Ri + Rc2 ⎟⎠ i ⎥⎦

T3 − TR
i
T4 ≔ TR + Ri ⋅ ―――
i Rc2 + Ri

Teq (i ⋅ Δt) − T2
i
T1 ≔ T2 + Rb ⋅ ――――――
i i Rb + Ra

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-1

-2

-3

-4

-5
To (t) ( )
-6

-7

-8

-9

-10

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
t ( )

0.5

0.45

0.4

0.35

0.3

0.25
qsolar (t) ( )
0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
t ( )

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Variation of nodal temperatures for two days (T4 is room-side wall surface temperature, T1 is the concrete
gap-facing temperature).

49.5

44

38.5

T1 ( ) 33
i

27.5
T2 ( )
i 22

T3 ( ) 16.5
i
11

T4 ( ) 5.5
i
0

-5.5

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
i ⋅ Δt ( )

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