Energy 134 (2017) 167e180

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Analytical solution for the study of time lag and decrement factor for
building walls in climate of Iran
Reza Fathipour a, *, Amin Hadidi b
a
Department of Architecture, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: More than 40% of energy consumption in Iran associated with the building sector. Among the factors
Received 22 March 2017 affecting energy consumption, time lag and decrement factor of the walls can be mentioned, which
Received in revised form usually are not considered in the design of building of Iran. Therefore, in the present study, time lags and
16 May 2017
decrement factor for different building materials that prevalently are utilized in Iran have been inves-
Accepted 2 June 2017
Available online 4 June 2017
tigated. In this research, the transient heat conduction equation is solved analytically using Green
function under time-dependent convection boundary conditions. The effect of different parameters such
as wall thickness and both inner and outer heat transfer coefficients as well as the effect of the thermal
Keywords:
Time lag
insulation layer in sandwich wall on time lag and decrement factor is investigated. The results indicate
Decrement factor that the thickness and the type of the building material have a significant effect on the time lag and
Analytical solution decrement factor of the wall. Also, it is shown that inside combined convection and radiation heat
Energy saving transfer coefficients affects time lag and decrement factor of the walls. The results of the present study
Iran climate are applicable for designing more effective passive solar buildings in Iran and optimal design of walls and
other related areas resulting in energy saving.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction buildings [3,4]. In this system, heating of building arise from direct
heat gain and heat storage method so that, walls and floors are used
Major part of the energy consumption in Iran is related to the as heat storage components, and stored energy in the walls and
buildings; so that about 40% of the total energy consumption in this floors during the day period can be used for heating during nights
country used in heating and cooling of the buildings. This is because [5,6].
novel technologies in the design and construction of the buildings At any time during one day, there are different temperature
prevalently are not used. One of these technologies is the effective profiles on the outdoor wall of a building. The profiles are affected
application of solar energy in the buildings. Hence it is essential to by all the thermal loading acting on the building wall surfaces (solar
reduce the energy consumption and to utilize renewable energy radiation, infrared exchange with sky and ground, internal loadings
sources in the buildings such as solar energy. This main source of and so on). Since the variation of the outside temperature has a
renewable energy for use in buildings will be more effective in periodical behavior during a day, there will be new temperature
heating purposes especially in cold climates. profiles at any time of the day [7]. During the transition period, a
One of the most effective approaches to the application of solar heat wave is propagated from outside to inside of the building and
energy in buildings is the passive heating and cooling by the solar the amplitude of this wave represents the temperature magnitude,
thermal radiation [1]. Buildings uses this technology is named and wavelength of this wave shows the time. Heat wave amplitude
passive solar buildings [2]. Natural and passive heating and cooling on the outer surface of the wall comes from solar radiation and
systems for buildings can improve indoor environmental quality, convective heat transfer between the wall and the ambient air [8].
provide thermal comfort, and reduce energy consumption in During the propagation of this heat wave through the wall, its
amplitude will decrease depending on the kind of material and the
thickness of the wall [9,10]. Consequently, this wave comes to the
* Corresponding author. inner surface of the wall by amplitude smaller than the value of the
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (R. Fathipour), amin.hadidi@yahoo. amplitude at the outer surface. The decreasing ratio of amplitude
com, [email protected] (A. Hadidi).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.06.009
0360-5442/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
168 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180

Nomenclature V volume (m3)

x coordinate direction normal to wall (m)
A amplitude of temperature profile (
C) Xn Eigenfunction
C thermal capacity (J/K)
C(n) Fourier coefficients Greek symbols
Cp specific heat capacity (J/kg K) a thermal diffusivity (m2/s)
G1 first-order Green function l Eigenvalue
f decrement factor p Pi number
f(x) initial condition (
C) r density (kg/m3)
h combined convection and radiation heat transfer t auxiliary time (s)
coefficient (W/m2 K) f time lag (hr)
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) u frequency of heat wave (rad/s)
L thickness of wall (m)
m mass (kg) Subscripts
P period (hr) i inside
t time (sec or hr) j related to the jth layer of wall
q heat flux (W/m2) o outside
Q amount of heat transfer per unit area (J/m2) tot total
R thermal resistance (
C/W)
s(x, t) periodic steady state solution (
C) Superscripts
S surface area (m2) max maximum
T temperature (
C) min minimum
Tsa soleair temperature (
C) N number of wall layers
v(x, t) transient solution (
C)

during this process is named as “decrement factor” [9]. Time lag similar research, Ozel [15] conducted an experimental and nu-
and decrement factor are very important characteristics to deter- merical research in a hot climate of Turkey.
mine the heat storage capabilities of any materials which based on Wang et al. [16] studied the effects of transparent long-wave
the material type and thickness of the wall, different value of these radiation through glass on time lag and the decrement factor of
parameters can be obtained. The evaluation of time lag and hollow double glazing. They also used a numerical investigation in
decrement factor provides a measure of the developed indoor their research to determine time lag and decrement factor.
thermal comfort conditions and, from an energy point of view, the Increasing air layer thickness and glass thickness can effectively
possibility of reducing the energy load demands [11]. In cold sea- increase time lag and decrease decrement factor. Kaska and Yum-
sons, the stored energy during the day can be used during the night rutas [17] conducted an experimental investigation for determining
period when the outside temperature is low. Conversely, in some total equivalent temperature difference values of building walls and
tropical regions, inside temperature becomes too high for normal flat roofs in climate of Turkey. They declared that the time lag and
comfort level and walls with high thermal inertia give comfortable decrement factor depend on the highest and lowest temperatures
interior temperature even if the outside is very hot. By designing at the inner and outer surfaces of the walls or roofs. Mavromatidis
special walls with a very low decrement factor and a large time lag, et al. [18] conducted a numerical research on estimation of time
the propagation of the large fluctuations of outside temperatures to lags and decrement factors for wall complexes, including multilayer
inside can be prevented and almost constant indoor temperatures thermal insulation, in two different climatic zones of Greece and
can be obtained, which results in a good comfort level [12]. Due to Armenia. They tried to show the importance of the designing more
the potential of upgrading and optimizing the thermal performance effective passive solar buildings in the viewpoints of the energy
of the active system building environment, the determination of saving in their considered countries. Mazzeo et al. [19] investigated
the dynamic thermal characteristics of buildings is receiving great influence of internal and external boundary conditions on the
interest. decrement factor and time lag of buildings in climate of Italy. They
Asan et al. [7e10] investigated time lag and the decrement studied the effects of the walls orientation on the values of decre-
factor by employing the Crank-Nicolson scheme. In these studies ment factor and time lag of the walls; they concluded that the
the heat wave that represents the soleair temperature is assumed orientation of the walls and boundary conditions of the surfaces of
to have a sinusoidal time variation. Cerne et al. [13] in their work the walls affects the amount of time lag and the decrement factor of
also analyzed the dynamic thermal characteristics of lightweight the walls. Ruivo et al. [20] numerically evaluated the time lag and
building elements by considering a two-dimensional numerical decrement factor of walls. For this purpose they considered thermal
model that these characteristics such as time lag and decrement conditions of the external surface of the walls and used a finite
factor were compared for various structures. Ozel [14] investigated difference method and handled one-dimensional heat conduction
determination of the time lag and decrement factor for climate of through multilayered walls. The temperatures of indoor air and
Turkey. They investigated numerically time lag and decrement other internal surfaces in the room are assumed to be equal and
factor of the composite walls. They studied economic and envi- constant. In practice, the temperature of the inner surface of the
ronmental effects in insulated building walls. They studied the ef- wall will not be constant. This assumption was used in their
fects of the insulating layer thickness on the yearly heating research for the sake of simplifications. Therefore, their obtained
transmission load and concluded that fuel consumption and results may be deviated from actual conditions. Sun et al. [21]
emissions decrease by increments of insulating thickness. In a numerically and experimentally studied the influence of building
 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180 169

outside temperatures on time lag and the decrement factor of the thickness and both inner and outer heat transfer coefficients as well
wall. For this purpose, they solved one-dimensional transient heat as the effect of the thermal insulation layer in sandwich wall on
conduction equation. They found out that time lag and decrement time lag, decrement factor and heat flux over 24-h period is
factor were changed when the mean outside temperature contin- investigated.
uously rising or falling. Thongtha et al. [22] experimentally inves-
tigated time lag and decrement factor of waste autoclaved aerated
2. Methodology
concrete. They showed that by adding a mixture of sugar sediment
to the considered concrete, propagated heat from the outer wall to
2.1. Time lag Ф, decrement factor f and soleair temperature Tsa
the inner wall changes. Therefore, additive materials to the building
materials affect time lag and decrement factor of the wall. Al-Sanea
Time lag and decrement factor are very crucial thermal inertia
et al. [23] investigated optimum thickness of insulating materials in
parameters for the interpretation and evaluation of the heat storage
wall structure and its time lag and decrement factor in different
capabilities of building envelopes. The time it takes for the heat
climate of Saudi Arabia by numerical solving one dimensional heat
wave to propagate from outer surface to the inner surface is named
conduction for a multilayer wall. They conducted thermal and
as ‘time lag’ and the decreasing ratio of its amplitude during this
economic analyses in order to determine the optimum insulation
process is named as ‘decrement factor’. The schematics of time lag
thickness. Time lag and decrement factor of the hollow-block walls
and decrement factor concepts are shown in Fig. 1 [9]. Time lag (f)
studied numerically by Huelsz and et al. [24]. The main focus of this
is defined by the following equations [7,8]:
research was to show the efficiency of the equivalent-
homogeneous-layer-set method used in that research to solve E
governing equations of the problem. Therefore, they compared tTmax tTmax 0f ¼ tTmax  tTmax
i
D o i o
(1)
their results with similar experimental results and concluded that tTmax tTmax 0f ¼ tTmax  tTmax þP
i o i o
the maximum difference between their numerical results and
experimental data was less than about 7%. Jin et al. [25] studied
where tTmax , tTmax represent the time in hours when inside and
thermal properties and thickness of the wall on time lag and i o

decrement factor of the wall by numerical solving one dimensional outside surface temperatures of the walls are at their maximums,
respectively, and P is the period of the heat wave which is
heat conduction equation across the wall. They concluded that
fluctuation of heat flux through the wall can be reduced by considered to be equal to:
increasing the thermal capacity of the wall. Other researchers also
P ¼ 24ðhrÞ  60ðminÞ  60ðsecÞ ¼ 86400ðsecÞ (2)
conducted numerical investigation of time lag and decrement fac-
tor in different climates of various countries [26e28]. Furthermore, As shown in Fig. 1, temperature of heat wave in outside which
some analytical investigations also have been conducted which are reaches to the outer surface of the wall is denoted by Tsa(t) which is
surveyed in the following. named soleair temperature. The amplitude of this profile is
Ulgen [29] has examined experimentally and analytically the denoted by Ao. Minimum and maximum values of the outdoor
thermal response of various wall structures under the effect of solar temperature profile are remarked by Tomin and Tomax , respectively.
radiation. Oliveti et al. [30] conducted an analytical and numerical Heat wave passes through the wall from outside to inside and its
analysis of the thermal behavior of external walls of buildings by amplitude is changed due to the presence of the wall. The tem-
the harmonic method, considering the external air temperature, perature of the heat wave which enters to the inside via interior
the apparent sky temperature and solar irradiation as loads. They surface of the wall is remarked by Ti(t). The amplitude of this
defined non-dimensional periodic global transmittance or the temperature profile is denoted by Ai. Initial heat wave enters to the
characterization of building components in specifications of prod- wall depicted by dashed lines on the interior surface of the wall
uct and as a calculation parameter in dynamic regime thermal while actual temperature distribution enters from the inner surface
analysis. Mazzeo et al. [31] also performed an investigation of the of the wall to the inside is depicted by the solid line. Minimum and
dynamic characteristics of the external walls of air-conditioned maximum values of the temperature of the temperature profile at
buildings subject to the joint action of periodic non-sinusoidal the inner surface of the wall during the considered period is
external and internal loadings. They presented an analytical remarked as Timin and Timax , respectively.
model obtained by resolving the equivalent electrical circuit. By defining above mentioned parameters, the decrement factor
As seen above, due to the importance of time lag and decrement
factor in energy saving, effective designing and wall thickness
optimization, many researchers studied these two characteristics of
the climate of various countries. As discussed, the majority of
studies in this field are numerical analysis. Therefore, in the present
work, time lags and decrement factors for different building ma-
terials that are utilized in Iran have been studied in the cold climate
of Iran. In this research, the transient heat conduction equation is
solved analytically using Green function under time-dependent
convection boundary conditions.
It should be noted that in previous studies, effects of convective
heat transfer coefficient on time lags and decrement factors were
not studied, while in the present work, dependence of these
characteristics on the indoor and outdoor heat transfer coefficient
is investigated. According to the climate of the considered region,
sinusoidal variation of temperature during the hottest day of the
year during recent years in the investigated climate is considered as
the base outside temperature. Finally, as a main objective of the
present study, the effect of different parameters such as wall Fig. 1. Schematic representation of time lag 4 and decrement factor f [9].
170 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180

(f) can be defined as [10,11]: Table 1

Atmospheric conditions of considered day [34].

Ai T max  Timin Province: East Azerbaijan

f ¼ ¼ imax (3) Station City: Jolfa
Ao To  Tomin Date: 09 July 2016
Time (UTC): 15
The soleair temperature, Tsa , includes the effects of the solar Maximum temperature (
C): 43
radiation, combined with outside air temperature which changes Minimum temperature (
C): 29
periodically. This temperature is usually assumed to show sinu- Dew point (
C): 10
soidal variations during a 24-h period of day [10,32]. The temper- Wind speed (km/hr.): 0
Precipitation during past 24 h (mm): 0
ature of the city of Tabriz located in the cold climate of north-west
of Iran in 4 April 2016 during a 24-h period of the day is shown in
Fig. 2 [33]. As seen in Fig. 2, variation of temperature could be
considered as a sinusoidal function. A very general and approxi- 2.2. Mathematical modeling of the problem and analytical solution
mate equation for soleair temperature is taken as follows [9]:
2.2.1. Governing equations
Tmax þ Tmin Tmax  Tmin  p The one-dimensional heat wave propagation is assumed
Tsa ðtÞ ¼ þ sin u t  (4) through the wall in the x-direction (direction through the thickness
2 2 2
of the wall), in the time domain. The problem geometry is shown in
where Tmin and Tmax are the minimum and maximum outside Fig. 3. For a homogeneous wall of thickness L with no heat gener-
temperatures during a 24-h period, respectively. Also, t is the time ation (without any heat sources and sinks), the heat flux in the x-
in second and u is the frequency of temperature profile which is direction is expressed by the Fourier’s law; thus, the one-
dimensional heat conduction equation as a function of x and t is
defined as u ¼ 2Pp ¼ 86400
2p rad
=sec.
expressed as [35]:
According to Eq. (4) and in order to calculation of decrement
factor, maximum and minimum temperatures of the day should be
determined. For this purpose, the hottest day of the north-west of
Iran in recent decade is considered. Atmospheric conditions of vTðx; tÞ v2 Tðx; tÞ
¼a (6)
considered city are presented in Table 1 [34]. vt v2 x
According to meteorological data presented in Table 1, the
minimum and maximum air temperatures in considered city are where a ¼ k=rcp is the thermal diffusivity in which k, r and cp are
29
C and 43
C, respectively. The model of the temperature vari- thermal conductivity, density and specific heat capacity of the wall
ation in the hottest day is given by the following equation: material, respectively.
Two boundary conditions and one initial condition are needed
Tmax þ Tmin Tmax  Tmin  p to solve Eq. (6). The third kind of boundary condition, namely,
Tsa ðtÞ ¼ þ sin u t  convection boundary condition is selected for the both surfaces of
2 2 2
  the wall which is more comprehensive and complex type of
43 þ 29 43  29 2p p
¼ þ  sin t (5) boundary conditions [36]. Boundary conditions on inner and outer
2 2 86400 2 surfaces of the wall are expressed in Eqs. (7) and (8), respectively.
 
2p p
0Tsa ðtÞ ¼ 36 þ 7 sin t
86400 2
h vTðL; tÞ hi
Temperature presented in Eq. (5) is variation of temperature of x ¼ 00 i TðL; tÞ þ ¼ Ti (7)
outside of the wall during the 24 h, which reaches the outer surface k vx k
of the wall.

Fig. 2. Temperature variation of the city of Tabriz during a 24-h period of day on 4 April 2016 [33].
 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180 171

Fig. 3. Schematic of the problem geometry.

conduction, which has a periodic boundary condition on the outer

ho vTð0; tÞ ho surface and normal convection boundary condition on the inner
x ¼ L0 Tð0; tÞ  ¼ Tsa ðtÞ (8)
k vx k surface.
In Eq. (9) ktot is the overall or equivalent thermal conductivity of
where ho and hi are the combined convection and radiation heat the wall. As shown in Fig. 3, the considered wall comprises some
transfer coefficients at the outer and inner surfaces of the wall, serial layers. Therefore, this structure could be considered as some

respectively. Value of hi is hi ¼ 9 W m2 $K and the value of ho in the of thermal resistances combined each other in a serial configura-

presence of wind with speed equal to 12 km/h is ho ¼ 22 W m2 $K tion. By supposing that considered wall to have three layers,
[12]. equivalent thermal resistance of the wall can be expressed as [36]:
In Eqs. (7) and (8), Tð0; tÞ is the wall inner surface temperature,
TðL; tÞ is the wall outer surface temperature and Ti is the inside Req ¼ RA þ RB þ RC (10)
design temperature that is taken constant [11] and equal to 25
C
[20]. Also L is the overall thickness of the wall. The steady-state The thermal resistance of the each layer is defined as [35]:
solution of the problem at t ¼ 0 (Eq. (6)) is adopted as an initial
condition [11]. By solving Eq. (6) with boundary conditions given in LA
Eqs. (7) and (8), the solution of the problem at t ¼ 0 determined as
RA ¼
ðS$kÞA
Tðx; 0Þ ¼ f ðxÞ.
LB
By analytical solving the above mentioned equations in this RB ¼ (11)
research, initial solution is determined as: ðS$kÞB

0 1 LC
 RC ¼
1 ho ðS$kÞC
f ðxÞ ¼ @ þ ho=k  hi=k  LA  
ho=k þ hi=k tot tot ktot By substituting Eq. (11) in Eq. (10) it is obtained that:
tot tot
 
hi Tmax þ Tmin Tmax  Tmin ho h
   þ  i L LA LB LC
ktot 2 2 ktot ktot ¼ þ þ (12)
   ðS$kÞtot ðS$kÞA ðS$kÞB ðS$kÞC
hi ho h
 Ti x þ  Ti þ 1 þ L  i
ktot ktot ktot As shown in Fig. 3, heat transfer area of the each layer of the wall
 
Tmax þ Tmin Tmax  Tmin is same as the overall heat transfer area of the wall which this area
  is perpendicular to the heat transfer direction (x-direction).
2 2
Therefore, relationship between heat transfer areas of the each of
(9)
the layers can be written as Stot ¼ SA ¼ SB ¼ SC . Therefore, Eq. (10)
The problem now is converted to one-dimensional heat can be simplified as:
172 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180

thermal diffusivity of the wall can be written as:

L LA LB LC
¼ þ þ (13) PN
ktot kA kB kC 1
j¼1 ðk Þ
=L j
Consequently, the equivalent thermal conductivity of an N-layer atot ¼ L $PN
2
(22)
j¼1 r$L$Cp j
wall structure could be determined as:
Other simple models also have been presented in the literature
L XN
1 to computation of overall equivalent thermal diffusivity of the
ktot ¼ þ LC=k ¼ L$   (14)
LA=k þ LB=k C  multilayer wall which can be used [37].
A B j¼1 Lj k
j

Similar to the overall equivalent thermal conductivity, equiva-

2.2.2. Analytical solution
lent density and thermal capacity of the layered sandwich structure
As mentioned later, governing equations of the problem have
should be determined. In order to obtain a simple model for the
been solved numerically in majority of previous investigations. In
determination of the density of a wall comprised of several layers,
this research governing equation of transient heat conduction with
we consider the total mass of the wall which is equal to the sum of
convection boundary conditions were solved analytically using the
the mass of the each layer as presented below:
Green function. Details of this analytical solution are presented in
following.
X
N
mtot ¼ mA þ mB þ mC þ … ¼ mj (15) The present analysis is concerned with the one-dimensional
j¼1 transient heat conduction through a wall with two time-
dependent boundary conditions and one initial condition. Using
The mass of each layer is mj ¼ rj $Vj ; where r is the density and V the superposition principle [35], the solution is written as the sum
is the volume of each layer. The volume of each layer is Vj ¼ Lj $Sj . of a transient solution and a periodic steady-state solution (since
Therefore, we obtain: the boundary conditions change in the instant of the time, the
steady-state solution would be affected by the variation of time).
X
N
Therefore, we have:
ðr LÞtot ¼ ðr LÞA þ ðr LÞB þ ðr LÞC þ … ¼ ðr LÞj (16)
j¼1 Tðx; tÞ ¼ vðx; tÞ þ sðx; tÞ (23)
Consequently, the equivalent density for a sandwich structure of Substitution of the upper statement in governing equation (Eq.
the considered wall for use in analytical solution can be expressed (6)) yields:
as:
" #
vvðx; tÞ vsðx; tÞ v2 vðx; tÞ v2 sðx; tÞ
ðr LÞA þ ðr LÞB þ ðr LÞC þ … 1 X
N þ ¼ atot þ (24)
rtot ¼ ¼ ðr LÞj (17) vt vt vx2 vx2
L L j¼1
Also, by substituting Eq. (23) in boundary conditions (Eqs. (7)
The thermal capacity of the sandwich wall can be considered as and (8)) and initial condition of the problem we find out that:
the sum of the thermal capacity of each layer as shown in Eq. (18).
hi vvðL; tÞ h vsðL; tÞ h
vðL; tÞ þ þ i sðL; tÞ þ ¼ i Ti at x ¼ 0
X
N ktot vx ktot vx ktot
Ctot ¼ CA þ CB þ CC þ … ¼ Cj (18)
(25)
j¼1

The thermal capacity of each layer can be expressed as ho vvð0; tÞ ho vsð0; tÞ ho

Cj ¼ mj , ðCp Þj . So, we have: vð0; tÞ  þ sð0; tÞ  ¼ Tsa ðtÞ at x ¼ L
ktot vx ktot vx ktot
(26)
r$L$S$Cp tot
¼ r$L$S$Cp A
þ r$L$S$Cp B
þ r$L$S$Cp C
þ…
X
N Tðx; 0Þ ¼ vðx; 0Þ þ sðx; 0Þ ¼ f ðxÞ (27)
¼ r$L$S$Cp j
j¼1 It is assumed that sðx; 0Þ is a linear function in terms of x; so that,
(19) its second order partial derivation with respect to x will be zero.
Accordingly, the original governing PDE of the problem (Eq. (24))
Specific thermal capacity of the sandwich wall by simplification can be separated into the following two PDEs (Eqs. (28) and (29)).
of Eq. (19) can be calculated as: Transient parts of the separated PDE obtained as:

r$L$Cp A
þ r$L$Cp B
þ r$L$Cp C
þ… vvðx; tÞ v2 vðx; tÞ vsðx; tÞ
Cp ¼ ¼ atot  (28)
tot rtot $L vt vx2 vt
1 X
N
¼ r$L$Cp (20) hi vvðL; tÞ
rtot $L j
vðL; tÞ þ ¼ 0 at x ¼ 0 (29)
j¼1 ktot vx
Therefore, the equivalent thermal diffusivity of multilayer
sandwich wall structure can be calculated as: ho vvð0; tÞ
vð0; tÞ  ¼ 0 at x ¼ L (30)
ktot vx
ktot
atot ¼ (21)
rtot $ Cp tot vðx; 0Þ ¼ f ðxÞ  sðx; 0Þ (31)
By substituting Eq. (14) and Eq. (20) in Eq. (21), the equivalent Steady state parts of the separated PDE obtained as:
 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180 173

v2 sðx; tÞ vðx; tÞ ¼ TðtÞ$XðxÞ (44)

¼0 (32)
vx2 Now we first obtain the following eigenvalue problem:

hi vsðL; tÞ h v2 XðxÞ
sðL; tÞ þ ¼ i Ti at x ¼ 0 (33) þ lXðxÞ ¼ 0 (45)
ktot vx ktot vx2

where l is the eigenvalue. Boundary conditions of the problem in

ho vsð0; tÞ ho
sð0; tÞ  ¼ Tsa ðtÞ at x ¼ L (34) terms of separated variables become:
ktot vx ktot
In this section, solving the steady part is conducted. For this hi vXðLÞ
XðLÞ þ ¼ 0 at x ¼ 0 (46)
purpose, Eq. (32) with boundary conditions presented in Eq. (33) ktot vx
and Eq. (34) is solved and obtained results are presented as:
ho vXð0Þ
sðx; tÞ ¼ mðtÞx þ bðtÞ (35) Xð0Þ  ¼ 0 at x ¼ L (47)
ktot vx
where m(t) and b(t) are obtained as: Amounts of eigenvalues are obtained by solving Eq. (45) which

       
bðtÞ ¼ hi=k $L$ ho=k Ta ðtÞ þ ho=k Ta ðtÞ þ hi=k Ti
 tot   tot    
tot  tot
(36)
ho=k $ hi=k $L þ ho=k þ hi=k
tot tot tot tot

is a homogeneous Euler equation along with the homogeneous

        boundary conditions presented in Eqs. (46) and (47). The allowed
mðtÞ ¼ hi=k $ ho=k Ti  hi=k $ ho=k Ta ðtÞ eigenvalues and corresponding orthonormal eigenfunctions are
  
tot 
tot   
tot tot
(37)
ho=k $ hi=k $L þ ho=k þ hi=k determined and presented below. The eigenvalues ln are the roots
tot tot tot tot of the eigenvalue equation. Corresponding eigenfunction is deter-
Transient part of the governing equation (Eq. (28)) with mined as:
boundary conditions of this equation presented in Eqs. (29) and pffiffiffiffiffi  h 
(30) and also with initial conditions presented in Eq. (31) is pffiffiffiffiffi  ln $ ktoti þ khtoto
solved as shown below: tan ln L ¼   n ¼ 0; 1; 2; …: (48)
ln  khi $kho tot tot

vvðx; tÞ v2 vðx; tÞ
¼ atot þ qðx; tÞ (38) Normalized eigenfunction can be written as:
vt vx2
pffiffiffiffiffi  pffiffiffiffiffi 
In Eq. (38), q(x, t) is heat flux and determined as: cos ln x þ khtoto $p1ffiffiffiffi$sin ln x
ln
Xn ðxÞ ¼ vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
!
uZ
vsðx; tÞ u L pffiffiffiffiffi  ho 1 pffiffiffiffiffi  2
qðx; tÞ ¼  (39) t cos ln x þ $pffiffiffiffiffi$sin ln x dx
vt 0 ktot ln
Now, in order to determine homogeneous part of the solution of
(49)
Eq. (38) we temporarily set qðx; tÞ ¼ 0 and solve the following
Boundary Value problem: Transient part of the eigenvalue problem written as:

X
∞
vvðx; tÞ v2 vðx; tÞ vðx; tÞ ¼ Tn ðtÞXn ðxÞ
¼ atot (40) (50)
vt vx2 n¼0

The following eigenfunction expansion can be written as:

hi vvðL; tÞ
vðL; tÞ þ ¼ 0 at x ¼ 0 (41)
ktot vx X
∞
qðx; tÞ ¼ Qn ðtÞXn ðxÞ (51)
n¼0
ho vvð0; tÞ
vð0; tÞ  ¼ 0 at x ¼ L (42) Now, we may find the time dependent coefficients from:
ktot vx

ZL
vðx; 0Þ ¼ f ðxÞ  sðx; 0Þ (43)
Qn ðtÞ ¼ qðx; tÞ Xn ðxÞ dx (52)
In order to solve Eq. (40) method of separation of variables [35] 0
is used. Therefore, the solution of this equation can be represented
as: where qðx; tÞ is obtained from Eq. (39) as:
174 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180

8     9 8      9
< hi=k $ ho=k Tsa ðtÞ = < hi= $ ho=k $L$Tsa ðtÞ þ ho=k Tsa ðtÞ =
k
qðx; tÞ ¼    tot  tot   x  tot   tot    
tot
(53)
: h $ ho=k $L þ hi=k þ ho=k ; : h $ ho=k $L þ hi=k þ ho=k ;
i=k i=k
tot tot tot tot tot tot tot tot

Eigenfunction Qn(t) in Eq. (52) is determined as:

2 3
6 pffiffiffiffiffi  pffiffiffiffiffi  7
6 7
ZL 6 cos l x þ ho p1ffiffiffiffi
$ $sin l x 7
6 n ktot ln
n 7
6
Qn ðtÞ ¼ 6qðx; tÞ$vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi 7dx (54)
uZ L ! 7
6 u pffiffiffiffiffi   p ffiffiffiffiffi  2 7
0 6 t h 1 7
4 cos ln x þ o $pffiffiffiffiffi$sin ln x dx5
0 ktot ln

In solution presented in Eq. (60), the coefficient CðnÞ is Fourier

Now we may substitute Eqs. (50) and (51) in (38) to obtain: coefficient, which can be found by substituting the initial condition
" ! # in Eq. (60) and expansion of the eigenfunction of initial condition as
∞ 
X  X
∞
vTn ðtÞ v2 Xn ðxÞ presented in following.
Xn ðxÞ ¼ atot Tn ðtÞ þ Qn ðtÞXn ðxÞ
n¼0
vt n¼0
vx2
X
∞
(55) Tðx; 0Þ ¼ CðnÞ $Xn ðxÞ þ sðx; 0Þ (61)
n¼0
Eq. (55) can be rewritten as below:
Therefore:
∞ 
X X
∞
vTn ðtÞ
þ atot ln Tn ðtÞ Xn ðxÞ ¼ ½Qn ðtÞXn ðxÞ (56)
n¼0
vt n¼0 ZL
CðnÞ ¼ ½f ðxÞ  sðx; 0Þ Xn ðxÞ dx (62)
Consequently, we can show that:
0
vTn ðtÞ
Qn ðtÞ ¼ þ aln Tn ðtÞ (57) The terms f ðxÞ, sðx; 0Þ and Xn ðxÞ are already obtained and are
vt presented in Eqs. (25), (27) and (35), respectively.
The solution of above mentioned time-dependent ODE is pre- Now, thermal characteristics of the wall can be determined
sented as: using Eq. (60).
Consequently, time lag can be calculated as:
Zt
*
Tn ðtÞ ¼ CðnÞeðatot ln tÞ
þ G1 ðt; tÞQn ðtÞdt (58)
vTð0; tÞ v2 Tð0; tÞ max
¼ 0; 0/t ¼ tTð0Þ
0 vt vt 2
In Eq. (58) t is auxiliary time and G1 ðt; tÞ is the first-order Green *
function defined as [35]: vTðL; tÞ v2 TðL; tÞ max
(63)
¼ 0; 0/t ¼ tTðLÞ
vt vt 2
G1 ðt; tÞ ¼ e½atot ln ðttÞ (59) max max
0f ¼ tTð0Þ  tTðLÞ
Finally, the solution of boundary value problem (heat equation)
is obtained by substituting Eq. (58) in Eq. (23) as following: and the calculation of decrement factor is performed as:

Tðx; tÞ ¼ vðx; tÞ þ sðx; tÞ

2 3 0
Zt        
P
∞
¼ 4CðnÞeðatot ln tÞ þ e½atot ln ðttÞ Qn ðtÞdt5Xn ðxÞ þ @ hi=k $ ho=k Ti  hi=k $ ho=k Tsa ðtÞ
n¼0 tot tot tot tot
0
1 0 (60)
              
hi=k $ ho=k $L þ hi=k þ ho=k A x þ @ hi= $ ho=k $L Tsa ðtÞ þ ho=k Tsa ðtÞ þ hi=k Ti
tot tot tot tot ktot tot tot tot
1
      
hi=k $ ho=k $L þ hi=k þ ho=k A
tot tot tot tot
 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180 175

materials in the construction of buildings especially in the Iran.

Ai T max  Timin Decrement factor was investigated for different thicknesses of 0.1,
f ¼ ¼ imax
Ao To  Tomin 0.2 and 0.3 m of considered materials listed in Table 2 and the
    obtained results are presented in Fig. 4. Results Show that an in-
max  T
T x ¼ L; t ¼ tTðLÞ min
x ¼ L; t ¼ tTðLÞ crease in the thickness of materials decreases the corresponding
¼     (64)
T x ¼ 0; t ¼ tTð0Þ
max  T x ¼ 0; t ¼ tTð0Þ
min decrement factor. The reason is that thermal resistance and
consequently the heat storage capacity of wall enhances with an
Heat flux at x ¼ 0 can be calculated as a function of time as: increase in its thickness. Therefore, by increment of the thickness of
the wall the rate of heat transfer across the wall decreases.
vTðx ¼ 0; tÞ Consequently, the decrement factor of the wall decreases as its
qðtÞ ¼ ktot (65)
vt thickness increases. Low values of the decrement factor lead in
smooth indoor distribution of temperature despite high fluctua-
Heat flux during 24 h can be calculated as:
tions of outdoor temperature. Fig. 4 also shows that the value of the
Z
24hr decrement factor of the wall increases as thermal diffusivity of the
Q¼ qðtÞ dt (66) material increases. Therefore, materials with high value of thermal
diffusivity have low resistance to heat transfer and consequently
0
have high decrement factor; whereas the materials with low value
of thermal diffusivity such as insulation materials have a high
thermal resistance which causes these materials to have low
3. Results and discussions decrement factor.
Time lag as a function of thickness and thermal diffusivity of
Building materials considered in this research are presented in building materials is shown in Fig. 5. Results presented in this figure
Table 2. The selected materials are the main and prevalently used indicate that the decrement factor of the wall decreases as its
thickness increases. This is due to the high capacity of thick walls in
the absorption and storage of heat. In other terms, thermal storage
Table 2 capacity of thick walls is higher than thin ones results in a phase
Physical properties of considered building materials prevalently used in Iran.
shift (phase lag) in the temperature distribution of indoor and
Type of materials k r Cp a  106 outdoor spaces which increases the time lag of the wall. On the
(W=m$K) (kg=m3 ) (J=kg$K) (m2 =s) other hand, time lag decreases as thermal diffusivity of materials
Marble 2.94 2700 800 1.36 increases. Thermal resistance of walls with high thermal diffusivity
Sandstone 1.7 2500 820 0.8293 is low so that the heat is easily transferred in such walls. In other
Silicon Dioxide (silica) 1.4 2650 460 1.148 words, these walls reserve a little part of the heat and consequently
Concrete 0.93 2300 653 0.6192
cause low lag on the heat wave. Thus, the time lag has an inverse
Cement 0.72 1860 1050 0.3686
Brick 0.7 1970 800 0.4441 relation to the amount of thermal diffusivity of the building ma-
Gypsum 0.22 1680 1085 0.1207 terial. In summary, as thermal diffusivity increases, the amount of

Fig. 4. Decrement factor for different thicknesses of different materials (different thermal diffusivities) used in the construction of walls.
176 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180

Fig. 5. Effects of thickness and thermal diffusivity of the building materials on time lag
and decrement factor of the wall.
Fig. 7. Temperatures of outer and inner surfaces for different values of outside and
inside combined convection and radiation heat transfer coefficients.
time lag decreases and vice versa.
Results presented in Figs. 4 and 5 show good agreement with
similar results of previous researchers. For example, Asan [9] has variations during a 24-h period as a fixed function, any changes in
reported similar conclusion on the relation of the time lag and the outdoor heat transfer coefficient does not significant effect on
decrement factor of the wall with thermal diffusivity and the temperature oscillations of the outer surface of the wall. Whereas,
thickness of the wall’s materials. oscillations of the inner surface temperature decrease severely as
The effects of combined convection and radiation heat transfer indoor heat transfer coefficient increases. Increasing of hi results in
coefficients on the decrement factor of the wall were not studied. enhancement of convective heat transfer at the inner surface of the
Hence, in this study, effects of indoor and outdoor heat transfer wall which decreases temperature fluctuation on it; therefore,
coefficients on the decrement factor of building walls are investi- decrement factor of the wall which is the ratio of maximum and
gated. To demonstration of these effects, decrement factor of 0.2 m minimum differences of temperature in the inner and outer sur-
thickness of building brick is calculated for various values of indoor faces of the wall decreases. This phenomenon is shown in Fig. 7. In
and outdoor combined convection and radiation heat transfer co- order to show the effect of hi on temperature variation on the inner
efficients and results are presented in Fig. 6. It should be noted that surface of the wall, temperature distribution at hypothetical high
hi and ho refer to outdoor and indoor heat transfer coefficients, indoor combined convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient
respectively. Effects of different values of hi are investigated on the (hi ¼ 40) is investigated and is presented in Fig. 7. Temperature
decrement factor of the wall while ho is considered constant and profiles at inner and outer surfaces of the wall as well as the am-
equal to 22 W/m2.K. Similarly, hi is fixed and considered to be 9 W/ plitudes of temperature profiles in both surfaces are obvious. The
m2. K when different values of ho are studied. As seen in Fig. 6, high value of indoor combined convection and radiation heat
decrement factor of the wall does not change with variations of the transfer coefficient slightly decreases the temperature of the outer
outdoor heat transfer coefficient; while it varies severely with surface of the wall. The reason is that by increasing of the indoor
variations of the indoor heat transfer coefficient. Dependency of the heat transfer coefficient, the rate of cooling of the wall increases.
decrement factor of the wall on the indoor heat transfer coefficient Therefore, temperatures of both surfaces decrease. It should be
can be divided into the two separate parts. In the first part, noted that high values of inside combined convection and radiation
decrement factor depends on the indoor heat transfer coefficient heat transfer coefficient are not encountered in residential build-
drastically (correspond to hi <20), while in the second part, it is ings. The main purpose of this consideration is investigations of the
affected negligibly (correspond to hi >20). effects of this parameter on the decrement factor of the walls which
As the outdoor temperature is assumed to show sinusoidal is not studied later. In the other hand, different values of the inside
combined convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient can be

Fig. 6. Effects of outside and inside combined convection and radiation heat transfer
coefficients on decrement factor of wall. Fig. 8. Typical structure of insulated brick sandwich wall.
 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180 177

Table 3
Physical properties of building materials used in common structure of the walls.

Type of materials Thickness k r Cp a  106

(cm) (W=m$K) (kg=m3 ) (J=kg$K) (m2 =s)

Cement plaster (outer layer) 2 0.72 1700 921 0.46

Cement plaster (inner layer) 2 0.72 1700 921 0.46
Brick(inner layer) 15 0.69 1900 427 0.85
Brick(outer layer) 6.5 0.69 1900 427 0.85
Expanded polystyrene 4 0.037 25 1465 1

Table 4 the time in terms of second. Decrement factor and time lag in the
Physical properties of common structure of the walls with insulation. considered wall with mentioned specifications and environmental
Thickness k a  106 conditions are calculated as:
(cm) (W=mK) (m2 =s)
f ¼ 0:0712
29.5 0.204 0.788

f ¼ 7hr
seen in wind tunnels, industrial furnaces and similar practical The analytical relation of heat flux across the wall also deter-
applications. mined as:
Temperature distribution on the inner and outer surfaces of the
 p p
wall at high supposed value of outside combined convection and
qðx; tÞ ¼ 6:86 þ 4:37 sin t
radiation heat transfer coefficient which equals to ho ¼ 100 also is 43200 2
shown in Fig. 7 in order to well clarifying of different values of In order to investigate the effects of the insulation layer on
outside heat transfer coefficient on temperature profiles and decrement factor and time lag of the walls of buildings, same
consequently decrement factor and time lag of the walls. Such a structure of the wall shown in Fig. 8 considered by elimination of
high combined convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient of the insulation layer. Equivalent properties of considered prevalent
outside resulted in increasing of outside temperature and sandwich wall without polystyrene insulation layer are presented
approaching its maximum value to the maximum of outside tem- in Table 5. Using mentioned analytical solution method, decrement
perature profile defined in Eq. (5) which is equal to 43
C. it is factor and time lag of the wall without insulation layer is calculated
because of better heat transfer from the outside into the wall. as:
Consequently, the temperature of the inner surface of the wall also
increases slightly. f ¼ 0:232

3.1. Time lag and decrement factor for common structure of f ¼ 0:4 hr
building’s wall in Iran
By comparing the time lag and decrement factor of the wall with
In this part of the paper, the conventional structure of building insulation layer with the time lag and the decrement factor of the
walls includes brick block, cement plaster and a layer of thermal wall without insulation layer it is concluded that application of
insulation was considered. Schematic view of the considered insulation layer results in significant reduction of decrement factor;
structure of the sandwich wall is shown in Fig. 8. Characteristics of so that, in wall with insulation layer decrement factor decreased
considered building materials with their thickness and thermal about 70% which is considerable value. This significant reduction of
properties are presented in Table 3. For considered structure, decrement factor leads to decrease in amplitude of the temperature
equivalent thermo-physical properties can be calculated using Eq. profile at inner surface and consequently results to lower cooling
(14), Eq. (17), Eq. (21) and Eq. (22). The values of these parameters load of the building.
are presented in Table 4. Also, the time lag of the wall with insulation layer is increased
Using analytical solution presented in the previous section, about 6.6 h, which is very significant in comparison to the case
temperature profile across the wall determined as: without insulation layer. This amount of time lag allows stored
h  p energy in the walls during the day period can be used for heating
pi during nights.
Tðx; tÞ ¼  33:65  21:41 sin t x þ 35:69
43200 2
 p p
þ 6:80 sin t
43200 2
It should be noted that the analytical solution (temperature
distribution) is the first few terms of analytical solution and the rest
of the terms is neglected because of the lower order of magnitudes
of them. In aforementioned analytical temperature distribution, t is

Table 5
Physical properties of common structure of the walls without insulation.

Thickness k a  106
(cm) (W=mK) (m2 =s)
Fig. 9. Temperature profiles at inner and outer surfaces of the wall in two cases of wall
25.5 0.6918 0.761
with and the case without insulation layer in the structure of the wall.
178 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180

Fig. 11. Comparison of heat transfer through wall with and without insulation layer
during one day period.

Fig. 10. Thermal insulation effect on heat flux during a day (24 h).

Temperature profile across the wall is determined as:

h  p pi
Tðx; tÞ ¼  30:27  19:27 sin t x þ 35:05
43200 2
 p p 
þ 6:39 sin t
43200 2
Above analytical temperature distribution is sum of first three
Fig. 12. Effects of thickness of insulation layer on time lag and decrement factor of the
dominant terms of the solution sequence.
wall.
Comparison of temperature distribution at inner and outer
surfaces of the wall in both of considered structures of the wall,
namely, structure with and without of insulation layer are shown in the wall during 24-h period per unit of the wall area is calculated
Fig. 9. as:
Heat flux across the wall without insulation layer also obtained
 
using the proposed analytical methodology as: .
Q ¼ 5:1  105 J m2
 p p
qðx; tÞ ¼ 20:95 þ 13:33 sin t
43200 2 If P.S layer is not used in the sandwich wall structure, heat flux
through the wall from outside to inside at the peak of outdoor
Heat flux enters inside via inner surface in the considered two
temperature per unit area of the wall is calculated as:
structures of the wall, including with and without insulation layer
are compared and obtained results are shown in Fig. 10. Consid-  
.
ering this figure, it is concluded that using a 0.04 cm polystyrene q ¼ 32:2 W m2
layer as thermal insulation layer in the wall structure results to
damping of temperature fluctuations in the inner surface of the Also heat transfer during a day (24-h period) per unit area of the
wall. This leads in temperature variation to be close to 25
C which wall without insulation layer will be:
is desirable. Consequently, using the polystyrene layer as thermal  
insulation in the sandwich wall results in a decrement of heat .
Q ¼ 1:8  106 J m2
transfer across the wall; therefore, the thermal load of the building
wall decreases and energy consumption would be reduced, which
this point is not considered in the investigated climate in this Comparison of heat transfer amounts per unit area of the wall
research in construction of buildings. through the wall during 24-h period in the case with thermal
Heat flux per unit area through the wall from outside to the insulation and the case without insulation is presented in Fig. 11. As
inside at the peak of the outdoor temperature profile is calculated seen in Fig. 11, the amount of heat transfer across the wall without
by using Eq. (65) as follows: thermal insulation is three times higher than that of insulated wall
structure. So, if the insulation layer is not used, annual energy
  consumption of the building would be increased.
.
q ¼ 7:5 W m2 Effects of different thicknesses of the insulation layer on the
overall decrement factor of the considered sandwich structure of
Transferred heat through the wall during 24-h period can be the wall are investigated analytically and obtained results are
calculated by integrating heat flux through the wall from outside to presented in Fig. 12. It is clear that by increasing of the thickness of
the inside or vice versa using Eq. (66). Hence, heat transfer across the insulation layer, decrement factor of the wall decreases; but, the
 R. Fathipour, A. Hadidi / Energy 134 (2017) 167e180 179

overall thickness of the wall increases which leads in increments of 7. Decrement factor of the wall has an inverse relation to the
initial costs of the building. Hence, determination of optimal thickness of the insulation layer. So that, an increase in thickness
thickness of the insulation layer needs an optimization study in the of the insulation layer reduces the decrement factor of the wall.
viewpoint of the time lag and decrement factor concepts. Therefore, it needs an optimization attempt in order to deter-
As applications of insulation materials in the structure of the minate of optimal thickness of the insulation layer in climate of
wall are not mandatory in Iran, therefore energy consumption in Iran.
buildings is very high. Therefore, in the viewpoint of time lag and
decrement factor concepts, using insulation layers and the Based on the outlined results, it is concluded that considering
consideration of time lag and decrement factor of walls using the the time lag and decrement factor concepts for optimal design of
analytical methodology in this research to optimal design of walls and designing more effective passive solar buildings is
buildings’ walls, will result to significant energy saving. necessary in Iran. In the future works, based on the methodology
proposed in this paper determination of time lag and decrement
4. Conclusion factor can be performed in other climates of Iran; as well as, opti-
mization of thickness of insulation material considering these
Unlike most of previous studies which investigated the time lag concepts.
and the decrement factor of walls numerically, in this paper, an
analytical solution approach is proposed for the determination of Acknowledgments
the time lag and the decrement factor of building walls. Effects of
inside and outside combined convection and radiation heat transfer The authors would like to appreciate Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad
coefficients on the time lag and the decrement factor of the wall University e Iran for the financial support of this research, which is
were not studied later which has been conducted in this research. based on a research project contract titled as ‘‘Investigation on
Also, time lag and decrement factor concepts were not considered design of building walls using time lag and decrement factor in
in optimal design of buildings in Iran and this research is one of order to energy saving’’.
preliminary studies in this field. Based on proposed method, time
lag and decrement factor were investigated for walls in the cold References
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