Thermal performance optimization of building aspect ratio and south window size in five cities having different climatic characteristics of Turkey

The aim of the study is to establish optimum building aspect ratios and south window sizes of residential buildings from thermal performance point of view. The effects of 6 different building aspect ratios and eight different south window sizes for each building aspect ratio are analyzed for apartments located at intermediate floors of buildings, by the aid of the computer based thermal analysis program SUNCODE-PC in five cities of Turkey: Erzurum, Ankara, Diyarbakir, Izmir, and Antalya. The results are evaluated in terms of annual energy consumption and the optimum values are driven. Comparison of optimum values and the total energy consumption rates is made among the analyzed cities.

Natural convection and heat transfer in attics subject to periodic thermal forcing

The heat transfer through the attics of buildings under realistic thermal forcing has been considered in this study. A periodic temperature boundary condition is applied on the sloping walls of the attic to show the basic flow features in the attic space over diurnal cycles. The numerical results reveal that, during the daytime heating stage, the flow in the attic space is stratified; whereas at the night-time cooling stage, the flow becomes unstable. A symmetrical solution is seen for relatively low Rayleigh numbers. However, as the Ra gradually increases, a transition occurs at a critical value of Ra. Above this critical value, an asymmetrical solution exhibiting a pitchfork bifurcation arises at the night-time. It is also found that the calculated heat transfer rate at the night-time cooling stage is much higher than that during the daytime heating stage.

Natural convection flow with combined buoyancy effects due to thermal and mass diffusion in a thermally stratified media

We present here a numerical study of laminar doubly diffusive free convection flows adjacent to a vertical surface in a stable thermally stratified medium. The governing equations of mass, momentum, energy and species are non-dimensionalized. These equations have been solved by using an implicit finite difference method and local non-similarity method. The results show many interesting aspects of complex interaction of the two buoyant mechanisms that have been shown in both the tabular as well as graphical form.

Scaling analysis of the thermal boundary layer adjacent to an abruptly heated inclined flat plate

The natural convection thermal boundary layer adjacent to an abruptly heated inclined flat plate is investigated through a scaling analysis and verified by numerical simulations. In general, the development of the thermal flow can be characterized by three distinct stages, i.e. a start-up stage, a transitional stage and a steady state stage. Major scales including the flow velocity, flow development time, and the thermal and viscous boundary layer thicknesses are established to quantify the flow development at different stages and over a wide range of flow parameters. Details of the scaling analysis and the numerical procedures are described in this paper.

Natural convection in a triangular enclosure subject to periodic thermal forcing

The effects of periodic thermal forcing on the flow field and heat transfer through an attic space are examined numerically in this paper. We consider the case with a fixed aspect ratio of 0.5 and a fixed Grashof number of 1.33×106. The numerical results reveal that, during the daytime, the flow is stratified; whereas at the night-time, the flow becomes unstable. A number of regular plumes and vortices are observed in the contours of isotherms and stream functions respectively. Moreover, the flow appears to be symmetric during the daytime, and becomes asymmetric at the night-time. It is also found that the flow is weaker during the daytime than that at the night-time in the present case, and the calculated heat transfer rate at the night-time is approximately three times greater than the heat transfer rate during the daytime.

Natural convection adjacent to an inclined flat plate and in an attic space under various thermal forcing conditions

The effect of viscous dissipation on natural convection from a vertical plate placed in a thermally stratified environment has been investigated numerically. The reduced equations are integrated by employing the implicit finite difference scheme or Ke1ler-box method and obtained the effect of heat due to viscous dissipation on the local skin-friction and loca1 Nusselt number at various stratification levels, for fluids having Prandtl number equals 10, 50, and 100. Solutions are also obtained using the perturbation technique for small values of viscous dissipation parameters and compared with the Finite Difference solutions. Effect of the heat transfer due to viscous dissipation and the temperature stratification are also shown on the velocity and temperature distributions in the boundary layer region. A numerical study of laminar doubly diffusive free convection flows adjacent to a vertical surface in a stable thermally stratified medium is also considered for this study. Solutions are obtained using the implicit Finite Difference method and compared with the local non-similarity method. The velocity and temperature distributions for different values of stratification parameter are shown graphically. The results show many interesting aspects of complex interaction of the two buoyant mechanisms.

Bond characteristics between CFRP and steel plates in double strap joints

This paper describes a series of double strap shear tests loaded in tension to investigate the bond between CFRP sheets and steel plates. Both normal modulus (240 GPa) and high modulus (640 GPa) CFRPs were used in the test program. Strain gauges were mounted to capture the strain distribution along the CFRP length. Different failure modes were observed for joints with normal modulus CFRP and those with high modulus CFRP. The strain distribution along the CFRP length was found to be similar for the two cases. A shorter effective bond length was obtained for joints with high modulus CFRP whereas larger ultimate load carrying capacity can be achieved for joints with normal modulus CFRP when the bond length is long enough. The Hart-Smith Model was modified to predict the effective bond length and ultimate load carrying capacity of joints between the normal modulus CFRP and steel plates. The Multilayer Distribution Model developed by the authors was modified to predict the load carrying capacity of joints between the high modulus CFRP and steel plates. The predicted values agreed well with experimental ones.