EFFECTS OF INSULATION AND THERMAL MASS PLACEMENT IN WALLS ON DIURNAL ENERGY USE.

Present building design criteria such as ASHRAE Standard 90A-1980, Farmers Home Administration Property Standards and HUD Minimum Property Standards do not consider the effects of building thermal mass but heavily stress the thermal resistance of building insulation. Little work has been done to investigate of the effects of mass in residential construction. The objectives of this investigation are: to identify a technique that can be used to simulate heat fluxes through a multilayer, nonhomogeneous wall with nonlinear boundary conditions; to compare steady state to dynamic heat flux predictions for walls with large thermal masses during heating and cooling conditions; and to determine the relative heat fluxes through walls with varying amounts and placement of commonly used thermal mass and insulation under cyclic ambient temperature conditions. Study methods and results are discussed. Refs.