Building Wall Heat Capacity Measurement Through Flux Sensors

Thermal comfort and energy saving have become a priority for construction industry professionals. An important parameter of the comfort is the mean radiant temperature and its dependence on the building envelope. In the present research, a dynamic physical model has been studied in a climatic chamber, linked to the specific heat (C), density (rho) and thermal conductivity (lambda). The heat capacity is usually quantifiable in small, homogeneous and uniform samples by the application of calorimetric methods. Consequently, the building energy consumption assessed through calorimetric methods, is often quite different from the energy consumption measured in situ. In this work an experimental model for the assessment of specific heat of real-size building components is proposed. Such a parameter was determined by measuring the heat flow through a building wall. The model has been validated by comparing the evaluated properties of known materials for different thermal gaps.