A numerical simulation of measured transient temperatures in the walls, floor and surrounding soil of a buried structure

Presents the results of a numerical simulation of measured heat transfer th rough a region surrounding a buried structure. The model applied in the stu dy is a widely used whole building thermal simulation program of a type whi ch pl edicts the thermal response of structures for building services requi rements. A multi-dimensional numerical conductive heat transfer module has been added to this Program but this does not specifically address earth-con tact heat flows. This work attempts to assess the accuracy of the overall p ackage when predicting earth-coupled heat transfer. It is common practice i n the field of building services not to use specific earth-contact models a nd so it is important to assess the likely errors thus involved The predict ions of the finite-volume model are compared with one year of data from a b asement test facility. The results are analysed using the Differential Sens itivity Analysis method and an attempt is made to correlate predictive erro rs with periods of rainfall and snow coverage. It seems that a purely condu ctive model may be capable, given accurate input data, of satisfactorily pr edicting the transient temperature variations in the soil/concrete envelope surrounding this structure for the period of the year when no snow coverag e is present. However, if one is to accurately model regions of earth-conta ct (particularly at shallow depths) in a climate in which rainfall and snow are significant then these influences should be explicitly modelled.