HEAT FLOW in SERIES and PARALLEL In Architecture 140 we encourage students to think like heat as they consider issues

of building thermodynamics and the calculations associated with them. We casually use two terms heat flow in series and parallel heat flow to describe the flow of thermal energy through building envelopes. It is worth taking a moment to define what we mean when we use these terms. As in many physical matters the topic is less than tidy. This section draws heavily, and in many sections literally, from the 9th Edition of Mechanical and Electrical Equipment in Buildings by Ben Stein and John S. Reynolds.

Heat flow in series In general, we use this term to describe the flow of thermal energy in sequence through a series of layers as might occur in the construction of a building assembly such as a wall or roof. The practical significance of this sequential path is that each layer adds to the assemblys resistance to heat flow. In calculations, the thermal resistances of wall components are added to derive a total resistance to heat flow through the assembly. Parallel heat flow In general, we use this term to describe the flow of heat through simultaneous parallel paths. These paths may be 1) alternate routes through a wall assembly (think one path through the framing members and one through the cavity insulation) or 2) alternate ways connecting the interior of a building to outside
Figure 1. Heat flow through wall layers in series

Figure 2. Parallel paths of heat flow from a building interior to the outside (from Mazria, the Passive Solar Energy Book).

(e.g., the simultaneous flow of heat through windows, doors, walls, ceiling, slab edges, and infiltration). In calculations, the thermal conductance of each path is added to derive a total rate of heat flow through the entire assembly. .

Heat Flow, Seasons, and the Building

The flow of heat through a building envelope varies by season (heat out from the building in winter and into the building in summer) and by the path of the heat (through the building's skin, or by way of outdoor air entering the interior). This variation can change the focus of the designer who strives for energy conservation. In the 1970s, designers experienced first an emphasis on much tighter control of the building skin to conserve energy (especially under winter conditions) and then a greatly increased desire for outdoor air in response to "sick building syndrome." Thus we find that today's typical new North American building loses somewhat more winter heat to its incoming fresh air than it loses through its skin. Yet in summer it gains somewhat more heat through the skin than it does from its incoming fresh air. This is due in part to the influence of direct sun being so plentiful in summer, and to the outdoor-indoor temperature differences being so much greater in winter than in summer in most North American locations. Convection, Conduction, and Radiation. Whenever an object is at a temperature different from its surroundings, heat flows from the hotter object to the colder object. In this case object refers a bounded element with the capacity to hold thermal energy. For instance, it might be a wall of bricks, a roomful of air, or the outside environment.In a few weeks we will discuss the human body's means of disposing its surplus heat to the cooler environment. Buildings, like bodies, experience heat loss to, and gain from, the environment in three principal ways: convection, conduction and radiation. In convection, cool molecules of air absorb heat from a warmer surface, expand in volume, rise, and carry heat away. Or, if the air molecules are warm they might lose their warmth to a cooler surface, contract in volume, and then fall away to be replaced by more warm air. In conduction, heat is transferred directly from the molecules of warmer building surfaces to the molecules of cooler solids (such as earth) in contact with the building. In radiation, heat flows in electromagnetic waves from hotter surfaces to detached, distant colder ones, through any radiation transparent transport medium, even empty space. These include the atmosphere (unless the path is through miles of air with high moisture content. The most obvious category of radiant exchange is solar heat gain. The suns relatively distant, and thus apparently small, surface bathes earthbound surfaces with ultraviolet, visible, and shortwave infrared radiation. Finally, evaporation is a fourth heat transfer mechanism involving phase change and latent heat, can carry heat away from wet surfaces. This is a commonplace occurrence in our bodys thermal regulation but less prevalent in buildings. Table 1 shows example modes of heat flow by convection, conduction, and radiation through some typical combinations of materials. Heat flow through the various components of a building's skin involves both heat flow through solids and heat flow through layers of air.

Table 1. Think like heat. Modes of heat flow vary with material assemblies and their orientation
A single solid material illustrates the transfer of heat from the warmer to the cooler particles by conduction

As air is warmed by the warmer side of the air space it rises. As it falls down along the cooler side it transfers heat to this surface (2). Radiant energy (3) is from the warmer to the cooler surface. The rate depends upon the relative temperature of the surfaces and upon their emissive and absorptive qualities. Direction is always from the warmer to the cooler surface. The convective action (2) in the air space of a roof is similar to that in a wall although the height through which the air rises and falls is usually less. The radiant transfer is up in this case because its direction is always to the cooler surface.

When the higher temperature is at the top of a horizontal air space the warm air is trapped at the top and, being less dense than the cooler air at the bottom, will not flow down to transfer its heat to the cooler surface. This results in little flow by convection. The radiant transfer in this case is downward because that is the direction from the warmer surface to the cooler.'

This example of a wall in place illustrates the several methods by which heat is lost through a composite assembly of materials. Conduction occurs at varying rates in the walls various solid layers. Convection currents (2) and longwave infrared radiation (3) carry the heat across the air space and exposed surfaces.

The Thermal Properties of Solid Materials A solid materials capacity to conduct heat is an important factor in a passive heating or cooling design that depends heavily on the rate at which heat is conducted into a material from its surface. When we touch a solid's surface, we sense its conductivity rather than its temperature. For example, when you touch the metal part of your lecture hall chair it feels cooler than the adjacent wood or plastic surfaces. This is not because the metal has a lower temperature, but because metal has a higher ability to conduct heat than wood or plastic. Conductivity for each solid is established by standardized testing methods and is published as a basic rating. Conductance. Many solids such as common brick, wood siding, thermal batt or board insulation, gypsum board, and so on are widely available in standard thicknesses. For such common materials, it is useful to know the rate of heat flow for that standard thickness. Conductance, designated as C, is the number of Btus per hour that flow through 1 square foot of a given thickness of material when the temperature difference is 1F. The units are Btu/hr ft2F. (In SI, the units are W/m2 K.) Occasionally, a materials capacity to conduct heat is given for a one inch thickness of the material. This property is called Conductivity, designated as k, and carriers units of Btu in/hr ft2 F. (In SI, the units are W m/m2 K.) Resistance. Designated as R, resistance tells us how effective any solid is as an insulator how much the material is able to resist transferring heat through it. The reciprocal of Conductance, R is measured in hours needed for 1 Btu to flow through 1 ft2 of a given thickness of a solid when the temperature difference is 1F. Resistance has the odd unit of hr ft2 F /Btu. (In SI, units are m2 K/W.) Resistance is especially useful when comparing insulating materials, because the greater the Resistance, the more effective the insulator. The resistive properties are sometimes listed as "per inch' of thickness, in which case the property is called Resistivity, designated as r, and the units are hr ft2 F /Btu in. (In SI, units are m2K/W m, or "per meter" of thickness.) Architectural materials can strategically interact with heat flow either as insulators to retard the flow of heat or as conductors to encourage heat flow as in the case of thermal storage materials. It is not uncommon to find both insulators and conductors in the same construction. For example, a wall can have an inner layer that is highly conductive and thermally massive (for thermal storage), an outer layer that is also highly conductive and thermally massive (for durability and weathering), and a highly insulative, low mass substance as a thermal barrier between the inner and outer mass layers. Materials used for insulation fall into three categories: (1) inorganic fibrous or cellular materials (such as glass, rock wool, slag wool, perlite, or vermiculite), (2) organic fibrous or cellular materials (such as cotton, synthetic fibers, cork, foamed rubber, or polystyrene), and (3) metallic or metalized organic reflective membranes which must

Figure 3. Installation of batt fiberglass insulation by a male model at the worlds tidiest job site.

face an air space to be effective. Insulating materials are available in a wide variety of forms. Most adaptable are loose fill (as above a ceiling on the floor of an attic); insulating cement, a loose material mixed with a binder and troweled onto a surface; and formed-in-place materials such as expanded pellets or liquid-fiber mixtures that are poured, frothed, sprayed, or blown in place. Less adaptable but less expensive and therefore more common are the batts and blankets of flexible, semirigid insulation, with varying degrees of compressibility and adaptability. Note that any of these materials when compressed or installed too densely are less effective as insulators. This is because they rely on the insulating capacity of tiny air pockets inside the insulation material. Rigid insulation is applied in blocks, boards, or sheets, and can be preformed to nonplanar surfaces such as pipes. Exterior insulation and finish systems have become very popular, both for retrofit and for new construction. These often incorporate expanded polystyrene rigid boards applied to exterior gypsum, plywood, or cementitious substrates, then covered with fabric-reinforced acrylic, and can achieve slightly more than R-4 per inch of thickness. Reflective materials are found in sheets and rolls of either single or multiple layers, sometimes as preformed shapes with integral airspaces. When used without attachment to blanket or batt insulation, a reflective layer is called a radiant barrier and is especially applicable to roofs and attic spaces in the warmer climates nearer the equator. Radiant barriers are also useful in eastand west-facing walls in such climates. Materials chosen to be conductors are typically dense, durable, and diffuse heat readily. Appendix 5 in your reader lists density, conductivity or conductance, and specific heat for many common materials. For a given material, the higher the numerical values of these three characteristics, the more successful that material's performance will be as thermal storage. Most of the previous paragraphs concentrated on heat flow by conduction, but convection and radiation are also involved. Both these latter flows become more evident when looking at heat flow through air.

Thermal Properties of Surfaces and Air Spaces At the exposed surfaces of solids, heat transfer takes place both by convection and by radiation. Evaporation also can occur, occasionally with thermally significant results. Convection is highly dependent on air motion, so wind outdoors must be considered. Also, because warm air rises and cold air falls, vertical surfaces that encourage this kind of airflow exchange heat faster than the same surfaces placed horizontally, unless the direction of the heat flow is upward through this horizontal layer. Resistance. When air motion along surfaces is minimal, an insulating layer of air, or air film, is created. The resistance of this layer of still air along a vertical surface is numerically equal to that of a thickness of 1/2 -in. (12.7-mm) plywood. However, when this air layer is disturbed, its resistance drops quickly. For instance, with a 15-mph (6.7-m/s) wind, resistance drops to about one quarter of the still-air value. Similar drops in resistance occur when forced-air grilles are located immediately above or below windows. Emissivity. Radiation is highly influenced by surface characteristics; shiny materials are much less able to radiate than are common rough building materials. This characteristic is called

Emissivity, the dimensionless ratio of the radiation emitted by a given material to that emitted by a blackbody (a theoretically perfect emitter) at the same temperature. The impact of shiny versus ordinary surfaces is seen in Appendix 5 where tables deal with air layers, air films and air spaces within construction; the lower the Emissivity, the lower the radiative heat exchange. The combination of dead (still) air spaces and reflective surfaces produces some of our most effective insulating products, especially when they are made of lightweight materials of low conductivity. Glass fiber, cellular glass, expanded styrenes (foamed plastics), and mineral fibers all exhibit the characteristics of enclosing vast numbers of dead-air spaces per unit volume. When bonded to reflective films and properly installed (the shiny film facing a dead air space), high resistance to heat flow is achieved.

Heat Flow Through the Opaque Building Envelope When the process of heat flow is understood, calculations can begin. Initially, the hourly heat loss or heat gain is calculated, because these rates can later be used either to establish equipment size requirements (design conditions) or approximate energy consumption (average conditions). To calculate the hourly flow through a building's envelope you must establish: 1. The rate at which heat flows through the various assemblies of materials which make up the envelope. 2. The area of each of these assemblies. 3. The temperature difference between inside and outside for the hour being calculated. Often, only the first two factors are calculated, which allows a comparison of one building with any other, anywhere. The third factor, temperature difference, is strongly climate related. The areas of walls, roofs, windows, doors, and floors of various kinds are determined from architectural design drawings. The rates at which heat flows are determined by considering each heat flow path on a one-by-one basis.

Figure 4. The development of a wall detail involves a myriad of criteria ranging from cost and appearance to buildability and insulation integrity. Armed with an understanding of first principles you will find it to be a worthy and rewarding undertaking.

U-Value. The variety of terms used so far to express heat flow is potentially bewildering. These terms are, however, but part of a larger picture. What is needed is one final, overall expression of the steady-state rate at which heat flows through architectural skin elements (wall, roofs, etc.). This is provided by the U-value (also called the U-factor), where U is thermal transmittance, again expressed in the now-familiar terms of Btu/ hr ft2 F (in SI units, W/m2 K). Because U-values are both common and rather complex, several pages are devoted in Appendix 5 to listing them for familiar constructions of walls, floors, roofs, doors, and windows. Oftentimes you will calculate your own U-values for a particular element (roof, wall, etc.) by finding the resistances of each of its component materials, including air layers and internal air spaces, then adding all these resistances to obtain Rtotal. The U-value is the reciprocal of this sum of resistances. Many codes and standards specify maximum U-values (or, for insulation alone, minimum R- or maximum C-values) for various components of the envelope. Trends in material properties. Before looking individually at each component of the envelope, some history and prediction may be useful. As a result of the oil embargo of the early 1970s, there have been huge increases in component R-value (therefore huge decreases in component U-value), sometimes because of increased thickness and insulation (as with walls and roofs), sometimes because of substantially changed materials (as with windows). What might the next quarter century bring, and how might the designer of today's building envelope anticipate or participate in these advances? Structural systems are changing fundamentally due to the advent of structural insulated panels (SIP). They promise greatly improved insulation and airtightness, compared to the site-built wood or steel framing systems they replace. They can incorporate the latest developments in both insulated cores and thermal storage surfaces, and do so with less thickness and weight. Since the early 1970s, walls have gone from about R-7 batts between typical 2-in. x 4-in. studs to R-26 batts between 2-in. x 6-in. studs plus insulating sheathing, a three-fold reduction in heat flow. With SIP insulated cores approaching R-25 per inch, the next quarter century could produce yet another three-fold reduction while decreasing wall thickness. Floors and roofs can similarly benefit from SIP rather than framed construction. Insulation developments might include commercially available aerogel, gas filled panels, and powder-evacuated panels. Some of these products are suitable for retrofit applications in existing construction. Aerogel is both transparent and porous, one of the lightest existing solid materials. Silica aerogel can be foamed into cavities, and done so without ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). In a 90% vacuum, silica aerogel has R-20 per inch. By adding carbon to absorb infrared radiation, R-32 per inch is possible. Gas-filled panels are hermetically sealed plastic bags enclosing honeycomb baffles of thin polymer films and low-conductivity gas (argon, krypton, or xenon). Relative resistance values of this insulating core: argon, R-5.2 per inch; krypton, R13.4 per inch; and xenon, R-19.3 per inch. Powder-evacuated panels contain a vacuum and compacted silica-based powder sealed within a multilayer gas barrier. Expensive to produce and threatened by punctures, this may be a construction technique more suited for appliances than for buildings. The resistance is about R20 to R-25 per inch. Windows have undergone the most dramatic change. Resistances for the unit (glazing plus

frame) have evolved from single-glazed windows of about R-1 to late-1990s values of R-6.5 or more. Prototypes as high as R-20 exist. This has been accomplished with a series of developments: a second layer of glass; a wider air space between glazing layers; tinted, reflective, photochromic, and low-emissivity coatings; low-conductivity gas between glazings; intermediate films between glazings; operable blinds between glazings (for better control); lower-conductivity glazing spacers and frames; and more air-tight weather stripping. Future developments may include "smart windows" with variable light transmission on demand. For example, in electrochromic glazing, an applied electric field switches the window from a clear state to one with a deep coloration; intermediate states of coloration are possible. The more likely application is in cooling dominated climates where control of glare, solar gain control, and visual privacy are paramount. Before the oil embargo of the early 1970s, windows represented the greatest heat flow rate through the envelope of the typical building. Today, the highest rate of heat flow is more likely to be outside air infiltration (or deliberate ventilation). Windows do so many things in addition to weather protection -- admit daylight, allow views outdoors, admit breezes, and admit warming winter sun -- that their relative thermal weakness continues to challenge manufacturers. Over the next quarter century, windows may well continue to exhibit the most dramatically improved resistance to heat flow of all the components of the envelope.
Figure 5. Determining the average U-value in a wood frame wall. The 12% framing is based on the face area of studs as well as the sill plates, compared to the face area of insulation.

Walls. Compared to other surfaces of the building envelope, wall U-values are quite straightforward. There are few complications such as ground contact or crawl spaces with floors, or intermediary attic spaces with roofs. There is, however, the matter of parallel heat flow where framing interrupts the cavity insulation. In this case separate U-value calculations can be made for the framing path and the insulation path with each resulting value associates with its respective percentage of the wall area. Alternately, an averaged U-value can be calculated and used with the entire wall area.