Heat Transfer Coefficient of a Building: A Constant with Limited Variability or Dynamically Variable?

Jankovic, Ljubomir; Henshaw, Grant; Tsang, Christopher; Zhang, Xinyi; Fitton, Richard; Swan, William

Abstract

The heat transfer coefficient, or the HTC, is an industry-standard indicator of building energy performance. It is predicated on an assumption that it is of a constant value, and several different methods have been developed to measure and calculate the HTC as a constant. Whilst there are limited variations in the results obtained from these different methods, none of these methods consider a possibility that the HTC could be dynamically variable. Our experimental work shows that the HTC is not a constant. The experimental evidence based on our environmental chambers, which contain detached houses and in which the ambient air temperature can be controlled between −24 °C and +51 °C, with additional relative humidity control and with weather rigs that can introduce solar radiation, rain, and snow, shows that the HTC is dynamically variable. The analysis of data from the fully instrumented and monitored houses in combination with calibrated simulation models and data processing scripts based on genetic algorithm optimization provide experimental evidence of the dynamic variability of the HTC. This research increases the understanding of buildings physics properties and has the potential to change the way the heat transfer coefficient is used in building performance analysis.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 22, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Apr 24, 2025
• Publication Date: Apr 24, 2025
• Deposit Date: Apr 24, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 24, 2025
• Journal: Energies
• Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 9
• Article Number: 2182
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/en18092182