Evaluation of Basement's Thermal Performance Against Thermal Comfort Model at Hot-arid Climates, Case Study (Egypt)
Abstract
Reaching thermal comfort levels in hot-arid climates is becoming more difficult nowadays without the use of high energy consuming mechanical systems. Therefore, the need to use effective passive energy design techniques such as earth-sheltered buildings is becoming greater.
This paper combines researches that uses monitoring and simulations in order to evaluate basements’ thermal performance that reached thermal comfort levels without active air-conditioning systems, despite the harsh climate conditions. The case study was conducted in Al-Minya city, Egypt, which is known for its high diurnal range. The study calibrated a non-conditioned basement simulation model versus the monitored data to simulate its thermal performance. The greatest challenge was to calculate the ground temperature. To do this successfully, we used an iterative approach between packages of the basement preprocessor and Energy Plus / Design Builder until reaching a convergence.
The iterative method results showed significant agreement between the measured and modeled data; with a correlation of 98 percent and errors with mean bias error and normalized root mean square error of -1.0 and 7.6 percent; respectively. On the other hand, the Energy Plus method, integrating the Xing approach, showed significantly divergent results between the simulated models versus the measured data. The calibrated model analysis evaluation, using the Fanger’s thermal comfort model, showed satisfactory results within the thermal comfort sensation range.
The research results significance indicates that the precise customized detailed iterative method is essential to create the needed inputs which subsequently lead to near-to-actual outputs compared with other ground-contact simulation methods. In fact, the precise customized detailed iterative method approach may be used as a benchmark for simulators for easy and precise ground temperatures’ calculations and earth-sheltered buildings’ simulations.
This paper combines researches that uses monitoring and simulations in order to evaluate basements’ thermal performance that reached thermal comfort levels without active air-conditioning systems, despite the harsh climate conditions. The case study was conducted in Al-Minya city, Egypt, which is known for its high diurnal range. The study calibrated a non-conditioned basement simulation model versus the monitored data to simulate its thermal performance. The greatest challenge was to calculate the ground temperature. To do this successfully, we used an iterative approach between packages of the basement preprocessor and Energy Plus / Design Builder until reaching a convergence.
The iterative method results showed significant agreement between the measured and modeled data; with a correlation of 98 percent and errors with mean bias error and normalized root mean square error of -1.0 and 7.6 percent; respectively. On the other hand, the Energy Plus method, integrating the Xing approach, showed significantly divergent results between the simulated models versus the measured data. The calibrated model analysis evaluation, using the Fanger’s thermal comfort model, showed satisfactory results within the thermal comfort sensation range.
The research results significance indicates that the precise customized detailed iterative method is essential to create the needed inputs which subsequently lead to near-to-actual outputs compared with other ground-contact simulation methods. In fact, the precise customized detailed iterative method approach may be used as a benchmark for simulators for easy and precise ground temperatures’ calculations and earth-sheltered buildings’ simulations.
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References
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2. Andolsun, Simge, Charles H. Culp, Jeff Haberl, and Michael J. Witte. 2011. “EnergyPlus vs. DOE-2.1e: The Effect of Ground-Coupling on Energy Use of a Code House with Basement in a Hot-Humid Climate.” Energy and Buildings 43(7): 1663–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.03.009.
3. Anselm, Akubue Jideofor. 2008. “Passive Annual Heat Storage Principles in Earth Sheltered Housing, a Supplementary Energy Saving System in Residential Housing.” Energy and Buildings 40: 1214–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2007.11.002.
4. ———. 2012. “Earth Shelters ; A Review of Energy Conservation Properties in Earth Sheltered Housing.” In InTech, © 2012 Anselm, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51873), 125–48.
5. Attia, Shady, and Salvatore Carlucci. 2015. “Impact of Different Thermal Comfort Models on Zero Energy Residential Buildings in Hot Climate.” Energy and Buildings 102(3): 117–28. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778815003886%5Cnhttp://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0378778815003886 (June 9, 2015).
6. Attia, Shady, Arnaud Evrard, and Elisabeth Gratia. 2012. “Development of Benchmark Models for the Egyptian Residential Buildings Sector.” Applied Energy 94(2012): 270–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.01.065.
7. Carmody, John, and Raymond Sterling. 1985. Earth Sheltered Housing Design. First Edit. ed. Raymond Sterling. Minnesota.: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
8. Cogil, A., Cynthia. 1998. “Modeling of Basement Heat Transfer and Parametric Study of Basement Insulation for Low Energy Housing.” Pennsylvania State University.
9. Derradji, Mohamed, and Messaoud Aiche. 2014. “Modeling the Soil Surface Temperature for Natural Cooling of Buildings in Hot Climates.” Procedia Computer Science 32: 615–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2014.05.468.
10. El-Din, M. M Salah. 1999. “On the Heat Flow into the Ground.” Renewable Energy 18(4): 473–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-1481(99)00005-1.
11. EnergyPlus. 2015. “Auxiliary Programs EnergyPlus Documentation.” Bigladder Software 2(Nrel 1995): 0–201. http://nrel.github.io/EnergyPlus/AuxiliaryPrograms/AuxiliaryPrograms/#weatherconverterprogram.
12. EnergyPlus Development, Team. 2015. “EnergyPlus Input Output Reference: The Encyclopedic Reference to EnergyPlus Input and Output.” The Encyclopedic Reference to EnergyPlus Input and Output (c): 2488.
13. Freney, Martin, Veronica Soebarto, and Terry Williamson. 2012. “Learning from ‘ Earthship ’ Based on Monitoring and Thermal Simulation.” In 46th Annual Conference of the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA), Griffith University.
14. Hassan, H et al. 2014. “Testing the Basements Thermal Performance as an Approach to the Earth-Sheltered Buildings Application at Hot Climates, Case Study (Egypt).” In ASim2014 Proceedings, ed. IBPSA-Asia ASim-Japan. Nagoya, Japan: IBPSA-Asia, 507–14.
15. Hassan, Heba, and Daisuke Sumiyoshi. 2017. “Earth-Sheltered Buildings in Hot-Arid Climates: Design Guidelines.” Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2314853516301585.
16. Heba, Hassan Ahmed et al. 2012. “The Possibility of Applying the Earth-Sheltered Building Type for Housing Projects between Humid and Dry Climates - Case Study Egypt and Japan -.” In International Society of Habitat Engineering and Design Conference, ISHED, Shanghai, China: Tongji University, 8.
17. Ip, Kenneth, and Andrew Miller. 2009. “Thermal Behaviour of an Earth-Sheltered Autonomous Building – The Brighton Earthship.” Renewable Energy 34(9): 2037–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2009.02.006.
18. Ismail, Heba, Takafumi Arima, Aly Ahmed, and Yasunori Akashi. 2013. “Measuring the Possibility of Living in the Earth-Sheltered Building Type between Egypt and Japan.” In Building Simulation Cairo 2013 - Towards Sustainable & Green Life, ed. Dr. Mohammad Fahmy BPSA-Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: AGD Publishing Cairo IBPSA-Egypt, 430–441, Part8.
19. Janssen, Hans, Jan Carmeliet, and Hugo Hens. 2004. “The Influence of Soil Moisture Transfer on Building Heat Loss via the Ground.” Building and Environment 39(7): 825–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2004.01.004.
20. Kharrufa, Sahar N. 2008. “Evaluation of Basement’s Thermal Performance in Iraq for Summer Use.” Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 7(2): 411–17.
21. KN, Laboratories. 2010. “RhManager User Manual For Version 2.10.” (C): 1–8.
22. Kruis, Neal, and Moncef Krarti. 2016. “Three-Dimensional Accuracy with Two-Dimensional Computation Speed: Using the KivaTM Numerical Framework to Improve Foundation Heat Transfer Calculations.” Journal of Building Performance Simulation 1493(August): 1–22. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19401493.2016.1211177.
23. Kumar, Rakesh, Shweta Sachdeva, and S.C. Kaushik. 2007. “Dynamic Earth-Contact Building: A Sustainable Low-Energy Technology.” Building and Environment 42(6): 2450–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.05.002.
24. Lazzarin, Renato M., Francesco Castellotti, and Filippo Busato. 2005. “Experimental Measurements and Numerical Modelling of a Green Roof.” Energy and Buildings 37(12): 1260–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2005.02.001.
25. Serageldin, Ahmed A, Ali K Abdelrahman, Ahmed H Ali, and Shinichi Ali, Mohamed R O and Ookawara. 2015. “Soil Temperature Profile for Some New Cities in Egypt : Experimental Results and Mathematical Model.” In 14th International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies – SET 2015, Nottingham, UK: SET 2015, 1–9.
26. Staniec, M., and H. Nowak. 2011. “Analysis of the Earth-Sheltered Buildings’ Heating and Cooling Energy Demand Depending on Type of Soil.” Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 11(1): 221–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1644-9665(12)60185-X.
27. Staniec, Maja, and Henryk Nowak. 2016. “The Application of Energy Balance at the Bare Soil Surface to Predict Annual Soil Temperature Distribution.” Energy and Buildings 127(May): 56–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.05.047.
28. Szabó, János, and László Kajtár. 2016. “Expected Thermal Comfort in Underground Spaces.” Energy: 1–5. http://www.epget.bme.hu/docs/Kutatas/Konferencia/expres2016/15_J_Szabo,L_Kajtar_EXPRES_2016.pdf.
29. T.R., OKE. 2015. 1 Statewide Agricultural Land Use Baseline 2015 Boundary Layer Climates. Second. Vancouver: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. ISBN 0-203-40721-0.
30. Takkanon, Pattaranan. 2006. “Design Guidelines for Thermal Comfort in Row Houses in Bangkok.” In The 23rd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6–8.
31. Wasilowski, Holly, and Christoph Reinhart. 2009. “MODELLING AN EXISTING BUILDING IN DESIGNBUILDER / E + : CUSTOM VERSUS DEFAULT INPUTS.” In Conference Proceedings of Building Simulation 2009, Glasgow.
32. Xing, LU. 2014. “ESTIMATIONS OF UNDISTURBED GROUND TEMPERATURES USING NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL MODELING, PhD.” Oklahoma State University
2. Andolsun, Simge, Charles H. Culp, Jeff Haberl, and Michael J. Witte. 2011. “EnergyPlus vs. DOE-2.1e: The Effect of Ground-Coupling on Energy Use of a Code House with Basement in a Hot-Humid Climate.” Energy and Buildings 43(7): 1663–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.03.009.
3. Anselm, Akubue Jideofor. 2008. “Passive Annual Heat Storage Principles in Earth Sheltered Housing, a Supplementary Energy Saving System in Residential Housing.” Energy and Buildings 40: 1214–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2007.11.002.
4. ———. 2012. “Earth Shelters ; A Review of Energy Conservation Properties in Earth Sheltered Housing.” In InTech, © 2012 Anselm, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51873), 125–48.
5. Attia, Shady, and Salvatore Carlucci. 2015. “Impact of Different Thermal Comfort Models on Zero Energy Residential Buildings in Hot Climate.” Energy and Buildings 102(3): 117–28. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778815003886%5Cnhttp://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0378778815003886 (June 9, 2015).
6. Attia, Shady, Arnaud Evrard, and Elisabeth Gratia. 2012. “Development of Benchmark Models for the Egyptian Residential Buildings Sector.” Applied Energy 94(2012): 270–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.01.065.
7. Carmody, John, and Raymond Sterling. 1985. Earth Sheltered Housing Design. First Edit. ed. Raymond Sterling. Minnesota.: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
8. Cogil, A., Cynthia. 1998. “Modeling of Basement Heat Transfer and Parametric Study of Basement Insulation for Low Energy Housing.” Pennsylvania State University.
9. Derradji, Mohamed, and Messaoud Aiche. 2014. “Modeling the Soil Surface Temperature for Natural Cooling of Buildings in Hot Climates.” Procedia Computer Science 32: 615–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2014.05.468.
10. El-Din, M. M Salah. 1999. “On the Heat Flow into the Ground.” Renewable Energy 18(4): 473–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-1481(99)00005-1.
11. EnergyPlus. 2015. “Auxiliary Programs EnergyPlus Documentation.” Bigladder Software 2(Nrel 1995): 0–201. http://nrel.github.io/EnergyPlus/AuxiliaryPrograms/AuxiliaryPrograms/#weatherconverterprogram.
12. EnergyPlus Development, Team. 2015. “EnergyPlus Input Output Reference: The Encyclopedic Reference to EnergyPlus Input and Output.” The Encyclopedic Reference to EnergyPlus Input and Output (c): 2488.
13. Freney, Martin, Veronica Soebarto, and Terry Williamson. 2012. “Learning from ‘ Earthship ’ Based on Monitoring and Thermal Simulation.” In 46th Annual Conference of the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA), Griffith University.
14. Hassan, H et al. 2014. “Testing the Basements Thermal Performance as an Approach to the Earth-Sheltered Buildings Application at Hot Climates, Case Study (Egypt).” In ASim2014 Proceedings, ed. IBPSA-Asia ASim-Japan. Nagoya, Japan: IBPSA-Asia, 507–14.
15. Hassan, Heba, and Daisuke Sumiyoshi. 2017. “Earth-Sheltered Buildings in Hot-Arid Climates: Design Guidelines.” Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2314853516301585.
16. Heba, Hassan Ahmed et al. 2012. “The Possibility of Applying the Earth-Sheltered Building Type for Housing Projects between Humid and Dry Climates - Case Study Egypt and Japan -.” In International Society of Habitat Engineering and Design Conference, ISHED, Shanghai, China: Tongji University, 8.
17. Ip, Kenneth, and Andrew Miller. 2009. “Thermal Behaviour of an Earth-Sheltered Autonomous Building – The Brighton Earthship.” Renewable Energy 34(9): 2037–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2009.02.006.
18. Ismail, Heba, Takafumi Arima, Aly Ahmed, and Yasunori Akashi. 2013. “Measuring the Possibility of Living in the Earth-Sheltered Building Type between Egypt and Japan.” In Building Simulation Cairo 2013 - Towards Sustainable & Green Life, ed. Dr. Mohammad Fahmy BPSA-Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: AGD Publishing Cairo IBPSA-Egypt, 430–441, Part8.
19. Janssen, Hans, Jan Carmeliet, and Hugo Hens. 2004. “The Influence of Soil Moisture Transfer on Building Heat Loss via the Ground.” Building and Environment 39(7): 825–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2004.01.004.
20. Kharrufa, Sahar N. 2008. “Evaluation of Basement’s Thermal Performance in Iraq for Summer Use.” Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 7(2): 411–17.
21. KN, Laboratories. 2010. “RhManager User Manual For Version 2.10.” (C): 1–8.
22. Kruis, Neal, and Moncef Krarti. 2016. “Three-Dimensional Accuracy with Two-Dimensional Computation Speed: Using the KivaTM Numerical Framework to Improve Foundation Heat Transfer Calculations.” Journal of Building Performance Simulation 1493(August): 1–22. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19401493.2016.1211177.
23. Kumar, Rakesh, Shweta Sachdeva, and S.C. Kaushik. 2007. “Dynamic Earth-Contact Building: A Sustainable Low-Energy Technology.” Building and Environment 42(6): 2450–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.05.002.
24. Lazzarin, Renato M., Francesco Castellotti, and Filippo Busato. 2005. “Experimental Measurements and Numerical Modelling of a Green Roof.” Energy and Buildings 37(12): 1260–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2005.02.001.
25. Serageldin, Ahmed A, Ali K Abdelrahman, Ahmed H Ali, and Shinichi Ali, Mohamed R O and Ookawara. 2015. “Soil Temperature Profile for Some New Cities in Egypt : Experimental Results and Mathematical Model.” In 14th International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies – SET 2015, Nottingham, UK: SET 2015, 1–9.
26. Staniec, M., and H. Nowak. 2011. “Analysis of the Earth-Sheltered Buildings’ Heating and Cooling Energy Demand Depending on Type of Soil.” Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 11(1): 221–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1644-9665(12)60185-X.
27. Staniec, Maja, and Henryk Nowak. 2016. “The Application of Energy Balance at the Bare Soil Surface to Predict Annual Soil Temperature Distribution.” Energy and Buildings 127(May): 56–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.05.047.
28. Szabó, János, and László Kajtár. 2016. “Expected Thermal Comfort in Underground Spaces.” Energy: 1–5. http://www.epget.bme.hu/docs/Kutatas/Konferencia/expres2016/15_J_Szabo,L_Kajtar_EXPRES_2016.pdf.
29. T.R., OKE. 2015. 1 Statewide Agricultural Land Use Baseline 2015 Boundary Layer Climates. Second. Vancouver: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. ISBN 0-203-40721-0.
30. Takkanon, Pattaranan. 2006. “Design Guidelines for Thermal Comfort in Row Houses in Bangkok.” In The 23rd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6–8.
31. Wasilowski, Holly, and Christoph Reinhart. 2009. “MODELLING AN EXISTING BUILDING IN DESIGNBUILDER / E + : CUSTOM VERSUS DEFAULT INPUTS.” In Conference Proceedings of Building Simulation 2009, Glasgow.
32. Xing, LU. 2014. “ESTIMATIONS OF UNDISTURBED GROUND TEMPERATURES USING NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL MODELING, PhD.” Oklahoma State University
Authors
Kamel, H. H., & Sumiyoshi, D. (2017). Evaluation of Basement’s Thermal Performance Against Thermal Comfort Model at Hot-arid Climates, Case Study (Egypt). Environmental Science & Sustainable Development, 2(1), 24–38. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v2i1.26
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