Solar thermal buffer zone modelling: Experimental and numerical results

The Thermal Buffer Zone (TBZ) in a building is modelled using a 1/3 scale physical model and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. Radiation produced by a solar simulator is used as the heat source. Air flow rate and temperature distribution on the north (cool) and south (warm) sides of the TBZ are measured experimentally and computed by CFD. To reduce the size of the problem in the numerical model, the actual 3-D problem is modelled by a 2-D finite element mesh. The results show that temperature distribution can be measured and computed accurately within the TBZ, but the air velocity distribution is more difficult to measure in regions involving recirculation and non-laminar flow. Overall, the CFD results are deemed to be satisfactory, particularly for regions away from the TBZ walls.