Impact of Insulation Type and Thickness on the Dynamic Thermal Characteristics of an External Wall Structure

Abstract

The dynamic thermal characteristics of external wall structures are directly related to indoor thermal comfort and energy savings in buildings; they are also complicated and worth investigating. Thermal insulation in external wall structures has become a popular topic of investigation in the domain of building energy efficiency. This study aims to find the impact of insulation type and thickness on the dynamic thermal characteristics of external wall structures using a homogeneous multi-layer building external wall structure and three types of insulation materials that are widely used in Japan. The impact of insulation type and thickness on seven thermal characteristics of external walls, including thermal transmittance, decrement factor or amplitude attenuation, time lag, thermal admittance, time lead for thermal admittance, surface factor, and thermal capacity, was evaluated by numerical methods in this study. It was shown that insulation type and thickness would have a significant effect on thermal transmittance, decrement factor and time lag, but yield no significant change in thermal admittance, time lead for thermal admittance, surface factor, and the thermal capacity of external wall structures.