VALIDATION OF HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS ON INTERIOR BUILDING SURFACES USING A REAL-SIZED INDOOR TEST CELL

Experimental studies are carried out to investigate the heat transfer coefficients on interior building surfaces (such as vertical walls, ceilings and glazing) using a real-sized indoor test cell which measures 2.95 × 2.35 × 2.08 m (length × width × height). A total of 142 tests, each one lasting about 24 h, are conducted under controlled steady-state conditions to cover nine of the most widely used heating configurations in buildings. Ten new heat transfer correlations are developed and these are presented in a way suitable for use by building thermal modellers. The correlations are found to differ by up to a factor of two from those which are currently being used in building thermal models. © 1990.