ELSEVIER

Energy

and Buildings

28 (1998)

159-166

Effects of Walls thermophysical properties on time lag and

decrement factor
H. Asan *, Y.S. San&tar
Department

of Mechanical

Engineeting,
Received

Karadeniz

Technical

University,

61080 Trabzon,

Turkey

7 June 1997; accepted 24 June 1997

Abstract
In this study, the effects of thermophysical properties andthicknessof a wall of a building on time lag and decrement factor have been
investigated. For this purpose, one dimensional transient heat conduction equation was solved using Crank-Nicolson scheme under convection
boundaryconditions.To the outersurface of the wall, periodic boundary conditions were applied. A very general code which can take care
of composite walls under any kind of boundary condition was developed. Single and combined effects of the thickness and thermophysical
properties on the time lag and decrement factor were investigated. It was found that thermophysical properties have a very profound effect on
the time lag and decrement factor. The computations were repeated for different building materials and the results are discussed.
0 1998
Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Keywords:

Time Lag; Decrement

factor;

Thermophysical

properties

1. Introduction
The adobe houseconstruction is very common in many
areasof the world. In the USA, it is developedby the Indians
in the southwestregions.In Turkey, adobehouseconstruction
is seen in eastern and southern part of the country. In the
Black Sea region, northern coast of the country, traditional
humsesalsonave waMs mahe of &one an6 ah&e. It is we%
known that adobehouseconstruction yield a natural air condirtiron@ eI&z~.Tne roomsare coo1at mid&q an& warm a1
night. The houseconstructionsmentionedabove are nothing
but passive so&buildings.
For passivesolarbuildings, heatingthe building is possible
via direct heatgain aridlor thermal storagemelho& andthere
have been many researcheson this area [I--3). Although
direct heat gain method is simple and inexpensive, it suffers
from iage %emperaWeswingsbesidesstrong directiOna day
lighting [ 41. In addition, direct heat gain method can be
effected very fast from outside temperature fluctuations
which results to a bed comfort level for indoors [ 5-71. For
thermal storagebuildings on the other hand, walls and floors
are used as heat storageelements,and stored energy in the
walls and floors during day period can be usedfor heating
during nights.
* Corresponding

author.

0378-7788/98/$
- see front matter 0
PUSO378-7788(98)00007-3

1998 Elsevier

At the cross-sectionof the outer wall of a building, there

are different temperatureprofiles during any instant of l-day
period. These profiles are functions of inside temperature,
outside temperature and thermophysical properties of the
wall. Since the outsidetemperaturechangesperiodically during one day period, there will be new temperatureprofiles at
any instant of time of the day. During this transient process,
aheatvKwe ~QWSt!ArQu~~~e wa!LframQuts.ideta kw.idean!!
the amplitudesof thesewaves show the temperaturemagnitudes, and ax. wauele%g<h
of tslRwi?xessbm the time, The
amplitude of the heat wave on the outer surfaceof the wall is
bass3m SOJLG
rduiatk, ant!,cwmxCm in XBKTT, t~~w&s
surface of the wall and ambient air. During the propagation
of this heat wave thmgh the wall, its amplitudeY&l decrease
dependingon the thermophysicalpropertiesofwall materials.
When this wave reachesto the inner surface, it will have an
amplizadewki& isc?3clsiberably
smalh tlran &e value it kad
at the outer surface. The time it takesfor heat wave to propagate from outer surfaceto the inner surfacenamed as time
Zag or phase Zag and the decreasingratio of its amplitude
during this processis namedas decrementfactor or attenuationfactor [ 81. The schematicsof time lag anddecrement
factor are shownin Fig. 1. Time lag and decrementfactor are
very important characteristicsto determine the heat storage
capabilitiesof any material. Depending on the tbermophysical properties and thickness of the wall material, different

Science S.A. All rights reserved

160

H. Asart, Y.S. Sancaktar/Energy

and Buildings

wall

28 (1998)

159-166

,T,&X

outdoor

._....... __........--.e....-

Ti

Twin
Fig. I. The schematic

representation

of time lag r#~and decrement

time lags and decrement factors can be obtained. The stored

energy during day period can be used during night period
when the outside temperature is low. In some dry regions,
inside temperature is too high for normal comfort level. Walls
with high time lags and small decrement factors, gives comfortable inside temperatures even if the outside is very hot
[ 91. By designing special walls in which decrement factors
are very low and time lags are high, the propagation of the
big fluctuations of outside temperatures to inside can be prevented and almost constant inside temperatures can be
obtained which results to a good comfort level [ 10-l 31.
In this study mainly, to determine the effects of the thickness and thermophysical properties of a wall on time lag and
decrement factor, a detailed computational study was made.
The computations were repeated for different wall materials
and the results are compared to each other. The results of this
study are useful for designing more effective passive solar
buildings and related other areas.

factor5

Cf=A,=,,IA,,)

layer
1

interior

layer

layer

layer

exterior

Ti

TO

hi

h,
#TX,

TX

*X

0-1----+-L

Fig. 2. The schematics

of the problem

geometry.

80

2. Method

Inside
-

In this study, the wall under investigation is assumed to be

only in x direction and time-dependent. The problem geometry is shown in Fig. 2. One dimensional, transient heat conduction equation for this problem is as follows:

k$ =pc,$

Surface
-

T*mpmtun

Analybcalsdutii

( Thdkek! [IS] )
Numerical solutim
(PnuamdY)

(1)

where k is the thermal conductivity, p is the density and C,

is the heat capacity of the wall material. To solve this problem,
two boundary conditions and one initial condition are needed.
On both sides of wall, convection boundary conditions are
present. At the inner surface, the boundary condition is:
=hi[T~=o(t)-Til,

(2)

*=O

whereason the outer surface of the wall, the boundary condition can be written as:

"

Fig. 3. Comparison
Threlkeld [ 151.

"

n"

of present

I "

I 12

Time, hr
computations

16

with

20

analytical

24

solution

of

H. Asan, Y.S. Sancaktar/Energy

and Buildings

Here, again hi is the wall inner surface heat transfer coefficient, h, the wall outer surface heat transfer coefficient, TX= o
is the wall inner surface temperature, TxxL is the wall outer
surface temperature,T, is the room air temperatureand rs;;,(t)
is the sol-air
temperature.
This temperature includes the
effects of the solar radiation combined with outside air temperatureand changesperiodically. The sol-air temperatureis
assumedto show sinusoidalvariations during 24-h period.
At the sametime, since time lag and decrement factor are
dependent on wall material only not on the climatological
data [ 141, a very generalequation for sol-air temperatureis
taken as follows:

ITmax-Tminl

+T

(4)

In,".

159-166

161

ature of a room, T,, is taken to be constant. As seenfrom Eq.

(4), 7?,,(t) changesin between T,,,,, and Tmin during 24-h
period. The problem now is reducedto one-dimensionalheat
conduction which has periodic boundary condition on the
outer surface, the sol-air temperature boundary condition,
and normal convection boundary condition on the inner surface. The analytical solution of this problem for one layer is
given in Ref. [ 151. Here, the algorithm is developed to take
careof II layer. For this purpose,finite-difference formulation
of Eq. ( 1) isobtainedand Crank-Nicolson methodis applied.
The input values of code are: number of layers, the thickness
of each layer, density of each layer, specific heat and conductivity of each layer and heat generationsof each layer if
any. To interpret the graphicsandthe resultsbetter, Tmin= 0C
and T,,,,, = 1C were selectedin Eq. (4) and indoor temperature is selectedas0.X accordingly. The outputsof thecode
were time lag, decrement factor, wall inner surface temperature and the temperatureof any location at any time of the
day. To test the correctnessof the code developed,computed
inner surfacetemperatureprofile is comparedwith harmonic
analysisresultsof Threlkeld [ 1.51.As seenfrom Fig. 3, computed results of present study match pretty well with the

(3)

28 (1998)

As an initial condition, the steady-steady solution of the

problem at t = 0 is taken. In the computations,insidetemper-

24
20
16
12
6
4
0
1 E+4

Cc)

Fig. 4. (a) Variation

decrement factorfwith

of time dependent
heat capacity.

wall inner surface temperature

1 E+5

1 E+6

1E+6

1E+7

C (J/Km*)

(b)

1 E+4

lE+5

lE+7

C (J/Km*)
with heat capacity.

(b) Variation

of time lag C#Jwith heat capacity.

(c) Variation

of

162

H. Asan, Y.S. Sancaktar

/Energy

and Buildings

28 (I998)

159-166

24

20

-;

,lnlL

0.01

0.1

10

100

1000

k(WlmK)

0.6
0.5

(cl
Fig. 5. (a) Variation of time dependent wall inner surface temperature
Variation of decrement factorfkth
thermal conductivity.

k (WImK)
with thermal

harmonic analysis results of Threlkeld. The details of the

analytical solution for one layer with real climatological data
can be found in the work of Threlkeld [ 151.

3. Results and diicussion

To see the effects of heat capacity, thermal conductivity,
and the thickness of wall on the time lags and decrement
factor, first the code was applied to a single layer wall. For
0.2-m-thick wall, the thermal conductivity is taken to be constant and the heat capacity is varied from 1.0 X lo4 to
1.OX 10 J/K m2. Secondly, the thickness and the heat capacity are fixed and the thermal conductivity is varied from 0.01
to 1000 W/m K. Lastly, the thermal conductivity and the
heat capacity are fixed to a certain constant and the thickness
is varied from 0.001 to 1 m. For all three cases, time-dependent wall inner surface temperature, time lags and decrement
factors are computed and plotted in Figs. 4-6. In Fig. 4, a
wall inner surface temperature is given as a function of time
and heat capacity. Here, the thickness of the wall and thermal
conductivity are fixed to a certain value. As seen from the

conductivity,

(b) Variation

of time lag C$with thermal

conductivity.

(c)

figure, for increasing heat capacity, wall inner surface temperature goes to a constant value. This was expected because
if the heat capacity is too high, the stored heat energy in the
wall can sustain almost constant inner wall temperature.
From Fig. 4a, time lags and decrement factors are also apparent. But to see the effects of heat capacity on time lags and
decrement factors more clearly, time lag vs. heat capacity and
decrement factor vs. heat capacity are plotted in Fig. 4b and
4c, respectively. As seen from Fig. 4b, there is an exponential
relationship between time lag and heat capacity. As the heat
capacity goes to its maximum value, time lag exponentially
goes to infinity. On the other hand, as the heat capacity goes
to zero, time lag goes to zero also. In Fig. 4c, the relationship
between decrement factor and heat capacity is given. Here,
an inverse exponential relationship between decrement factor
and heat capacity is present. As heat capacity goes to its
maximum value, decrement factor goes to zero and as heat
capacity goes to zero, decrement factor takes certain constant
value.
Fig. 5 gives the time dependent wall inner surface temperature in the case of varying thermal conductivity and constant
heat capacity. As seen from Fig. 5, for small values of thermal

I63

24

16

0.001

0.01

0.1

1 (ml

&I

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2

0.1
0.0
0.001

Cc)

0.01

0.1

l(m)

Fig. 6. (a) Variation of time dependent wall inner surfacetemmrature with thickness of the wall. (b) Variation of time lag QIwith thickness of the wall, (c)
Variation of decrement facrorfwith thickness of the wall.

conductivity (insulation materials), almost constant wall

inner wall temperature is obtained. Again, in Fig. Sb and 5c,
the relationship between time Iag vs. thermal conductivity
and decrement factor vs. thermal conductivity are plotted. As
seen from Fig. 5b, an inverse exponential relationship exists
between time lag vs. thermal conductivity. For small values
of thermal conductivity, for k = 0.05, time lag take the value
of 24 h. Thermal conductivity smaller than 0.01 results to
very high time lags. As thermal conductivity increases, the
time lag gets smaller and after certain value of thermal conductivity, k> 100, time lag takes a certain constant value
around 2 h. As seen from Fig. SC, there exists a direct relationship between thermal conductivity and decrement factor.
Small values of thermal conductivity, k < 0.0 1I results to zero
decrement factor. As k increases after this value, the decrement factor also increases. After k > IO, the increase of decrement factor slows down as shown in Fig. 5~.
Fig. ha gives the time dependent wall inner surface temperature in the case of varying wall thickness and constant
L-3nacity and constant thermal conductivity. As seenfrom
-.+ps of wall thickness, almost constant
-Wined. When the wall
-.
--nnaeates

inside without any changes in its shape. As seen from Fig,

6b, there is an exponential relationship between time lag and
wall thickness. This relationship is similar to that of heat
capacity-time lag relationship. This is not surprising because
as the wall thickness gets thicker its heat storage capability
increases, which is like increasing heat capacity. As the wall
thickness goes to its maximum value, time lag exponentially
goes to infinity. On the other hand, as the wall thickness goes
to zero, time lag goes to zero also. In Fig. 6c, the relationship
between decrement factor and the wall thickness is given.
Here, as the wall thickness goes to its maximum value, decrement factor goes to zero and as the wall thickness goes to
below a certain value, decrement factor takes certain constant
value.

In Fig. 7a, the combined effects of heat capacity and thermal conductivity on time lag is given. As seen from Fig. 7a,
low thermal conductivity and large heat capacity results to
high time lags. Fig. 7b is nothing but the top view of Fig. 7a.
Here, computed time lags for different materials are presented. As seen from Fig. 7b, since metals like steel ant
aluminum have high heat capacities, it is expected that the
should have high time lags. But since they have high therrr
conductivity which is inversely proportional with time 1,

164

H. Asan, KS. Sancaktar/Energy

and Buildings

159-166

logk(WlmK)

logk(WlmK)
Fig. 7. (a) Combined effects of heat capacity
time lag. (b) Computed time lags for different

28 (1998)

and thermal conductivity

building materials.

on

the desired time lags are not high enough. On the other hand,
materials with low thermal conductivity like formaldehyde
and polyurethane have low heat capacity at the same time and
results to low time lags. As seen from Fig. 7b, especially
asbestos, rubber and, to some extent, asphalt andgraniteresult
to considerably high time lags because these materials have
low thermal conductivity and high heat capacity.
The combined effects of heat capacity and thermal conductivity on decrement factor is given in Fig. 8a. As seen
from Fig. 8a, heat capacity has very mild effect on decrement
factor and it is determined mostly by thermal conductivity.
As mentioned before, materials with high thermal conductivity results to high decrement factor. Again Fig. 8b is the top
view of Fig. 8a. Here, computed decrement factors for different materials are shown. As seen from Fig. 8b, formaldehyde and polyurethane result to very small decrement factors
because they have very low thermal conductivity. But as
remembered before, since these materials have small heat
capacities they have small time lags also. Comparing Fig. 7b
with Fig. 8b, it is seen that asbestos, rubber and, to some

Fig. 8. (a) Combined effects of heat capacity and thermal conductivity

on
decrement factor. (b) Computed decrement factors for different building
materials.

extent, asphalt and granite result to high time lags and small
decrement factors.
In Fig. 9a, the cross-section of three-layer wall without
insulation and in Fig. 9b, the cross-section of five-layer wall
(with insulation) are given. In Fig. lOa, the transient temperature profiles of any location of the wall without insulation
is given. Here, x = 0 represents the wall inner surface and
x= 14 cm represents the wall outer surface. From Fig. lOa,
time lags and time factors are also visible. Fig. lob shows the
decrease of amplitude of the temperature profile with respect
to x.
In Fig. 1 la, the transient temperature profiles of any location of the wall with insulation is given. Here, also time lags
and decrement factors are seen from the graph. Comparing
Fig. 1Oawith Fig. 1la, it is apparent that wall with insulation
results to high time lag and small decrement factor even if
both walls have the same total thickness. As seen from Fig.
lla, between wall inner surface and insulation location,
almost constant temperature profile is obtained (small decrement factor). Again in Fig. 1lb, the decrease of the amplitude of the temperature profile with respect to x is given. The
work is going on to optimize the insulation thickness and

H. Asan, Y.S. Sancaktar

three-layer wall (without

/ Energy

and Buildings

28 (I 998) 159-166

165

insulation)

outdoor

10

I 2 I[cml

(4
five-layer wall (with insulation)
outdoor

! 2 I[cml

I
0.02

/
0.04

I
0.06

(b)

(b)

I
0.08

/
0.10

I
0.12

I
0.14

x(m)

Fig. IO. (a) The transient temperature

profiles of any location of the wall
without insulation.
(b) The decrease of the amplitude of the temperature
profile with x for wall without insulation.

Fig. 9. (a) The cross-section of three-layer

wall (wall without
(b) The cross-section of five-layer wall (wall with insulation).

insulation position from the viewpoint of

lags and small decrement factors. Finally,
puted time lags and decrement factors for
materials are given. Here, for all materials,
is used.

1
0.00

insulation).

getting large time

in Table 1, comdifferent building
2.5cm thickness

4. Conclusions
In this study, to determine the effects of the thickness and
thermophysical properties of a wall on time lag and decrement
factor, a detailed computational study was made. Single and
combined effects of the thickness and thermophysical properties on the time lag and decrement factor were investigated.
It was found that thermophysical properties have a very profound effect on the time lag and decrement factor. The computations were repeated for different building materials and
the results are discussed. The results of this study are useful
for designing more effective passive solar buildings and other
related areas.

A 1 I
0.00
0.02

(b)

I,

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

0.12

.I, 1
0.14

x(m)

Fig. 11. (a) The transient temperature

profiles of any location of the wall
with insulation. (b) The decrease of the amplitude of the temperature profile
with x for wall with insulation.

166

H. Asan, Y.S. Sancaktarl

Table 1
Compound
Building

decrement
material

Cement sheet
Concrete block
Brick block
Gypsum plastering
Granite (red) block
Marble (white) block
Sandstone block
Clay sheet
Asphalt sheet
Steel slab
Aluminum
slab
Cork board
Wood block
Plastic board
Rubber board
P.V.C. board
Asbestos sheet
Formaldehyde
board
Thermalite board
Fibreboard
Siporex board
Polyurethane
board
Light plaster
Dense plaster

factors and true lags for different

building

Energy

[21
131

141

L-51

[61

[71

28 (1998)

159-166

materials

P Wm3)

Cp (J/kg K)

k (W/m

700
1400
1800
1200
2650
2500
2200
1900
2300
7800
2700
160
800
1050
1600
1379
2500
30
753
300
550
30
600
1300

1050
loo0
840
837
900
880
712
837
1700
502
880
1888
2093
837
200
1004
1050
1674
837
1000
1004
837
1000
1000

0.36
0.5 1
0.62
0.42
2.90
2.00
1.83
0.85
1.20
50.00
210.00
0.04
0.16
0.50
0.30
0.16
0.16
0.03
0.19
0.06
0.12
0.03
0.16
0.50

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