Abstract
To enable governments to comply with the European Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings,
strategies are required to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Using the mass of a building to store or dissipate heat can reduce the demand on the auxiliary heating and/or cooling systems and hence reduce the overall energy demand of the building. Previous research by the authors has shown that the incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) into concrete enhances its thermal storage capacity by up to 50%. Precast cladding panels formed with PCM enhanced concrete have been developed and manufactured. Three full-scale demonstration huts were constructed using the panels and instrumented to record thermal data over an 18 month period. Analysis of this data showed that in particular environments the PCM-concrete composite is effective at
reducing the air temperature in the huts and mitigating against overheating. Different building types will require bespoke optimal
solutions for the application of a PCM composite material as a thermal energy storage system. For this reason the development of
numerical simulation tools is necessary to achieve a practical and economic application of this technology. One of the main
challenges of developing models for PCM composite materials is defining the dynamic thermal properties of the material during
the phase change transition. This paper describes the development of a 2D finite element model using COMSOL Multiphysics in which the model is validated by comparing the simulated temperatures in the model with the actual temperatures recorded at the corresponding locations in the demonstration huts. The aim of the model is to validate the definition of the thermal properties of the PCM-concrete composite so that they can be used to model the thermal behaviour of the composite in any real situation.
strategies are required to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Using the mass of a building to store or dissipate heat can reduce the demand on the auxiliary heating and/or cooling systems and hence reduce the overall energy demand of the building. Previous research by the authors has shown that the incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) into concrete enhances its thermal storage capacity by up to 50%. Precast cladding panels formed with PCM enhanced concrete have been developed and manufactured. Three full-scale demonstration huts were constructed using the panels and instrumented to record thermal data over an 18 month period. Analysis of this data showed that in particular environments the PCM-concrete composite is effective at
reducing the air temperature in the huts and mitigating against overheating. Different building types will require bespoke optimal
solutions for the application of a PCM composite material as a thermal energy storage system. For this reason the development of
numerical simulation tools is necessary to achieve a practical and economic application of this technology. One of the main
challenges of developing models for PCM composite materials is defining the dynamic thermal properties of the material during
the phase change transition. This paper describes the development of a 2D finite element model using COMSOL Multiphysics in which the model is validated by comparing the simulated temperatures in the model with the actual temperatures recorded at the corresponding locations in the demonstration huts. The aim of the model is to validate the definition of the thermal properties of the PCM-concrete composite so that they can be used to model the thermal behaviour of the composite in any real situation.
| Original language | English (Ireland) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Civil Engineering Research Ireland |
| Publisher | Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland |
| Publication status | Published - 27 Aug 2020 |
Keywords
- Thermal energy storage
- phase change material (PCM)
- COMSOL multiphysics
- PCM-Concrete
