Research Themes +
Energy Technologies Area (ETA) researchers are continually building on the strong scientific foundation we have developed over the past 50 years. We address the world’s most pressing climate challenges by bringing to market energy-efficient innovations across the buildings, transportation, and industrial sectors. ETA is at the forefront of developing better batteries for electric vehicles; improving the country's aging electrical grid and innovating distributed energy and storage solutions; developing grid-interactive, efficient buildings; and providing the most comprehensive market and data analysis worldwide for renewable technologies like wind and solar.
Strategic Initiatives +
The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) Strategic Plan is the guiding force for our research and development for the next ten years. It clearly charts a path toward clean-energy solutions and focuses on five detailed Strategic Initiatives. The Plan provides an in-depth look at how ETA is accelerating research to provide affordable, clean energy to all while accomplishing deep, economy-wide decarbonization, looking to avoid a rise in global average temperature while simultaneously developing solutions to increase humanity's resilience to extreme weather volatility.
Publications
News +
For media inquiries,
please contact ETA
Interim Communications Manager
Kiran Julin

[email protected]
About Us +
The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) is unique in translating fundamental scientific discoveries into scalable technology adoption. Our approach combines an understanding of the marketplace and the role of state and federal regulation and policies. ETA's research drives real-world, practical results that affect and improve the everyday lives of Americans and those across the globe. Saving energy and battling the Climate Crisis are key to the foundation of our research, which is driven by technoeconomic analysis and in-lab experimentation and discovery.

Convective Heat Transfer in Buildings: Recent Research Results

Publication Type

Conference Paper

Authors

Bauman, Fred S., Ashok J. Gadgil, Ron C. Kammerud, Emmanuel F Altmayer, Mark Nansteel

Abstract

Recent experimental and numerical studies of convective heat transfer in buildings are described and important results are presented. The experimental work has been performed on small-scale water filled enclosures: the numerical analysis results have been produced by a computer program based on a finite-difference scheme. The convective processes investigated in this research are (1) natural convective heat transfer between room surfaces and the adjacent air, (2) natural convective heat transfer between adjacent rooms through a doorway or other openings, and (3) forced convection between the building and its external environment (such as, wind-driven ventilation through windows, doors, or other openings).

Results obtained at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) for surface convection coefficients are compare with existing ASHRAE correlations and differences of as much as 20% are observed. It is shown that such differences can have a significant impact on the accuracy of building energy analysis computer simulations. Interzone coupling correlations obtained from experimental work reported are in reasonable agreement with recently published experimental results and with earlier published work. Numerical simulations of wind-driven natural ventilation are presented. They exhibit good qualitative agreement with published wind-tunnel data. Finally, future research needs are suggested.

Journal

ASHRAE 1983 Winter Conference

Volume

Year of Publication

1983

Notes

Citation: ASHRAE Transactions, 1983, vol. 89, pt. 1A, Atlantic City, NJ

Related Files

PDF (1.01 MB)