Determination of optimum insulation thickness in different wall orientations and locations in Iran

The present study numerically investigated the optimum insulation thickness determination for conventional walls in Tehran, the capital of Iran. In this study, aerated brick and concrete were considered as the main wall materials, and XPS and EPS as the insulation materials. The one-dimensional transient heat transfer problem for multi-layer walls has been solved to obtain temperature distribution within the wall. Different combinations of wall materials and insulations were examined. Furthermore, the effect of the position of the insulation (inside and outside of the wall) was studied as well. Finally, in order to determine the optimum thickness, which minimizes the total cost of insulation and energy dissipation, economic analysis was carried out for a lifetime of 25 years. It is worth mentioning that in the present study, both cooling and heating seasons were taken into account in the optimization process. The findings revealed that after using insulation, among different wall configurations, yearly transmission load can be decreased in the range of 70–82% compared with an uninsulated wall made from concrete and 31–58% for the aerated brick wall. Moreover, the findings indicated that two different locations of insulations resulted in an approximately equal transmission load and optimum insulation thickness, while their time lag and decrement factor were not the same.

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