Sensitivity of room thermal response to inside radiation exchange and surface conductance

Abstract When determining the thermal response of buildings to variations in external conditions, for whatever purpose, decisions need to be made as to an acceptable level of sophistication in representing the real physical system. Digital computer computations were made with an explicit forward differencing algorithm to determine the effect of neglecting radiation coupling at inside surfaces and of using constant values of inside surface conductance on the prediction of inside surface temperatures, inside air temperature and/or heating or cooling loads. The computational tests were performed for a single room building of three possible types of construction (solid concrete block, hollow concrete block and plywood panels) subject to summer and winter climatic inputs over a 24 -hour period.