the impact of roof pitch and ceiling insulation on cooling load of naturally-ventilated attics屋面坡度的影响和天花板隔热冷负荷的自然通风的阁楼.pdfVIP

Energies 2012, 5, 2178-2196; doi:10.3390/en5072178 OPEN ACCESS energies ISSN 1996-1073 /journal/energies Article The Impact of Roof Pitch and Ceiling Insulation on Cooling Load of Naturally-Ventilated Attics Shimin Wang 1, Zhigang Shen 1,* and Linxia Gu 2 1 Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA; E-Mail: shiminwang@ 2 Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE 68588, Lincoln, USA; E-Mail: lgu@ * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: shen@; Tel.: +1-402-472-9470; Fax: +1-402-472-4087. Received: 29 May 2012; in revised form: 29 June 2012 / Accepted: 29 June 2012 / Published: 4 July 2012 Abstract: A 2D unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is employed to simulate buoyancy-driven turbulent ventilation in attics with different pitch values and ceiling insulation levels under summer conditions. The impacts of roof pitch and ceiling insulation on the cooling load of gable-roof residential buildings are investigated based on the simulation of turbulent air flow and natural convection heat transfer in attic spaces with roof pitches from 3/12 to 18/12 combined with ceiling insulation levels from R-1.2 to R-40. The modeling results show that the air flows in the attics are steady and exhibit a general streamline pattern that is qualitatively insensitive to the investigated variations of roof