Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements

The assessment of the thermal properties of walls is essential for accurate building energy simulations that are needed to make effective energy-saving policies. These properties are usually investigated through in-situ measurements of temperature and heat flux over extended time periods. The one-di...

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Main Authors: Iglesias, Marco, Sawlan, Zaid, Scavino, Marco, Tempone, Raul, Wood, Christopher J.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46686/
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author Iglesias, Marco
Sawlan, Zaid
Scavino, Marco
Tempone, Raul
Wood, Christopher J.
author_facet Iglesias, Marco
Sawlan, Zaid
Scavino, Marco
Tempone, Raul
Wood, Christopher J.
author_sort Iglesias, Marco
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The assessment of the thermal properties of walls is essential for accurate building energy simulations that are needed to make effective energy-saving policies. These properties are usually investigated through in-situ measurements of temperature and heat flux over extended time periods. The one-dimensional heat equation with unknown Dirichlet boundary conditions is used to model the heat transfer process through the wall. In [F. Ruggeri, Z. Sawlan, M. Scavino, R. Tempone, A hierarchical Bayesian setting for an inverse problem in linear parabolic PDEs with noisy boundary conditions, Bayesian Analysis 12 (2)(2017) 407-433], it was assessed the uncertainty about the thermal diffusivity parameter using different synthetic data sets. In this work, we adapt this methodology to an experimental study conducted in an environmental chamber, with measurements recorded every minute from temperature probes and heat flux sensors placed on both sides of a solid brick wall over a five-day period. The observed time series are locally averaged, according to a smoothing procedure determined by the solution of a criterion function optimization problem, to fit the required set of noise model assumptions. Therefore, after preprocessing, we can reasonably assume that the temperature and the heat flux measurements have stationary Gaussian noise and we can avoid working with full covariance matrices. The results show that our technique reduces the bias error of the estimated parameters when compared to other approaches. Finally, we compute the information gain under two experimental setups to recommend how the user can efficiently determine the duration of the measurement campaign and the range of the external temperature oscillation.
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spelling nottingham-466862020-05-04T19:29:07Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46686/ Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements Iglesias, Marco Sawlan, Zaid Scavino, Marco Tempone, Raul Wood, Christopher J. The assessment of the thermal properties of walls is essential for accurate building energy simulations that are needed to make effective energy-saving policies. These properties are usually investigated through in-situ measurements of temperature and heat flux over extended time periods. The one-dimensional heat equation with unknown Dirichlet boundary conditions is used to model the heat transfer process through the wall. In [F. Ruggeri, Z. Sawlan, M. Scavino, R. Tempone, A hierarchical Bayesian setting for an inverse problem in linear parabolic PDEs with noisy boundary conditions, Bayesian Analysis 12 (2)(2017) 407-433], it was assessed the uncertainty about the thermal diffusivity parameter using different synthetic data sets. In this work, we adapt this methodology to an experimental study conducted in an environmental chamber, with measurements recorded every minute from temperature probes and heat flux sensors placed on both sides of a solid brick wall over a five-day period. The observed time series are locally averaged, according to a smoothing procedure determined by the solution of a criterion function optimization problem, to fit the required set of noise model assumptions. Therefore, after preprocessing, we can reasonably assume that the temperature and the heat flux measurements have stationary Gaussian noise and we can avoid working with full covariance matrices. The results show that our technique reduces the bias error of the estimated parameters when compared to other approaches. Finally, we compute the information gain under two experimental setups to recommend how the user can efficiently determine the duration of the measurement campaign and the range of the external temperature oscillation. Elsevier 2018-01-31 Article PeerReviewed Iglesias, Marco, Sawlan, Zaid, Scavino, Marco, Tempone, Raul and Wood, Christopher J. (2018) Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 116 . pp. 417-431. ISSN 0017-9310 Heat Equation Nuisance Boundary Parameters Marginalization Heat Flux Measurements Solid Walls Bayesian Inference Thermal Resistance Heat Capacity Experimental Design http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0017931017308396 doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.09.022 doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.09.022
spellingShingle Heat Equation
Nuisance Boundary Parameters Marginalization
Heat Flux Measurements
Solid Walls
Bayesian Inference
Thermal Resistance
Heat Capacity
Experimental Design
Iglesias, Marco
Sawlan, Zaid
Scavino, Marco
Tempone, Raul
Wood, Christopher J.
Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements
title Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements
title_full Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements
title_fullStr Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements
title_full_unstemmed Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements
title_short Bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements
title_sort bayesian inferences of the thermal properties of a wall using temperature and heat flux measurements
topic Heat Equation
Nuisance Boundary Parameters Marginalization
Heat Flux Measurements
Solid Walls
Bayesian Inference
Thermal Resistance
Heat Capacity
Experimental Design
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46686/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46686/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46686/