2nd International Engineering Mechanics and Materials Specialty Conference

è
le 2 Congrès international de mécanique et des matériaux

Ottawa, Ontario
June 14-17, 2011 / 14 au 17 juin 2011

Improving the Energy Efficiency of Buildings with Hollow Core Slabs:

A Numerical Investigation
1 1 2 3
H.B. Gunay , O.B. Isgor , A.G. Razaqur , and Simon Foo
(1) Carleton University, Dept. of Civil and Env. Eng. Ottawa, ON, Canada
(2) McMaster University, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Hamilton, ON, Canada
(3) Public Works and Government Services Canada, Gatineau, QC, Canada

Abstract: Thermal mass is the capacity of a material to store heat. Concrete or masonry has a higher
heat storage capacity than air; therefore, there is significant potential in using the natural thermal mass of
buildings to reduce and to shift peak load energy demands. Most residential and commercial buildings
have adequate thermal mass that can be utilized to reduce and shift peak energy load. In particular,
hollow core slabs that utilize air passing through the slabs to transfer heat in and out of concrete, have
the potential to reduce and to shift peak load requirements. This paper presents a numerical investigation
that aims to investigate design parameters of hollow core slabs for the maximum energy efficiency,
particularly with respect to peak energy demand reduction and shifting. Results reveal that hollow core
slab system can be actively used to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. The use of phase change
materials (PCM) along with the thermal mass of hollow core slabs enhances both peak load reduction
and phase shift; therefore, composite systems that combine the thermal mass of concrete with PCMs
emerge as feasible design alternatives to commonly used flat slab systems.

1. Introduction

Today’s economic and environmental challenges have compelled building owners, developers,
engineers, architects and policy makers to reflect on these figures more carefully than before and to come
up with less energy consumption alternatives. One such alternative that has emerged is the concept of
the net-zero energy building – a commercially viable building that uses zero net energy and is carbon
neutral. In a typical commercial building, over 80% of total energy consumption can be attributed to
heating, cooling and lighting (Buildings Energy Data Book 2009). Therefore, th “net-zero energy building”
concept implies that the energy demand for heating, cooling and lighting is reduced by active and passive
methods, and this reduced demand is met on an annual basis from a renewable energy supply that is
typically integrated into the building design.

An area that has been receiving renewed attention in recent years is the use of thermal mass of buildings
to reduce and shift peak energy loads/demand of buildings. Thermal mass is the capacity of a material to
store heat. Concrete or masonry has a higher heat storage capacity than air; therefore, there is significant
potential in using the natural thermal mass of buildings to reduce and to shift peak load energy demands.
For example, in winter, due to their mass buildings can absorb heat from sunlight either directly or by
means of heat pumps; at night the process is reversed as heated mass gives up its stored heat, warming
the building by radiation, convection and conduction. During summer months, the part of the mass that is
properly shaded can absorb the heat from air in the building and reduce the active HVAC requirements.

Most residential and commercial buildings have adequate thermal mass (e.g. as concrete slabs or
masonry walls) that can be utilized to reduce and shift peak energy load. In particular, hollow core slabs
that utilize air passing through the slabs to transfer heat in and out of concrete, have significant potential
to reduce and shift peak load requirements (Barton et al. 2002). In the winter months, for example, the air
that is heated using natural sun light through solar panels can be circulated through the ducts of the
hollow concrete slab to transfers energy to the thermal mass of concrete for storage and its subsequent
release to reduce the heating requirements during evenings.

EM-024-
1
Previous studies showed that buildings with hollow core slabs are better in reducing and shifting peak
energy requirements than buildings with conventional slab systems (Sodha et al. 1980; Winwood et al.
1996; Barton et al. 2002). Banu et al. (1998) also demonstrated that the use of phase change materials
(PCMs) in combination with the thermal mass of concrete has the potential to produce further energy
efficiency. PCM is a material with a high heat of fusion which is capable of storing and releasing large
amounts of energy through melting and solidifying at a specific and narrow temperature range. Heat is
absorbed (or released) when PCM experiences phase changes (e.g. from solid to liquid); therefore, they
can be considdered as latent heat storage units.

Hawes et al. (1990) showed that PCMs can be introduced in concrete in different ways, either during dry
mixing of the concrete mix or after pouring. To prevent interference with the hydration process and the
aggregate-cement bond reactions, the PCMs can be added relatively homogeneously into the concrete
mix in capsules. The final product can be considered as a homogeneous composite material, which has
unique properties with respect to thermal efficiency.

This paper presents a numerical investigation that aims to investigate design parameters of hollow core
slabs, in particular the effects of hollow core geometry and the use of PCMs, for the maximum energy
efficiency with respect to peak energy demand reduction and shifting.

2. Numerical Model

The numerical investigation is carried out within a domain representing a room in a typical building as
illustrated in Figure 1. The heat transfer in the domain of analysis is assumed to be governed by the
conduction equation:

T
[1] ∇ (k∇T)+Q=ρCp in Ω
t

where k (W/K-m) is thermal conductivity, T (K) is the temperature, Q (W/m ) is a sink or source,  (kg/m )
3 3

and Cp (J/K-kg) are the density and the specific heat of the material of domain , and t (s) is time.

The effect of convection inside the room air domain is reflected by magnifying the thermal conductivity
coefficient by Nusselt Number (Cengel 2007). The heat transfer on the core surface is governed by forced
convection. On the façade of the room, the heat transfer is due to natural convection and radiation. The
boundary conditions in the domain of the analysis are given by equations [2] – [6]:
.
[2] n (kcomp∇T)=hforced(T-Tair) on Г1
. 4 4
[3] n (kbrick∇T)=εσ(T -Tamb )+hnat(T-Tamb) on Г2
.
[4] n (kcomp∇T-kair∇T)=0 on Г3
.
[5] n ( kair∇T- kbrick∇T)=0 on Г4
.
[6] n (k∇T)=0 otherwise

where n is the unit vector perpendicular to the boundary surface, k brick (W/K-m) is the thermal conductivity
of the brick wall, kair (W/K-m) is the thermal conductivity of air, k comp (W/K-m) is the thermal conductivity of
2°
PCM and concrete composite structure inside the slab, hforced (W/m K) is coefficient of forced convection,
2°
hnat (W/m K) is coefficient of natural convection, T amb (K) is the ambient temperature, T air (K) is the
function of temperature along the duct of the hollow core slab, σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann Constant for
radiation heat transfer and, ε is the emissivity of concrete.

2
Figure 1: Domain of analysis

In this study, the PCM application is assumed to be carried out by mixing the encapsulated PCM micro-
packages into the concrete pore solution during the casting process in the plant at 10% of the total
concrete dry weight. Since PCMs are assumed to be homogeneously distributed in the concrete, their
thermal properties are incorporated in the analysis through equations [2] and [4]. The thermal properties
of PCMs as a function of temperature are defined in detail by Alawadhi and Amon (2003). Equations [7] –
[9] provide the composite thermal properties of concrete and PCMs as used in the current numerical
model:

[7] Ccomp=(1-PCMratio)Cconc+PCMratioCpcm

Cp T
<Tm
elt

L
[8] Cpcm=  T
melt<
T<T
me Δ
lt+ T
ΔT
C T lt<
T
p me

[9] kcomp=(1-PCMratio)kconc+PCMratiokpcm

3
where Ccomp (J/(K-kg) is the specific heat of the PCM and concrete composite material inside the slab,
Cconc (J/(K-kg) is the specific heat of concrete, Cpcm (J/(K-kg) is the specific heat of PCM, L (J/kg) is the
latent heat of fusion of PCM, ΔT (K) is the range of temperature at which the PCM experiences phase
change, PCMratio is the mass participation ratio of the PCMs into the hollow core slab domain and, T melt is
the onset temperature of PCM melting.
The properties of materials that are used in the numerical model, i.e., of concrete, brick and air, are
presented in Table 1. The properties of the PCM used in this numerical investigation are presented in
Table 2.

Table 1: Properties of the materials used in the numerical investigation

Density, Thermal Conductivity, Specific Heat,

Material ρ k Cp
3
kg/m W/(K-m) J/(K-kg)
Air 1.205 0.0257 Nu 1005
Concrete 2300 1.8 840
Brick 375 0.1 900

Table 2: Material properties of the PCM used in the numerical investigation

Specific Heat, Latent Heat Melting Thermal

PCM Type Cp of Fusion, L Temperature Conductivity, k
J/(K-kg) kJ/kg Tmelt,K W/K-m
PCM1 1500 134 294.15 0.2

Temperature differentials in the room air domain create different densities and enhance air circultion. In
this study, convection of air in the room is defined by magnifying the thermal conductivity of the air by
Nusselt Number, Nu, which is a function of the gradient of the field variable, T:
C2
[10] Nu=C1Ra

where Ra is the Rayleigh Number, and C1 and C2 are constants which are given as 0.479 and 0.171,
respectively. The relationship between the Nusselt Number and the Rayleigh Number is defined by
Warrington and Powe (1984) via:
3
[11] Ra=GrPr=gβ υ -1∇(T)LiLc Pr

where Gr is the Grashof Number, Pr is the Prandtl Number, g is the gravitational acceleration constant, β
is the coefficient of thermal expansion, υ is the kinematic viscosity, Li is the dimensions of the room air
domain in the corresponding direction, and Lc is the characteristic length.

3. Numerical Analysis

The numerical investigation presented in this paper is focused on three design parameters: (1) geometry
of the hollow core slab, represented as duct diameter, (2) thermal mass of concrete, and (3) the use of
PCM. To investigate the effect of slab geometry, the core diameter of the slab is changed while keeping
thermal mass of concrete constant, as shown in Table 3. The effect of thermal mass of concrete is
studied by changing the cross sectional area of the slab while the core diameter is kept constant, as
shown in Table 4. Finally, the thermal mass of the hollow core slab system is modified by applying PCM
and the corresponding effects are numerically investigated.

4
The ambient temperature is taken from National Climate Data and Information Archive for Ottawa. June
extreme daily data and August average data are selected for effect of diameter analysis and for the effect
of thermal mass analysis, respectively. The summer season is analyzed to figure out the effect of a PCM
having a PCM melting/freezing range at 294.15 K. In June, summer temperature has the highest
temperature values and in August, daily temperature fluctuations reach the largest of the summer season.
The June extreme temperature data is fluctuating between 293.15 K and 305.15 K, August average
temperature is fluctuating between 287.15 K and 301.15 K. The data is then fitted into a sinusoidal
function of time. The function brings the ambient temperature to the lowest at 5 AM in the morning. The
velocity of the air in the hollow core slab duct is constant at 1 m/s. Air intake section of hollow core slabs
are closed when the ambient air temperature is above 294.15 K. Hence, the air is only running in the
hollow core slab duct when the ambient is lower than 294.15K. A Heaviside step function is utilized for
this purpose. This step function brings the forced convection heat transfer coefficient to zero when there
is no air flow inside the duct.

Table 3: Analysis cases for varying slab core diameter

Core Thermal
Diameter Width Thickness Hforced
Area Mass
2 2°
mm mm mm mm kJ/°K W/(m K)
Flat Slab 133 90 0 46.5 0
25 133 94 245 46.5 5.07
50 133 106 981 46.5 6.49
75 133 124 2208 46.5 6.34
100 133 150 3925 46.5 6.07

Table 4: Analysis cases for effect of thermal mass analysis

Core Core Thermal

Thickness Width
Diameter Area Mass
2
mm mm mm mm kJ/K
150 133 100 3925 46
200 133 100 3925 72
250 133 100 3925 98
300 133 100 3925 123
1000 133 100 3925 482

4. Results and Discussion

4.1. Effect of core diameter size

Results shown in Table 5 and Figure 2 reveal that increase in the diameter enhances the damping effect
of hollow core slabs on peak temperature cycles. However, effect of diameter change on phase shift is
negligible. The peak load reduction increases 77% when a hollow core having a diameter of 100 mm is
utilized instead of a flat slab. The increase is 30% for a 25 mm diameter duct, 60% for a 50 mm diameter
duct, 70% for a 75 mm diameter duct. An increase in the surface of active heating and cooling at the
times of air flow are in favour of energy efficiency. Hence, designing the slab core diameter as large as
the local structural requirements permit improves the peak load reduction capacity of the room.

5
 Table 5: The summary of the core diameter analysis

Max.Temp.in
Slab Core Thermal Peak Load
Diameter Width the Room
Thickness Area Mass Reduction
Air
2
mm mm mm mm kJ/K K K
Flat Slab 133 90 0 46.453 5.99 26.01
25 133 94 245 46.453 7.79 24.21
50 133 106 981 46.453 9.59 22.41
75 133 124 2208 46.453 10.26 21.74
100 133 150 3925 46.453 10.62 21.38

11

10

9
Peak Load Reduction/K

0 25 50 75 100
Core Diameter Size/mm

Figure 1: Core diameter size versus peak load reduction

6
4.2. Effect of thermal mass and PCM utilisation

The results for the effect of thermal mass analysis are illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 indicate that an
increase in thermal mass improves both peak load reduction and phase shift. As the ambient temperature
follows a sinusoidal function, temperature behaviour in the domain is that way also. Though, the peak
temperatures reached in higher thermal mass is damped to a lower temperature and shifts to further time
of the day. The peak load reduction for 46 kJ/K thermal mass with respect to ambient temperature is 2.1
K and the phase shift is 3.4 hours. The peak load reduction and phase shift values become 3.3 K and 4.5
hours when it is 72 kJ/K, they will become 4.1 K and 5.2 hours when it is 98 kJ/K, 4.7 K and 5.9 hours
when it is 123 kJ/K, and, 6.4 K and 13.3 hours for 482 kJ/K. However, it is economically and
aesthetically unfeasible to use massive concrete slabs just for thermal efficiency; therefore, PCM
utilisation is tested as a possible solution to decrease the slab thickness. This way thermal mass of the
slabs are increased without changing the dimensions of the slab. In Figure 4, a relationship between
thermal mass and peak load reduction and phase shift is illustrated.

26 6.5 3
Peak Load Reduction
25 Phase Shift 4
6
5
24
5.5
6
23
Peak Load Reduction/K

Phase Shift/ hours

7
Temperature/K

22
4.5 8
21
9
4
20
10
3.5
19
11
Thermal Mass 46kJ/K 3
18 12
Thermal Mass 72kJ/K
Thermal Mass 98kJ/K
17 2.5 13
Thermal Mass 123kJ/K
Thermal Mass 482kJ/K
16 2 14

0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Time/hours Thermal Mass/ (kJ/K)

Figure 3: Temperature behaviour at various Figure 4: Thermal mass versus peak load reduction
thermal masses & phase-shift properties

The results in Table 6 indicate that peak load reduction follows a curve converging to the amplitude of the
daily temperature fluctuations. However, phase shift increases linearly with the increasing thermal mass.
An unrealistically thick slab (1000 mm thick) is analysed to show an extreme case of the effect of thermal
mass of slab. The results in Table 7 show that PCM utilisation improves the thermal mass of the hollow
core slab substantially. For example, 300 mm thick slab without PCM utilization shows the similar thermal
responses with 150 mm thick slab with PCM utilisation.

7
 Table 6: Summary of thermal mass analysis without PCM use

Thermal Min.Temp Peak Load Phase

Diameter Width Thickness
Mass in Room Reduction Shift
mm mm mm kJ/K K K Hours
100 133 150 46 16.07 2.1 3.4
100 133 200 72 17.25 3.3 4.5
100 133 250 98 18.09 4.1 5.2
100 133 300 123 18.67 4.7 5.9
100 133 1000 482 20.36 6.4 13.3

Table 7: Summary of thermal mass analysis with PCM use

Effective
Min.Temp. Peak Load Phase
Diameter Width Thickness Thermal
in Room Reduction Shift
Mass
mm mm mm K K Hours kJ/K
100 133 150 18.96 4.98 5.2 121
100 133 200 19.63 5.65 5.9 181
100 133 250 19.86 5.88 6.3 217
100 133 300 19.98 6.00 6.6 240

5. Conclusions

In this study, the design-stage parameters that affect the thermal performance of the hollow core slabs
are investigated. The thermal responses of the hollow core slabs at various design-stage parameters are
compared with respect to peak load reduction and phase shift capacity. Increase in the slab core
diameter at a given thermal mass is found to increase peak load reduction. Hence, the core diameter of
the hollow core slab ducts should be maximized as much as the structural requirements permit. Analyses
also reveal that increase in thermal mass yields phase shift and peak load reduction. Since it is unfeasible
to provide massive slabs to improve the thermal performance of buildings, PCMs can be utilized
effectively to increase the thermal mass of the slab without significantly changing the structure and
architecture of the strcutral units.

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8
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