Evaluation of the Summer Overheating Phenomenon in Reinforced Concrete and Cross Laminated Timber Residential Buildings in the Cold and Severe Cold Regions of China

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 23; p. 6305
• Main Authors: Guo, Haibo, Huang, Lu, Song, Wenjie, Wang, Xinyue, Wang, Hongnan, Zhao, Xinning
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-12-2020
• Subjects: Apartments; Building construction; Building design; Building envelopes; Building materials; Buildings; Climate; Climate change; Cold; Cold regions; Cold weather construction; Concrete; Concrete construction; Construction materials; cross laminated timber (CLT); Cross laminating; Design; Design standards; Energy consumption; Energy efficiency; Green buildings; operative temperature; Overheating; overheating phenomenon; Reinforced concrete; Residential areas; Residential buildings; Residential location; Summer; Temperature; Thermal design; Timber; Ventilation; Virtual environments; Wood laminates; China
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en13236305

As the climate changed in recent years, an increase in summer indoor temperatures in severe cold and cold regions of China has started to affect thermal comfort. However, the local design standard for energy efficiency does not recognize this phenomenon. This paper reports the potential overheating phenomenon in residential buildings and examines the rationale for the current thermal designs adopted in severe cold and cold regions of China. In this study, the two most commonly used building materials, reinforced concrete (RC) and cross laminated timber (CLT), are used separately in the design of an 18-story residential building envelope located in six different cities in the severe cold and cold regions. The energy consumption and indoor operative temperatures during the operation of these buildings are simulated using Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IES VE). The results demonstrate that both the RC and the CLT buildings experience varying degrees of overheating in any climate subregion. The CLT buildings have longer overheating hours compared to the RC buildings, especially in the cold regions. The results also indicate that for apartments on higher stories, the cooling energy consumption and indoor temperature also increase gradually. The research results suggest that the local design standard for energy efficiency needs to be adjusted by adding thermal design methods for summer to reduce the periods of overheating.