Thermal Performance of Roof Structures with Insulation Layer in Non-Conditioned Buildings in the Composite Climatic Zone

Abstract

This paper focuses mainly on composite roof structures thermal response with an insulation layer in non-conditioned buildings. Roof contributes maximum load in summers in composite climate. Hence, the thermal performance of the non-conditioned building investigated using simulation for nine different roof configurations. Eight composite roof structures with an insulation layer and one without insulation layer as base case analyzed for the summer months of composite climate characterized as New Delhi, India. The modified admittance method used to predict the periodic floating room temperatures for climatic parameters' periodic behavior. Thermal performance analyzed for all roof configurations to reduce magnitude and fluctuations in room temperatures. In India, most of the roof layers of concrete and plaster (named as RF-6) without insulation used in most of the buildings in Indi. This roof structure showed an average maximum temperature variation of 9.1⁰C in the considered roof structures. The minimum room temperature fluctuation found nearly 2.4⁰C for the composite roof structure of Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) with foam concrete insulation (named as RF-5) with thicknesses 150 mm and 140 mm, respectively.