KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF
PETROLEUM AND MINERALS
COLLEGE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
THERMAL AND ECONOMIC
PERFORMANCE OF
INSULATION FOR SAUDI
BUILDINGS
By
Dr. A. Al-Hammad
INTRODUCTION
Under grant from King Abdulaziz City for
Science and Technology, a research
team from Architectural Engineering
Program conducted a study on " Thermal
And Economic Performance of Insulation
for Saudi Arabian buildings “ .
KF
UPM
OBJECTIVE OF THE
STUDY
To develop information regarding thermal
and economic performance of insulation
materials and assemblies for use in Saudi
Arabian buildings.
KF
UPM
Approach of the Study
Extensive Review of
Literature
Survey of Saudi Building Material
Costs as well as common wall or
roof assemblies
Simulation Studies
Define Typical Saudi Villa
Use DOE Program to make Simulation runs
for different Wall and Roof Assemblies with
or without insulation materials
Monitoring Studies
Construct a Building Facility for Field Testing
Choose and construct 14 Wall Panels and 10
Roof Panels of most Saudi Common
Assemblies including Temperature and Heat
Flow Sensors
Install a PC computer to store, read, and
show temperature and heat flows data
generated from the test panels
Install a computerized data acquisition for
system for use with the test panels
KF
UPM
MONITORING TEST FACILITIES
 A - General layout of insulation test panel building
SPARE ROOM
A/C
( NOT USED )
MATERIALS STORAGE ROOM
1M
WORKING TABLES
A/C
FRONT ROOM
DATA
ACQUISITION
EQUIPMENT
ROOF PANELS ( ABOVE )
A/C
REAR ROOM
ENTRY
WALL PANELS
WALL PANELS
N
KF
UPM
MONITORING TEST FACILITIES

B - Wall panels
1 - Location of the wall panels
2 - Cross -section of the wall panels
0.5750
0.6000
13
10
9
14
12
11
6
3
2
1
7
4
3
1.7500
8
0.3000
0.4500
1.4750
Appendix A shows the cross section of the wall panels.
KF
UPM
MONITORING TEST FACILITIES
 C - Roof panels
1 -Location of the roof panels
2 -Cross-section of the roof panels
9
10
MTL
CONC.
1
2
3
4
6
5
North
HOR.
7
BUILDING KEY PLAN
Appendix B shows the cross section of the roof panels.
8
HOR.
KF
UPM
THE TEST ROOM AT KFUPM-ROOFS
WALL PANELS –OUTSIDE VIEWS
THE TEST ROOM AT KFUPM-WALLS
ENLARGED WALL PANELS-1
ENLAGED WALL PANELLS-2
ENLAGED WALL PANELS-3
WALL PANELS INSIDE VIEWS
WALL AND ROOF PANELS INSIDE VIEWS
ROOF PANELS INSIDE VIEWS
Data Acquisition Systems
Temperature and heat flow sensors about 159 from wall and roof panels
Data Acquisition System
Through an embedded program called DATAC, it can perform
* timing function --> timing reading, interval between reading
* control data files
* call for specific channel access
* convert voltage values to temperature or heat flow values
PC Computer and monitor make each 15 minutes reading and
record of data for all the sensors for the whole year
* Heat flow measurement for each wall or roof panel
* Measurement of temperatures gradient for each panel
Heat flow sample
Sample of the result
Temperature sample
KF
UPM
DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS
COMPUTER READING VIEWS
WALL-1 CROSS SECTION
ROOF-1 CROSS SECTION
ROOF-2 CROSS SECTION
SAMPLE OF HEAT FLOW
ANALYSIS FOR WALL PANELS
60000
50000
H e a t F l o w 40000
( w / s q m ) 30000
20000
10000
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14
Wall Panel Number

Month of July Net Heat Flow Comparison for Walls
KFUPM
SAMPLE OF HEAT FLOW
ANALYSIS FOR ROOF PANELS
90000
80000
70000
H e a t F l o w 60000
( w / s q m ) 50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Roof Panel Number

Month of July Net Heat Flow Comparison for Roofs
KFUPM
SAMPLE OF TEMPERATURE
ANALYSIS
Temperature ( deg C )
50
45
Ext. Surface
Out of Block
Inside Block
Int Ssurface
Inside air
Outside air
40
35
30
25
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
Time of Day
Wall 1 Temperature Profile at July 17, 1990
SAMPLE OF TEMPERATURE
ANALYSIS
Temperature ( deg C )
50
45
Ext. Surface
Out of Block
Inside Block
Int Ssurface
Inside air
Outside air
40
35
30
25
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
Time of Day
Wall 2 Temperature Profile at July 17, 1990
SAMPLE OF TEMPERATURE
ANALYSIS
Temperature ( deg C )
55
50
Ext. Surface
Under Tile
Top of Slab
Bot. of Slab
Inl. surface
Outside air
45
40
35
30
25
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
Time of Day
Roof 1 Temperature Profile at July 17, 1990
SAMPLE OF TEMPERATURE
ANALYSIS
Temperature ( deg C )
60
55
Ext. Surface
Under Tile
Top of Slab
Bot. of Slab
Inl. surface
Outside air
50
45
40
35
30
25
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
Time of Day
Roof 2 Temperature Profile at July 17, 1990
Department of Architectural
Engineering
College of Environmental
Design
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