LAUSR

Abstract Despite their great significance, lightweight structures have poor thermal inertia. In order to enhance the thermal comfort inside such buildings, architects need lightweight thermal storage. In this paper a model was used to experimentally investigate Heating Load profiles in lightweight shelters. The profiles were created for the climate in Jordan, then simulated for other climate zones. The proposed design concept was used to create a replacement for a thermal mass in lightweight structures such as shelters; by combining passive solar gain with energy storage embodied within the shelter floor (thermal-floor) to absorb solar radiation. This shelter design decreased the Heating Load during the winter season by acting as heat storage that releases energy at night time after being exposed to solar radiation during the day. The passive design depends on shading elements and overhangs shades to control solar gain during different seasons to prevent overheating during the summer. An experimental investigation of this model was performed to validate the simulation results. Validated simulation results showed that the designed thermal-floor is 25 % of the total shelter’s floor area, which was crucial for obtaining favourable results. With CO2 as a thermal mass, heat load was reduced up to 68 % compared to a 20 cm concrete slab floor. The use of this thermal storage material yielded a reduction in annual heating demand by 85 kWh/m2.