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A survey of thermal performance test buildings for the purpose of empirically validating detailed building simulation programs revealed a mix of approaches, methods and types. Most were built to match the typical fabric and element assemblages for residential and commercial buildings at the time of their construction. As insights into the construction of thermal test buildings evolved, construction methods were modified. The form and composition of test buildings evolved from the earlier small buildings to co-joined test rooms and super-insulated test chambers.

The majority of current (2010) building fabric thermal performance testing now occurs in test chambers which internationally are referred to as the PASLINK test facilities, previously known as the PASSYS test facilities (Baker & van Dijk 2008; CSTB 1990; Leal & Maldonado 2008; Strachan & Vandaele 2008; Van Dijk & van der Linden 1993). Only a few test facilities currently exist which consist of free-standing single-roomed small buildings and some of the free-standing buildings contain multiple thermal test chambers. The evolution from small building to test chamber seemed to reflect and acknowledge several issues including:

- A large portion of residential construction, internationally, was shifting from low to medium or high density building systems. This meant a change from each residence having four external walls to only one or two

- Many previous studies, which used whole buildings experienced complications due to the quality of measurement of indoor and outdoor environmental conditions

- Many previous studies, which used whole buildings, experienced complications due to the limited control of construction practice, which dramatically affected building simulation input data

- The need to understand commercial, as differentiated from residential, building thermal performance

- The need to limit the number of experimental variables as much as possible for researchers to better understand building thermal physics for the development of detailed simulation programs

An international network of facilities located in various climatic zones (Figure 3.8), was sponsored by the European Commission and existed under the banner of the PASSYS and PASLink research programs (Baker, P 2008; CSTB 1990; Strachan & Vandaele 2008). The PASSYS & PASLINK test facilities met many of these criteria, where the test buildings were pre-fabricated, shipped to site and consisted of a super-insulated building with an interchangeable wall panel (Baker 2003; Strachan & Baker 2008). In most cases, the test building could be rotated to allow for the observation and measurement of a fabric assemblages‘ performance in both solar and non solar orientations, as in Figure 3.9 (Clarke,

Strachan & Pernot 1994; Jimenez, Madsen & Andersen 2008; Van Dijk & van der Linden 1993).

The PASSYS/PASLINK test buildings were located in Europe, but detailed building simulation program developers from the USA and Canada (in some instances) compared their program outputs to the test results from these buildings. At the same time, the ETNA and other test facilities in Europe, the UK, Canada and the USA, were still being used for empirical validation studies to improve: the thermal transmittance, thermal capacity, ventilation and HVAC elements of jurisdiction-based detailed simulation programs.

However, in Australia limited research was undertaken in this area. Traditionally, this area of research had been conducted by the CSIRO, but due to nationally based research priorities, this was not seen as an area of importance. Instead, the Australian federal government had adopted a market based approach, where the market would demand products and industry would meet the market‘s demand. Due to the affordability of energy in Australia and Australia‘s limited action on greenhouse gas emissions, there was very little market interest in the development of buildings with better thermal performance, or programs for use in the design and assessment of a proposed building‘s thermal performance (Wilkenfield, Hamilton & Saddler 1995). Despite the lack of government and industry support, concern by some stakeholders within the housing construction industry prompted some university researchers to conduct validation studies. Small test buildings were constructed at the University of

Figure 3.8 – European Network of PASLINK/PASSYS Test Facilities

(Baker, P 2008, p. 182)

Figure 3.9 – PASSYS/PASLINK test building photograph

The UTS test buildings were constructed principally for the purposes of comparative thermal analysis of three types of external wall construction: mud-brick, brick veneer and autoclaved aerated concrete veneer. All three test cells had a concrete slab-on-ground floor (Heathcote & Moor 2007). Similarly, the University of Newcastle constructed two test cells to compare the thermal performance of cavity clay brick and clay brick veneer external wall construction (Clark, Sugo & Page 2003; Sugo 2006a). Like the UTS test cells, they both had a concrete slab-on-ground floor. Later a third test cell of clay brick veneer with a northern window and a concrete slab-on-ground floor was added to the Newcastle test cells. Research involving the Newcastle test cells has concentrated on comparative analysis (Sugo, Page & Moghtaderi 2004, 2005).

A survey of the test buildings discussed above is included in Table 3.7. The key aspects of the review of the previously built test buildings included:

- The type of test building: Test chamber with a single interchangeable panel, free standing single or co-joined building

- The area, depth and volume of the thermal test rooms

- The built fabric of the test buildings or chamber

The variety of construction systems that exist in the test buildings reflected the local practices or research questions, at the time of construction. This was observable in the EMC ETSU (Lomas 1994; LomasEppel et al. 1994), NBS Maryland (Lomas 1991c), ETNA (Girault 1994), Canadian direct gain (Judkoff, R 1985), PASSYS (CSTB 1990), UTS (Heathcote & Moor 2007) and the University of Newcastle test buildings (Clark, Sugo & Page 2003). To validate empirically the AccuRate program, any new test buildings should be similar in nature to contemporary and conventional residential construction practices within Australia.

Table 3.7: Survey of test building for validation of detailed building simulation programs

Name Country Type Width Depth Height Floor Area Volume Description

EMC ETSU U.K Co-joined pairs, with

heavily insulated party-wall 1.51 2.35 2.28 3.54m

2

8.07m3 Super-insulated with sun-facing changeable wall panel PCL Test

Cells U.K.

Two Co-joined pairs, with

heavily insulated party-wall ~1.65 ~2.10 ~3.00 ~3.46m

2

~10.40m3 Super-insulated with sun-facing changeable wall panel

EMC Gas U.K Single free standing test

cell 2.03 2.03 2.33 4.14m

2

9.66m3 Fixed construction but thermal mass and HVAC _{changed over time}

ETNA France Semi-detached cells, with

heavily insulated partition 3.50 4.65 2.54 16.28m

2

41.30 m3 Super-insulated with sun-facing changeable wall panel

NBS U.S.A Four co-joined cells, with

heavily insulated party-wall ~3.60 ~8.20

~2.50

#1 29.52 m

2

~87.10 m3 Each test cells has access to a clerestory window. _{#1: Plus clerestory} NBS

Los Alamos U.S.A.

Co-joined pair, with heavily

insulated party-wall 1.57 2.18 3.05 3.42m

2

10.45m3 Super-insulated with sun-facing changeable wall panel

NBS

Maryland U.S.A.

Six stand alone test

buildings 6.10 6.10 2.30 37.21m

2

85.58m3

Insulated lightweight wood, uninsulated lightweight wood, insulated masonry outside mass, uninsulated masonry, log, insulated masonry inside mass Trombe

Wall Switzerland

Stand Alone Single Test

Cell ~2.30 ~2.30 ~2.30 ~5.30m

2

~12.20m3 Super-insulated with sun-facing Trombe wall

Direct Gain

building Canada

Co-joined pair, with heavily

insulated party-wall 2.81 4.38 2.40 12.31m

2

29.54m3

5 Rooms, 2 x solar-facing, 2 x non-solar, 1 service corridor. Super-insulated with sun-facing changeable window

PASSYS / PASLINK Test Cells

Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy,

Netherlands & U.K.

Stand Alone Single Test

Cell 2.75 5.00 2.75 13.75m

2

37.81m3

Super-insulated with sun-facing changeable wall panel. Some on turntable to allow for rotation of test cell

UTS Test

Cells Australia

Three stand alone cells with concrete slab-on-ground

floor

4.00 4.00 2.40 16.00m2 38.40m3 One of Mud-brick, Brick veneer & AAC veneer construction

University Newcastle Test Cells

Australia

Three stand alone cells with concrete slab-on-ground floor 5.44 5.52 5.44 5.52 2.45 2.45 29.59m2 30.47m2 72.50m3 74.65m3

Brick cavity Construction Brick veneer construction