Timber Chips as the Insulation Material for Prefabricated Office Building Environmental Simulation

Abstract

Abstract.In this research, we demonstrated the effectiveness of a roof insulation method for prefabricated offices; which is made of vinyl packed timber chips, in order to reduce the airconditioning loads (hereinafter referred to as AC loads) and promote the indoor thermal comfort. By the comparison between the impacts of 4 different roof types on prefabricated offices, the advantages of the new roof insulation method was revealed. The dynamic simulation software THERB is used to evaluate the AC load and indoor thermal comfort (surface temperature, air temperature). The treatment of scrap timbers that discarded from building construction progress is a problem. The assessing of provided new roof insulation method with timber chips could absolutely contribute to the popularization of timber chips, subsequently reduce environmental load in building construction process. On the other hand, since prefabricated offices has lower thermal-storage capacity and less air tight than RC or S structured buildings, the AC loads consumption and indoor thermal comfort exacerbation in prefabricated offices is more serious. Especially in summer, large amount of solar energy absorption from the roof raises the indoor air temperature and increases cooling load significantly. This research contributes to environmental design for prefabricated office, and the development of wood chips reusing possibility.