RT journal article
T1 Effect of Wood Properties and Building Construction on Thermal Performance of Radiant Floor Heating Worldwide
A1 Rodríguez Jara, Enrique Ángel
A1 Ruiz Pardo, Álvaro
A1 Conde García, Marta
A1 Tenorio Ríos, José Antonio
A2 Máquinas y Motores Térmicos
K1 wooden radiant floors worldwide
K1 energy efficiency of buildings
K1 thermal comfort
K1 effect of thermal properties of wood
K1 natural stone vs. wooden radiant floors
AB Due to its relatively lower thermal conductivity, the suitability of wood is called intoquestion when selecting the flooring material best suited to radiant heating systems. The Europeanstandard EN 1264 considers floorings with a thermal resistance over 0.15 m2 K/W to be out of scope.This belief was partially disproved in a previous article that studied wooden floors for Madrid’sclimate. However, the effect of climate still needs to be addressed. The present study extends theprevious research to worldwide climates and aimed to answer the following questions: (1) Do thelowest thermal conductivity woods present good thermal performance when used in radiant floors?(2) Should the flooring have a maximum thermal resistance value? (3) Is the standard thermalresistance limit of 0.15 m2 K/W objectively justified? And (4) Do the answers of the precedingquestions depend on the climate and the construction characteristics? To answer these questions,28 cities were selected according to the Köppen–Geiger climate classification. In each city, 216 differentdwellings were simulated with 60 wood floorings and one of low thermal resistance as a reference,comprising a total of 368,928 cases. Thermal performance was evaluated in terms of three parameters:energy demand, thermal comfort, and start-up lag time. Consequently, the answers to the previousquestions were: (1) The lowest thermal conductivity woods can be used efficiently worldwide inradiant floor heating systems with start-up lag times close to that of the reference flooring; (2) Thereis no limit value for thermal resistance for floorings that can be applied to all dwellings and climates;(3) No objective justification was found for establishing a thermal resistance limit for flooring of0.15 m2 K/W; and (4) Climate and construction characteristics can play an important role in thecorrect selection of flooring properties, especially in severe winters and dwellings with the greatestoutdoor-exposed envelope and the worst insulation.
PB MDPI
SN 2076-3417
YR 2022
FD 2022-06
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/27348
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/27348
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 10-nov-2026