Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 26012610

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Determination and selecting the optimum thickness

of insulation for buildings in hot countries by accounting
for solar radiation
Mohammed J. Al-Khawaja

University of Qatar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar
Received 17 November 2003; accepted 22 March 2004
Available online 18 May 2004

Abstract
Determination and selecting the optimum thickness of insulation is the prime interest of many engineering applications. One of those applications is insulating buildings with an appropriate insulation.
Calculations have been done for the determination of the optimum thickness of insulation for some
insulating materials used in order to reduce the rate of heat ow to the buildings in hot countries. Reducing
heat ow rate would reduce the electricity cost for the house lifetime. The solar energy radiation is calculated and used to calculate the solar-air temperature which is employed for the determination of the heat
ow rate. Some results were obtained for a typical house in Qatar which is an example of hot area. The
wallmate insulation is found to have the best performance for houses in Qatar.
2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Optimum thickness of insulation determination; Solar radiation calculations; Air conditioners for buildings,
and insulation in hot countries

1. Introduction
Insulating buildings, such as walls, roofs and oors is an important matter for reducing the rate
of heat owing into (in time of summer) and from (in time of winter) the houses. To reduce the
heat ow eciently we should select the proper insulation by accounting for the purpose, environment, ease of handling and installation, and the cost. The latter is an important factor that will
alter our decision for selecting the insulation. As we know, the nal selection among insulations
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +974-485-2109; fax: +974-467-0421.

E-mail address: khawaja@qu.edu.qa (M.J. Al-Khawaja).

1359-4311/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2004.03.019

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Nomenclature
Eqt
Equation of time [min]
solar constant [W/m2 ]
G0
direct solar radiation [W/m2 ]
GD
diuse solar radiation [W/m2 ]
Gd
solar energy incident on a surface placed normal to suns rays [W/m2 ]
GN
outer surface heat transfer coecient [W/m2 C]
ho
m
relative air mass
longlocal local longitude of the location of interest
longsm standard longitude
qsolar total solar radiation [W/m2 ]
T
surface tilted angle from the horizontal
Tambient ambient temperature [C]
sky temperature [C]
Tsky
Tsol-air solar-air temperature [C]
insulation thickness [cm]
tins
local standard time [h]
tlocal
solar time [h]
tsolar
z
zenith angle
Greek
as
c
d
e
h
k
r
sa
x

symbols
solar absorptivity
surface rotated angle from the northsouth axis
declination angle of the sun
surface emissivity
angle dened in Eq. (5)
latitude of the location of interest
StefanBoltzmann constant
transmission coecient for unit air mass
hour angle [radians]

Subscripts
a
air
D
direct
d
diuse
ins
insulation
N
normal
o
outer
s
solar
sol-air solar air
sm
standard mean

M.J. Al-Khawaja / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 26012610

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that meet the requirements is made on the basis of the lowest cost. Once the choices are narrowed
to a few, an economic analysis is performed to identify the one with the minimum total cost. The
thickness of insulation is also determined on the basis of minimum cost, as discussed below.
To determine the lowest cost, we need to determine, for any given insulation, the optimum
thickness of insulation, which is the thickness corresponding to the minimum total cost. Here, the
total cost consists of the cost of the insulation and the cost of electricity for the lifetime of the house.
A tremendous work has been done for the determination of heating and cooling loads of
buildings using the handbooks established by ASHRAE [1]. But the case of reducing the heat
transfer to the buildings during summer using an adequate insulation was not analyzed considerably. It is clear that this insulation might make a lot of savings for the lifetime of the house.
Another important factor that eects the optimum thickness of insulation is the solar radiation
energy owing into the house. The solar radiation can be accounted for by introducing the solarair temperature [2] which is dened as the equivalent outdoor air temperature that gives the same
rate of heat ow to a surface as would the combination of the incident solar radiation, convection
with ambient air, and radiation exchange with the sky and the surrounding surfaces.

2. Solar radiation calculations

We have used the astronomical calculations to determine the hourly solar radiation ux over
the year. Solar radiation calculations have more advantages over the measured ones using solar
collector. This is because the measured solar radiation depends mainly on the weather conditions,
but the calculated one which does not depend on the climate would be more reliable over the
years.
The solar radiation incident outside the earths atmosphere is called extraterrestrial radiation.
On average the extraterrestrial irradiance is 1353 W/m2 [3] which is called solar constant G0 . This
solar energy is considerably weakened due to absorption, scattering, and reection by the
atmosphere. The solar energy that reaches the earths surface is attenuated to about 950 W/m2 on
a clear sky and much less on cloudy or smoggy days.
It should be mentioned that the solar energy incident on a surface on earth is considered to
consist of direct and diuse parts [3]. The part of solar radiation that reaches the earths surface
without being scattered or absorbed by the atmosphere is called direct solar radiation GD . The
scattered radiation is assumed to reach the earths surface uniformly from all directions and is
called diuse solar radiation Gd . Then the total solar energy incident on the unit area of a surface
on a ground is qsolar GD Gd . The calculations of the direct solar energy would be proposed
below. However, the diuse radiation can be approximated as 10% of the total radiation on a
clear day to nearly 100% on a totally cloudy day [4].
The direct solar radiation depends on the suns position and surface orientation. If the surface
on earth is placed normal to the rays of sun, then the radiant energy incident GN upon the surface
is given as [5]
GN G0 sma

The value of transmission coecient for unit air mass sa is slightly less in the summer than in the
winter because the atmosphere contains more water vapor during the summer. It also varies with

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the conditions of the sky, ranging from 0.81 on a clear day to 0.62 on a cloudy one. A mean value
of 0.7 is generally considered acceptable for most purposes. The value of relative air mass m
depends on the position of the sun given by the zenith distance z, the angle between the zenith (line
vertical to horizontal plane) and the direction of the sun. Assuming that the thickness of the
atmosphere is negligible compared to the radius of the earth, m is equal to secant z. This relation is
suciently accurate for z between 0 and 80, and beyond this angle solar radiation is almost
negligible.
For a horizontal surface (such as roof), the incident solar radiation is calculated from the suns
zenith equation z [6]

Fig. 1. Comparison between the calculated and measured solar radiations. All data were taken at Doha, Qatar on May
5, 2003.

Fig. 2. Direct solar radiations for dierent directions for Doha, Qatar on July 15.

M.J. Al-Khawaja / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 26012610

cos z sin k sin d cos k cos d cos x

2605

where the hour angle is determined from

x

p12  tsolar
12

and the solar time tsolar is found from

tsolar tlocal

Eqt longlocal  longsm

60
15

Values are in hours. There is an approximate formula for equation of time Eqt . Since it is lengthy
formula, the reader should consult reference [7]. Also, the declination of the sun d is determined
from an approximate formula given in Ref. [6].
The amount of direct radiation on a horizontal surface can be calculated by multiplying the
direct normal irradiance GN times the cosine of the zenith angle z. On a surface tilted T from the
horizontal and rotated c counterclockwise from the south, the direct component on the tilted
surface is determined by multiplying the direct normal irradiance GN by [6]
cosh sin d sin k cos T  sin d cos k sin T cos c cos d cos k cos T cos x
cos d sin k sin T cos c cos x cos d sin T sin c sin x

It is obvious that for vertical wall, the tilted angle T would have a value of 90.
Fig. 1 shows the solar radiation for clear sky versus local time for May 5, 2003 at Doha, State
of Qatar. The calculated solar radiation agrees well with the measured one (using solar collector)
particularly in the morning. Fig. 2 shows the clear sky direct-solar radiation for dierent surface
orientations for the same location but for July 15. It is obvious that the horizontal surface has the
highest solar radiation near noon time.

3. Calculation of solar-air temperature

For opaque surfaces such as the walls and the roofs, the eect of solar radiation is conveniently
accounted for by considering the outside temperature to be higher by an amount equivalent to the
eect of solar radiation. This is done by replacing the ambient temperature in the heat transfer
relation through the walls and the roof by the solar-air temperature dened as [2]
Tsol-air Tambient

4
4
 Tsky

as qsolar erTambient

ho
ho

The last term is introduced as a correction when Tsky 6 Tambient . This dierence is due to the low
eective sky temperature Tsky . Its value depends on atmospheric conditions, ranging from a low of
230 K under a cold, clear sky to a high of approximately 285 K under warm, cloudy conditions
[4]. For the sake of calculations, we will take Tsky as 275 K for hot, clear sky.

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The solar-air temperature for a surface obviously depends on the absorptivity of the surface for
solar radiation, as . Being conservative and taking ho 17 W/m2 C, the summer design values of
the ratio as =ho for light- and dark-colored surfaces are determined to be 0.026 and 0.052 m2 C/W,
respectively. Here we have assumed conservative values of 0.45 and 0.90 for the solar absorptivities of light- and dark-colored surfaces, respectively. The solar-air temperatures can be
determined from Eq. (6) by using an appropriate ambient temperature Tambient for the entire year,
which is obtained from local meteorology department, and the incident solar radiation calculated
before. The solar-air temperatures for dierent directions for dark- and light-colored surfaces are
shown in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively, for Doha, Qatar versus local time.

Fig. 3. Solar-air temperatures of dark-colored surface for dierent directions for Doha, Qatar on July 15.

Fig. 4. Solar-air temperatures of light-colored surface for dierent directions for Doha, Qatar on July 15.

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4. Results
The purpose of this paper is the determination of the optimum thickness of insulation for
dierent insulating materials for a typical wall (see Fig. 5) used for the houses in the country. This
wall consists of inner and outer plasters each of 5 cm thickness and concrete brick is in between.
The dimensions of the brick are 20 by 40 cm and of the air gap in the brick are 10 by 10 cm.
Practically speaking, the insulation should be installed from the inner side of the wall. Approximating the roof as a wall, taking the average solar-air temperatures over nine hot months (mid of
March to mid of December) and over all directions based on the surface area for each direction,
and using the thermal resistance concept for 1-D heat conduction, we can plot the cost of electricity for a typical house lifetime versus thickness of the insulation.
The insulating materials for buildings examined here are wallmate, berglass, and polyethylene
foam. The costs including installation are 0.85, 0.55, and 0.68 $/m2 /cm thickness for wallmate,
berglass, and polyethylene foam, respectively. Neglecting the escalating and ination rates for

Fig. 5. Typical wall (top view) used for buildings in Doha, Qatar.

Fig. 6. Electricity, insulation, and total costs of wallmate for dark-colored surface for 25 years versus insulation
thickness.

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M.J. Al-Khawaja / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 26012610

electricity cost and assuming the COP of air-conditioner to be 2 with a total surface area subjected
to the ambient of approximately 990 m2 for a typical house, we can generate the following plots
based on the above values.
Fig. 6 shows the total electricity cost for 25 years (the average lifetime of the house) against the
thickness of insulation for wallmate insulation for dark-colored surface. It is evident that the
minimum cost occurs at a thickness of about 5 cm. However, if the annual interest rate is accounted for, the present worth for the electricity cost is calculated using reference [8]. Fig. 7 shows
the total cost for the same insulation and surface condition versus the thickness for an interest rate
of 6%. Here, the optimum thickness of insulation is shifted to about 3 cm. Figs. 8 and 9 show a

Fig. 7. Electricity, insulation, and total costs of wallmate with annual interest rate for dark-colored surface for 25 years
versus insulation thickness.

Fig. 8. Comparison between wallmate, berglass, and polyethylene foam insulations for dark-colored surface for 25
years.

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Fig. 9. Comparison between wallmate, berglass, and polyethylene foam insulations with annual interest rate for darkcolored surface for 25 years.

Fig. 10. Comparison between wallmate, berglass, and polyethylene foam insulations for light-colored surface for 25
years.

comparison among three insulations without and with interest rate of 6% for dark-colored surfaces. Both gures show that the wallmate insulation has the best performance. Also for lightcolored surfaces, the wallmate insulation is the best choice without and with interest rate. This is
illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11.

5. Conclusion
From the results above we can conclude that for any surface condition, the wallmate insulation
has the best performance for insulating houses in hot areas since it has the lowest optimum

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Fig. 11. Comparison between wallmate, berglass, and polyethylene foam insulations with annual interest rate for
light-colored surface for 25 years.

thickness of insulation. Although it has the highest cost, it is still preferable insulation for the
conditions considered. This is because the optimum thickness of insulation does not only account
for the insulation cost but it does also for the thermal conductivity of the insulation. As we found,
wallmate has the lowest thermal conductivity compared to the others considered in this paper.
The results can be improved by accounting for the actual construction of the roof and treating the
heat ow through the wall as 2-D heat conduction instead of 1-D. Also, here the reection from
the ground to the wall is not considered but instead we treated this as a diuse radiation from the
surroundings. All those modications can be done and left as a future work.

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(Chapter 12).
[3] N.M. Ozizik, Heat Transfer: A Basic Approach, McGraw-Hill, North Carolina State University, 1985, pp. 618620
(Chapter 12).
[4] I.P. Frank, D.P. DeWitt, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, fourth ed., John Wiley & Sons, Purdue
University, 1996, pp. 683684 (Chapter 12).
[5] H. Heywood, Solar energy: past, present and future applications, Engineering 176 (1956) 377380.
[6] F. Vignola, Solar Radiation Basics, Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory, University of Oregon, Eugene,
Oregon, 2000. Available from: <http://solardat.uoregon.edu/>.
[7] Watt Engineering Ltd., On The Nature and Distribution of Solar Radiation, US Government Printing Oce Stock
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[8] K.W. Li, P.A. Priddy, Power Plant: System Design, John Wiley & Sons, North Dakota State University, Fargo,
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