Beyond Benchmark:Accounting for Exposure duration in Overheating Risk Assessment

Session 5 Paper 3, CIBSE Technical Symposium, John Moores University, Liverpool
11-12 April 2013

Record high temperatures and deadly heat waves in the past decade have warranted an increasing global concern with overheating in buildings. This paper introduces two new measurements to quantify overheating exposure duration, an important aspect of thermal health that has not been considered in the existing overheating risk assessment approaches. Using the simulation data from a London mid-terraced dwelling modelled in two distinct constructions, this study demonstrates how the two proposed measurements can be used to tease out the manner with which buildings become overheated. Case study results show that not only is insulated lightweight construction more overheated than the uninsulated masonry counterpart, the former becomes overheated by sustaining more stretches of continuously overheated intervals that are more severe and lasts just as long as those experienced by uninsulated masonry construction.