| In general, underground construction offers several energy conserving advantages as an alternative to conventional structures. These advantages are mainly reduction of heat conduction through building envelope, flattening of peak space conditioning loads, and controlling of air infiltration. However, detailed analysis of earth-coupled heat transfer for non-residential underground structures, unlike slabs and basements, is very limited.; In this thesis, the general solution of soil temperature distribution is developed for large commercial underground buildings with various indoor air temperatures and insulation levels along the roof, the walls, and the floor. The Interzone Temperature Profile Estimation (or ITPE) technique is applied to determine the steady-state and steady-periodic variation of temperature within the ground.; With the developed general solution, a detailed analysis of common underground building configurations is presented under steady-state and steady-periodic conditions. Then, the optimum insulation distribution for each earth contact surface of various building configurations is determined. In addition, the soil layer effect on ground-coupled heat transfer of insulated rectangular basements and earth-sheltered buildings is presented. Finally, the general solution was used to develop a simplified design tool to satisfy the need for an accurate yet flexible calculation method to predict heat transfer from commercial underground buildings. |
