Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798

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Energy and Buildings

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Optimization of the configuration of 290  140  90 hollow clay bricks

with 3-D numerical simulation by finite volume method
L.P. Li a, Z.G. Wu a, Y.L. He a, G. Lauriat b, W.Q. Tao a,*
a
School of Energy & Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
b
LETEM, Universite de Marne-la-Valle, France

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: This paper is aimed at finding the optimum configuration of the number of holes and their arrangement
Received 27 January 2008 for the 290  140  90 hollow clay bricks with 3-D numerical simulation by a home-made code with
Received in revised form 18 March 2008 finite volume method. Seventy-two kinds of configurations with different hole number and arrays are
Accepted 18 March 2008
chosen elaborately and their equivalent thermal conductivities are numerically predicted. In addition,
the effects of the hole surface radiation and the indoor–outdoor temperature difference on the equivalent
Keywords:
thermal conductivity are also investigated. The major findings are as follows. The radiation of the hole
Hollow clay bricks
surfaces makes heat transfer enhanced and the equivalent thermal conductivity enlarged in some extent,
Numerical simulation
Equivalent thermal conductivity
ranging from 25.8% to 4.6%. The optimum configuration has eight holes in length, four holes in width and
Natural convection one holes in height, whose equivalent thermal conductivity is the lowest and of 0.400 W/(m K),which is
Surface radiation only 59% of the highest thermal conductivity of the all cases studied. When the indoor–outdoor
temperature difference varies from 50 8C to 20 8C, the equivalent thermal conductivity of the 72 kinds of
hollow bricks does not vary too much, usually within 5%. Especially, the equivalent thermal conductivity
of the optimum configuration holds no change within this variation range of indoor–outdoor temperature
difference.
ß 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Hollow clay bricks used as building materials have obvious
advantages in improving thermal insulation performance of
building walls, separating sound as well as reducing building wall
loads. Thermal insulation performance of the hollow clay brick
mainly depends on the hole configuration, that is, on the number of
holes, their arrangement and the void fraction, and investigation
on the hole configuration effect is of great significance to improve
its thermal insulation performance. It is well-known that the heat
transfer and fluid flow process within a hollow clay brick is a
typical complicated combined mode problem, with conduction,
convection and surface radiation being all involved. Theoretically
speaking, both experimental and numerical methods can be used
to find an optimum configuration of a hollow brick under certain
condition. However, because of the large number of the possible
variants of the hole configurations experimental study is very cost-
expensive. Meanwhile apart from surface radiation the transport
process in the hollow brick is conduction and laminar flow in
nature, and this is a typical case that numerical simulation can play
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wqtao@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (W.Q. Tao).
a great role. This is probably the main reason that most related
literatures are of numerical study. In the following, a brief review
of literatures in recent 10 years is presented. In [1] 2-D simulation
was conducted for enclosures similar to the hollow clay bricks with
single or double holes. Surface radiation was taken into account by
treating the radiation energy as the additional source term of the
control volume bounded with the surface. The results emphasize
the effect of the thermal boundary condition on the total heat
transfer. Lorente et al. [2] studied the heat flux and thermal
resistance of a hollow brick with a single vertical hole by using
simplified analytical model. They also studied the influence of
environment temperatures on thermal resistance of the walls built
with some shapes of vertical hollow bricks [3]. When time entered
into 21th century, study on the hollow brick related problems
receives more interests of researchers because the world-wide
energy shortage. Castro Cadoso et al. [4] numerically studied a
structure with 12 rectangular holes for which the horizontal top
and bottom surfaces were adiabatic and vertical left and right
surfaces maintained at constant but different temperatures. The
effect of the hole surface radiation was examined. Hinojosa et al.
[5] predicted the Nusselt number for the natural convection and
surface thermal radiation in a square tilted open cavity. They found
that the heat transfer via radiation is in the same order of natural
convection. In [6], indoor thermal environment of office space

0378-7788/$ – see front matter ß 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2008.03.010
 L.P. Li et al. / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798 1791

controlled by cooling panel system was investigated by numerical

Nomenclature simulation and field measurement, and the results showed the
importance of radiation in the thermal environment simulation. In
Aw1 area of inner surface of calculation [7], natural convection and radiation heat transfer in a cavity
Aw2 area of outer surface of calculation having a square body at its center had been simulated. The results
cpf specific heat of air (k J/(kg K)) indicate that the heat transfer by convection and radiation are
G nominal flow rate of cross section in holes usually of the same order of magnitude and the radiation
R homogenizes the temperature inside the cavity. In [8] coupled
(G = rju jdydz, kg/m3)
natural convection–conduction effects on the heat transfer
h1 convection heat transfer coefficient of inner surface
through three kinds of hollow clay bricks had been studied using
of wall (W/(m2 K))
commercial software FLUENT, in which the first one was a typical
h2 convection heat transfer coefficient of outer sur- hollow brick with three identical holes, the second was filled with
face of wall (W/(m2 K)) ordinary polystyrene bars and the third filled with hollow
J radiosity (W/m2) polystyrene bars. The results show that, compared with the first,
L1, M1, N1 the grid number in x, y and z direction, the second can reduce the heat transfer rate by 36% while the third
respectively can reduce only by 6% due to the air motion inside the holes in the
p Pressure (Pa) polystyrene bars. All of above studies are of 2-D simulation. In
Peff effective pressure (Pa) [9,10] 3-D numerical thermal analysis of some light concrete
Pr Prandtl number hollow brick walls was conducted by the finite element method in
which the parameter of mass overall thermal efficiency was used
qr net radiant heat flux (W/m2)
to evaluate the economic efficiency of light concrete hollow brick.
Qinwall total heat transfer rate cross inner surface of wall
Lauriat and Desrayaud [11] simulated the conjugate natural
(W) convection in partially open enclosures with surface radiation
Qoutwall total heat transfer rate cross outer surface of wall being taken into account. In [12] detailed 3-D numerical
(W) simulation about 240  115  90 hollow clay bricks was con-
Rmax the largest mass residual in whole computation ducted for 50 kinds of different hole configuration and the
field optimum configuration was found which is wildly used to
Sc,ad,air additional source term of control volume at air side construct 240 mm walls in China. In addition, the parameter of
Sc,ad,clay additional source term of control volume at clay mass overall thermal efficiency was adopted in [12] and found that
side it is not suitable to characterize the hollow clay brick performance.
The major purpose of this paper is to find out the optimum
T temperature (K)
configuration of the 290  140  90 hollow clay bricks. By optimum
Tc reference temperature (K)
configuration we mean that the heat transfer rate through the wall of
Tf1 indoor temperature (K)
the configuration under given conditions is the least. This is an
Tf2 environment temperature (K) important way to save building energy either in summer or in winter
Tw1 average temperature of inner surface of wall (K) seasons. The overall heat transfer process from the inner side of a
Tw2 average temperature of outer surface of wall (K) room to the environment is consisted of three steps: from inner side
u velocity component in x direction (m/s) to the inner surface of the wall via convection and radiation heat
v velocity component in y direction (m/s) transfer, from the inner surface of the wall to the outside surface of
!
V velocity vector in x–y plane the wall through heat conduction and from the outside surface of the
w velocity component in z direction (m/s) wall to the environment via convection and radiation. The thermal
X1, Y1, Z1 the length of calculation unit in x, y and z resistance of the conduction process can be represented by d/leq,
where leq is the equivalent thermal conductivity of the brick
direction, respectively (m)
structure [13,14]. As indicated above, within the hollow brick, heat is
XIJ view factor
transferred via conduction, convection and radiation, and different
x, y, z coordinate (m) configuration of the hollow brick will affect the relative importance
of conduction, convection and surface radiation in the heat transfer
Greek letters process from inner surface to outer surface. However, the overall
b volumetric thermal expansion coefficient (K1) thermal insulation performance of the hollow brick can be
e surface emissivity represented by the equivalent thermal conductivity. The equivalent
h viscosity (kg/(m s)) thermal conductivity is the thermal conductivity of an equivalent
lf thermal conductivity of air (W/(m K)) solid brick which can conduct the same heat under the same indoor–
outdoor conditions and the same brick thickness. Strictly speaking,
lnat equivalent thermal conductivity when radiation
the heat transfer process through the wall is unsteady in nature,
neglected (W/(m K))
because either the indoor or the outdoor conditions are actually
lrad equivalent thermal conductivity when radiation
changing from time to time. However, from engineering point of
considered (W/(m K)) view, thermal design of the building can be conducted for some
ls thermal conductivity of clay (W/(m K)) typical situations of indoor and outdoor conditions with a steady
leq equivalent thermal conductivity (W/(m K)) state assumption. In this study numerical simulation of the steady
r mass density (kg/m3) heat transfer process through the hollow brick will be conducted for
rc reference mass density (kg/m3) some typical combinations of indoor and outdoor conditions. The
rf mass density of air (kg/m3) major purpose of the study is to find out the hole configuration with
which the brick has the lowest equivalent thermal conductivity. In
order to do that, 72 kinds of different hole configurations are
designed.
1792 L.P. Li et al. / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798

2. Mathematical formulation
The 290  140  90 hollow clay bricks is one type of bricks
commonly used in China to construct building walls with 300 mm
thickness. Their exterior sizes are 290 mm in length, 140 mm in
width and 90 mm in height. For simplicity, the denotation of
Lm1Wm2Hm3 is used to represent the brick with m1 holes in
length, m2 holes in width and m3 holes in height such as
denotation L8W4H1 represents the brick having eight holes in
length, four holes in width and one hole in height. The denotations
of some selected hollow bricks from all 72 kinds are listed in
Table 1.
From the building wall structure the smallest computational
domain (unit) consists of four blocks of the bricks that have
identical configuration and is conglutinated by mortar according
to the manner of putting bricks. It is considered that its
boundaries are repeated periodically in both up/down and left/
right directions. Fig. 1 shows one of such 72 computational
domains consisting of four blocks of L8W4H1. It should be noted
that all the holes are rectangular in cross section as shown in
Fig. 1. It is obvious that the heat transfer phenomenon is three-
dimension in nature, i.e., both the temperature (of the solid part
and fluid part) and the fluid flow velocity in the holes vary with
the three coordinates. Hence, their equivalent thermal con-
ductivities are numerically calculated with 3-D numerical
simulation of the temperature and air velocity in Cartesian
coordinates by using a home-made code of finite volume
method.
As indicated above the equivalent thermal conductivity of the
hollow clay bricks depends on the hole number, their arrangement
(arrays) and void fraction. The 72 kinds have two things in
common: there is only one hole in the height and in length and
width directions the holes are uniformly distributed. The hole
number varies from 1 to 14 in length and 1 to 6 in width. All of
them have the largest void fraction at given hole number and
arrays. Here, the void fraction means the percentage of the volume
filled by air divided by the total volume of the hollow clay brick.
The largest void fraction means that for given hole number and
array, the hull of the brick is 10 mm, the ribs parting the holes are
7.5–10 mm, which are the essential need for hollow clay bricks not
to be split.
Based on the fundamental physical process, the following
approximations can be adopted in our numerical model: (1) The
hollow clay bricks and the air in the holes are of constant thermal
physical properties; (2) Air flow in the holes of the hollow clay
bricks is incompressible, steady state and laminar; (3) When
radiation is considered air in the holes is a non-participating
medium; (4) The Boussinesq assumption is adopted for the natural
convection in the holes [15]; (5) the convective boundary
conditions are taken at the indoor and outdoor surfaces of the
computation domain while the other four surfaces are considered
as adiabatic (Fig. 1(a)); (6) The mortar is assumed to have the same
conductivity as the clay brick; (7) The hole surface is gray and
diffusive.
The numerical prediction of the equivalent thermal con-
ductivity will be performed under given third kind of boundary
conditions for both indoor and outdoor sides. That is the fluid
temperatures and the total heat transfer coefficients of the inner
and outer surfaces of the wall are prespecified. Then in order to
predict the equivalent thermal conductivity of the brick
structure, its two surfaces temperatures have to be known. In
order to obtain these two surface temperatures the partial
differential equation of the temperature in the brick structure
should be solved under the given boundary conditions. Since
within the brick holes air flows exist and the fluid velocity will
affect the heat transfer process, the momentum equations of the
fluid in the holes should be simultaneously solved. Thus, to
determine the equivalent thermal conductivity, the governing
equations for the temperature and fluid velocity in the brick
should be simultaneously solved.

Table 1
Comparison lnat with lrad for 290  140  90 bricks

Kinds Holes number Void fraction (%) lnat (W/(m K)) lrad (W/(m K)) (lrad  lnat)/lrad (%)

L01W1H1 1 79.8 0.680 0.905 24.9

L04W1H1 4 71.0 0.426 0.554 23.1
L07W1H1 7 65.0 0.423 0.522 19.0
L10W1H1 10 59.1 0.429 0.511 16.0
L14W1H1 14 50.2 0.433 0.498 13.1
L01W2H1 2 73.2 0.628 0.807 22.2
L04W2H1 8 65.0 0.356 0.450 20.9
L07W2H1 14 59.6 0.351 0.422 16.8
L10W2H1 20 54.2 0.361 0.419 13.8
L14W2H1 28 46.1 0.384 0.429 10.5
L01W3H1 3 66.5 0.631 0.781 19.2
L04W3H1 12 59.1 0.355 0.431 17.6
L07W3H1 21 54.2 0.351 0.408 14.0
L10W3H1 30 49.3 0.364 0.410 11.2
L14W3H1 42 41.9 0.393 0.428 8.2
L01W4H1 4 63.2 0.626 0.758 17.4
L04W4H1 16 56.1 0.355 0.421 15.7
L08W4H1 32 50.3 0.355 0.400 11.3
L10W4H1 40 46.8 0.369 0.408 9.6
L14W4H1 56 39.8 0.402 0.431 6.7
L01W5h1 5 59.9 0.608 0.726 16.3
L04W5H1 20 53.2 0.358 0.417 14.1
L07W5H1 35 48.8 0.358 0.401 10.7
L10W5H1 50 44.3 0.377 0.411 8.3
L14W5H1 70 37.7 0.414 0.439 5.7
L01W6H1 6 53.2 0.566 0.670 15.5
L04W6H1 24 47.3 0.374 0.424 11.8
L07W6H1 42 43.3 0.379 0.415 8.7
L10W6H1 60 39.4 0.402 0.430 6.5
L14W6H1 84 33.5 0.440 0.461 4.6
 L.P. Li et al. / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798 1793

@T
z¼0 u¼v¼w¼0 ¼0
@z (2c)
@T
z ¼ Z1 u ¼ v ¼ w ¼ 0 ¼0
@z
where X1, Y1 and Z1 express the size of the computation domain in
x, y and z direction, respectively. Eq. (2a) expresses the no-slip
boundary condition of the three velocity components and the third
kind boundary condition of the temperature at the inner and outer
surfaces. Eqs. (2b) and (2c) represent the symmetric boundary
condition, i.e., adiabatic, at the boundaries of y and z coordinates
for the temperature. It is interesting to note that the above
governing equations are valid for both solid part of the brick and
the air in the hole. Here, an idea from [17] is adopted, i.e., the solid
is regarded as a special fluid with very large viscosity. This is a very
successful numerical technique to treat the complicated fluid flow
problems where both the fluid and solid temperature should be
simultaneously predicted, and has been widely adopted in many
numerical simulation [16]. With such a technique, the surfaces of
the holes are no longer the computational boundaries, rather they
are the interfaces within the computational domain, and no any
special treatment is needed for such interfaces when the governing
equations are solved. The details of the numerical technique will be
presented below.
According to general building construction engineering prac-
tice, following thermal physical properties are used in simulation:
Tf1 = 293 K; Tf2 = 253 K; h1 = 8.72 W/(m2 K); h2 = 23.26 W/
2
(m K); Pr = 0.707; cpf = 1005 J/(kg K), lf = 0.0244 W/(m K), h =
17.2 106 kg/(m s), rf = 1.293 kg/m3, ls = 0.755 W/(m K), e = 0.85.

3. Numerical methods

The governing equations are discretized with the finite volume

method [16,17]. Discretization of convection term uses the SGSD
scheme [18], which is a stability-guaranteed second-order
difference scheme, and the SIMPLE is adopted as pressure–velocity
solution algorithm. Discretized algebraic equations are solved in
the whole computational domain by TDMA + ADI method [16,17].
As indicated above the surfaces parting solid and fluid areas
Fig. 1. Computational domain.
become inner parts of the simulation domain. To guarantee the
success of such simple and efficient numerical treatment, the
The governing equations for the temperature and velocity are as equivalent diffusion coefficient at the separating surfaces should
follows [16]: be calculated by the harmonic mean [16,17,19]. The thermal

!
@ðru2 Þ @ðruvÞ @ðruwÞ @p @2 u @2 u @2 u
þ þ ¼  eff þh þ þ
@x @y @z @x @x2 @y2 @z2
!
@ðruvÞ @ðrv2 Þ @ðrvwÞ @p @2 v @2 v @2 v
þ þ ¼  eff þh þ þ þ rc g bðT  T cÞ
@x @y @z @y @x2 @y2 @z2
! (1)
@ðruwÞ @ðrvwÞ @ðrw2 Þ @p @2 w @2 w @2 w
þ þ ¼  eff þh þ þ
@x @y @z @z @x2 @y2 @z2
!
@ðruTÞ @ðrvTÞ @ðrwTÞ l @ T @ T @2 T
2 2
þ þ ¼ þ þ
@x @y @z cp @x2 @y2 @z2

where, peff = p  rcgy. conductivity of solid and fluid regions are adopted individually
The boundary conditions of the governing equations are while the specific heat for the solid area should be replaced by the
value of fluid area in order to guarantee the heat flux continuity at
@T
x¼0 u¼v¼w¼0 h2 ðT f2  T w2 Þ ¼ ls the separating surfaces [16,19]. By adopting a very large value of
@x (2a) viscosity amounting to1030 in the momentum equation for the
@T
x ¼ X1 u ¼ v ¼ w ¼ 0 h1 ðT w1  T f1 Þ ¼ ls solid part of the hollow brick, the zero velocity of solid area can be
@x
actually gained.
@T From the simulated temperature field the equivalent thermal
y¼0 u¼v¼w¼0 ¼0
@y conductivity can be determined. The relationship of the equivalent
(2b)
@T thermal conductivity and the predicted temperature field can be
y ¼ Y1 u ¼ v ¼ w ¼ 0 ¼0
@y found as follows.
1794 L.P. Li et al. / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798

3.1. Formulae for calculation of equivalent thermal conductivity transfer theory [13,14]:

The equivalent thermal conductivity can be calculated accord- " #

 4
ing to the following relationship of heat flux equilibrium eðIÞ TðIÞ
qr ðIÞ ¼ C0  JðIÞ ;
1  eðIÞ 100
leq
h1 ðT f1  T W1 Þ ¼ ðT W1  T W2 Þ ¼ h2 ðT W2  T f2 Þ (3)  
X1 TðIÞ 4 X
JðIÞ ¼ C 0 eðIÞ þ ð1  eðIÞÞ X IJ JðJÞ (7)
100
then J

T f1  T w1 where, I = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and J = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; C0 = 5.67; T (I) is the

leq ¼ X 1 h1 (4a)
mean temperature of the surface (I) of the six-surface enclosure.
T w1  T w2
It is to be noted that for each surface of a hole it may be discretized
or by several smaller surfaces depending on the generated grid. Thus,
T w2  T f2 the mean temperature T (I) should be calculated as follows
leq ¼ X 1 h2 (4b) " #
T w1  T w2
1 X
TðIÞ4 ¼ AðiÞTðiÞ4 (8)
where AðIÞ i 2 I
2 3
1 4 X or
T w1 ¼ AðiÞT w ðiÞ5 (5a)
Aw1 i 2 A " #
2 w1 3 1 X
1 4 X TðIÞ ¼ AðiÞTðiÞ (9)
T w2 ¼ AðiÞT w ðiÞ5 (5b) AðIÞ i 2 I
Aw2 i 2 A
w2
where T(i) is a local temperature of the interface I, which can be
where Tw(i) is the temperature of the grid points at the inner readily obtained during the iterative solution process by inter-
or outer surfaces of the computational domain and h1,h2 are polation from the temperatures of the neighboring grid points
the specified heat transfer coefficients at the inner and out shown below.
surfaces. In Eqs. (8) and (9) the expression i 2 I stands for all the grids
belonging to the I surface of the enclosure. Our numerical practices
3.2. Radiation between hole inner surfaces show that the final results obtained from Eqs. (8) and (9) are almost
the same while Eq. (9) can get a bit faster convergence because no
The radiant heat transfer between the internal surfaces of the fourth power calculation is needed in this definition.
holes in hollow clay bricks should not be neglected [1,4,11,12]. The The interface temperature T(i) can be interpolated from
radiant heat flux at inner surfaces can be treated as additional predicted neighboring grid points according to the heat flux
source terms in the control volumes close to the inner surfaces balance. For example, the temperature of e-interface in Fig. 2 can
[1,12], which can be calculated as follows: be calculated with the following equation
For the control volumes at the air side (see Fig. 2)
T P ls =dx þ
e þ T E lf =dxe  qr ðeÞ
q dx =ls 1 TðiÞ ¼ T e ¼ (10)
Sc;ad;air ¼  r e þ  (6a) ls =dxe þ lf =dxþe
dxe =ls þ dxe =lf Dxþ
For the control volumes at the clay side 3.3. View factor calculation
qr xþ
d
e= f l 1
Sc;ad;clay ¼  þ  (6b) It can be seen that in order to determine the interface
d x
e = l d l Dx 
s þ xe = f
temperature the surface radiative flux is required (Eq. (10)). To
where, qr is the net radiant heat flux at the inner surfaces of the determine the surface heat flux from Eq. (7) the view factor data for
holes in the hollow clay bricks. As can be seen from Fig. 1 each each surface of the six-surface enclosure should be supplied. The
hole is composed of six surfaces: top, bottom, and four lateral relationship between every two surfaces of the enclosure is either
surfaces. These six surfaces are further assumed to be at two aligned parallel rectangular planes or two perpendicular
individual constant temperatures and taken as the computa- rectangular planes. For such combinations, the view factor, XIJ, can
tional radiation surfaces, for each of which the radiosity J(I), and be calculated according to the following equation [13,14]:
the heat flux qr(I) can be determined according to radiative heat For aligned parallel rectangles

8 2   9
> 2 2 31=2 >
2 < 4 1þX 1þZ
5
 
2 1=2 1 X  
2 1=2 1 Z 1 1
=
X IJ ¼ ln 2 2
þ X 1 þ Z tan   1=2
þ Z 1 þ X tan  1=2
 Xtan X  Ztan Z (11)
pXZ >
: 1þX þZ 1þZ
2
1þX
2 >
;

For perpendicular rectangles with a common edge

0  2  1
1 1 1 1 2 1=2 1 1
B Xtan þYtan  Y þ X tan   C
B X Y 2 2 1=2 C
B Y þX C
B
1 B 8 9 C
>    2   3 X
2
2   3 Y
2
> C
X IJ ¼ B >
> 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 >
> C (12)
pX B < 1 þ X 1 þ Y X 1 þ X þ Y Y 1 þ Y þ X = C
B þ 1 ln 6    7 6    7 C
B 2 2 4 2 2 2 5 4 2 2 2 5 C
@ 4 > > 1 þ X þ Y 1 þ X X þ Y 1 þ Y Y þ X >
> A
>
: >
;
 L.P. Li et al. / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798 1795

1.3%. So the grid system of case 1, which is L1 = 122, M1 = 82 and

N1 = 122, has been chosen for all kinds of 290  140  90 hollow
clay bricks to keep a balance between numerical accuracy and
computational cost. This set of grid system can ensure that there is
at least 720 control volumes in the smallest holes. All grids are
distributed evenly in the computation domain.

4. Simulation results and discussion

In the following presentation, the effects of the hole config-

uration (without surface radiation), the surface radiation and the
indoor–outdoor temperature difference on the equivalent thermal
conductivity will be discussed in order, followed by some typical
velocity and temperature fields. Simulations are conducted for two
series of conditions. In the first series the surface radiation is not
considered, and the heat is transferred only by conduction and
natural convection. The resulting equivalent thermal conductivity
is denoted by lnat. In the second series, radiation is taken into
account and the resulting equivalent thermal conductivity is
Fig. 2. The control volumes at the sides of e-interface.
expressed by lrad.

Obviously, the solution process is iterative in nature. Both T(I) 4.1. The influence of the hole number on the equivalent thermal
and qr(I) should be updated during iteration procedure. Besides, in conductivity
order to ensure the convergence of iteration, the relaxation for
velocity components and pressure is absolutely necessary for all Simulation started on the cases in which surface radiation in the
cases. holes was neglected. The results of lnat for 72 kinds of
290  140  90 hollow clay bricks are drawn in Fig. 4 and some
3.4. Convergence criteria selected values are listed in Table 1.
From this graph we can see that when the holes in width
Convergence criteria of the iteration procedure for the resulted direction are 1–6, with the increase of the hole number in length
algebraic equations discretized from the governing equation, from one to two holes lnat decreases sharply, it further drops off
Eq. (1), are taken as follows: with the increase of lengthwise holes from 2 to 4,and reaches its
Rmax/G < 106; jQinwall  Qoutwallj/min (Qinwall, Qoutwall)<102; minimum at holes of 4–6. Then it increases gradually. When the
and lengthwise hole number is greater than 4, widthwise hole
 kþ300 k
 number shows some effect on lnat: the more the widthwise
l  l 
 6
   10 holes, the larger the value of lnat. This variation tendency can be
 kþ300 
l understood as follows. If surface radiation in the holes is
neglected, the main influences on the equivalent thermal
for all cases to be simulated. conductivity are the heat conduction through the clay and
natural convection in the holes. When the hole number is not
3.5. Grid-independence examination much, the increase of the hole number leads to such a situation
that the deterioration of natural convection is larger than the
In the preliminary computations, the test of grid independence enhancement in heat conduction through the increased rib,
of the solution has been carried on for the most complicated which makes lnat smaller. Otherwise, the increase of the hole
L14W6H1 hollow clay bricks. The results are drawn in Fig. 3. number leads to an opposite results and makes lnat larger.
Compared case 1 with case 4, when the total grid number increases Therefore, whether lnat increases or decreases with hole
from 122  104 to 949  104, lrad has an increment no more than number depends on which factor is dominant.

Fig. 3. The validation of grid independence. Fig. 4. lnat for the 290  140  90 hollow clay bricks.
1796 L.P. Li et al. / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798

Fig. 5. lrad for the 290  140  90 hollow clay bricks.
4.2. The influence of the surface radiation on the equivalent thermal
conductivity
The equivalent thermal conductivities of 72 kinds of
290  140  90 hollow clay bricks with the effects of conduction,
convection and surface radiation all being considered simulta-
neously are drawn in Fig. 5 and some selected values are listed in
Table 1. Compared with lnat in Fig. 4, it can be observed that both lnat
and lrad have the same variation tendency: with the increase in hole
number the equivalent thermal conductivity decreases first, reaches
the minimum and then increases gradually in some extent.
However, the surface radiation enhances the equivalent thermal
conductivity in some extent. The L2W1H1 hollow clay brick has the
largest increment of 25.8% while the L14W6H1 hollow clay brick has
the lowest increment of 4.6%. Generally speaking, the more the hole
number, the less the surface radiation effect. The detailed
comparison between lrad and lnat can be found in Table 1.
From Fig. 5, following features may be noted. First, the brick
having only one hole in both width and length has significantly
higher equivalent thermal conductivity than all the other cases.
Second, for the case with at least two holes in width, the effect of
hole number in width becomes much weaker, as all the curves with
2–6 holes in width direction being more or less compacted. And for
the cases with 37 holes in length direction, the equivalent
thermal conductivity of 5 holes in width is the least. The character
of the hole number effect is due to the complicated heat transfer
process caused by conduction, convection and surface radiation
taking place in the hollow clay bricks simultaneously. With the
increase of the hole number convection and surface radiation in the
holes are deteriorated while conduction through the clay may be
enhanced. Therefore, the equivalent thermal conductivity depends
on the total effects of conduction, convection and surface radiation.
According to the simulation results, the optimum configuration of
the 290  140  90 hollow clay bricks is the L08W4H1 brick, which
has the lowest lrad of 0.400 W/(m K). Compared with the lowest lnat
of 0.350 W/(m K), there is an increment of 12.5%. Therefore, the effect
of surface radiation in the holes cannot be neglected. It is interesting
to note that this lowest value is quite close to the one of
240  115  90 brick, which is 0.419 W/(m K), and the related void
fraction is not different too much either (from 46.9% to 50.3%)
4.3. The effect of temperature difference between indoor and outdoor
on the equivalent thermal conductivity
By keeping the indoor temperature at 20 8C while changing
outdoor temperatures from 30 8C to 0 8C, the effects of the

Table 2
The temperature influence on lrad for 290  140  90 bricks

Kinds Tf1  Tf2 = 50 8C lrad Tf1  Tf2 = 40 8C lrad Tf1  Tf2 = 30 8C lrad Tf1  Tf2 = 20 8C lrad Maximum difference
(W/(m K)) (W/(m K)) (W/(m K)) (W/(m K)) (compared with Tf1  Tf2 = 40 8C) (%)

L01W1H1 0.922 0.905 0.885 0.857 1.9 to 5.3

L03W1H1 0.594 0.586 0.577 0.563 1.4 to 3.9
L07W1H1 0.530 0.522 0.513 0.499 1.5 to 4.4
L10W1H1 0.521 0.511 0.499 0.484 2.0 to 5.3
L14W1H1 0.510 0.498 0.485 0.468 2.4 to 6.0
L01W2H1 0.822 0.807 0.787 0.760 1.9 to 5.8
L02W2H1 0.569 0.561 0.552 0.538 1.4 to 4.1
L07W2H1 0.424 0.422 0.419 0.416 0.5 to 1.4
L09W2H1 0.419 0.417 0.414 0.410 0.5 to 1.7
L14W2H1 0.432 0.429 0.427 0.423 0.7 to 1.4
L01W3H1 0.799 0.781 0.758 0.725 2.3 to 7.2
L02W3H1 0.545 0.537 0.527 0.512 1.5 to 4.7
L07W3H1 0.409 0.408 0.407 0.405 0.2 to 0.7
L09W3H1 0.406 0.405 0.404 0.403 0.2 to 0.5
L14W3H1 0.428 0.428 0.429 0.429 0.0 to 0.2
L01W4H1 0.781 0.758 0.729 0.688 3.0 to 9.2
L02W4H1 0.533 0.523 0.510 0.494 1.9 to 5.5
L07W4H1 0.402 0.401 0.401 0.400 0.2 to 0.2
L09W4H1 0.401 0.401 0.401 0.401 0.0 to 0.0
L14W4H1 0.431 0.431 0.433 0.435 0.0 to 0.9
L01W5H1 0.755 0.726 0.691 0.644 4.0 to 11.3
L02W5H1 0.524 0.512 0.499 0.482 2.3 to 5.9
L07W5H1 0.402 0.401 0.401 0.402 0.2 to 0.2
L09W5H1 0.403 0.403 0.404 0.405 0.0 to 0.5
L14W5H1 0.438 0.439 0.441 0.443 0.2 to 0.9
L01W6H1 0.703 0.670 0.631 0.584 4.9 to 12.8
L03W6H1 0.449 0.444 0.438 0.430 1.1 to 3.2
L08W6H1 0.417 0.417 0.418 0.420 0.0 to 0.7
L10W6H1 0.429 0.430 0.432 0.434 0.2 to 0.9
L14W6H1 0.460 0.461 0.463 0.464 0.2 to 0.7
 L.P. Li et al. / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798
Fig. 6. Isotherms for the L1W1H1 hollow clay brick (z = 0.02).
indoor–outdoor temperature difference on lrad were simulated.
Some simulation results are listed in Table 2.
We can see from this table that the effect of temperature
difference on lrad with different hole number and arrays is not the
same. The values of lrad for some kinds of bricks decrease when the
temperature differences decrease while for other kinds lrad
increase in some extent. Except L1W6H1 hollow clay brick for
which the maximum difference percentage is 12.8% between the
case of Tf1  Tf2 = 20 8C and Tf1  Tf2 = 40 8C, most kinds of bricks
have the percentage difference no more than 5%. It is wonderful to
note that the hollow clay brick with the optimum configuration
(L8W4H1) has the lrad almost constant when outdoor tempera-
tures changes. Besides, the nearer to the optimum configuration
the smaller the lrad change with the temperature difference. This
implies that the optimum configuration does not change with the
indoor–outdoor temperature difference. In [12] the similar result
was obtained for the 240  115  90 hollow clay bricks.
4.4. Isothermals and velocity vectors for some representative hollow
clay bricks
Three representative kinds of 290  140  90 hollow clay
bricks are selected to present flow and temperature fields. These
are L01W1H1, L08W4H1 and L14W6H1: L01W1H1 has the
smallest hole number (one hole) and the largest void fraction
(79.8%), L08W4H1 is the optimum configuration (void fraction of
50.3%) and L14W6H1has the most holes number (84) and the
Fig. 7. Isotherms for the L1W1H1 hollow clay brick (z = 0.21).
1797
Fig. 8. V vectors for the L1W1H1 hollow clay brick (z = 0.02 and z = 0.21).
smallest void fraction(33.5%). The isothermals and velocity vectors
for these three kinds of hollow clay bricks at some cross sections
(z = 0.02 and z = 0.21) are shown in Figs. 6–11. It should be noted
that these figures are drawn for the entire computational domain
which is composed of four identical bricks with two orientations.
From these figures we can note the following features. First
from the isotherms with the increase in hole number the natural
convection in the holes becomes more and more conduction-
predominated. The isotherms in Figs. 6 and 7 show very strong
convection, characterized by the horizontal part of the isotherms in
the lower part of the enclosure. While in Fig. 9 isotherms of
L8W4H1 hollow clay brick are more or less parallel to each other
and finally almost all the isotherms of L14W6H1 hollow clay brick,
either in the solid clay or in the holes, exhibit quite well parallel
character (Fig. 11), characterized by pure heat conduction. Second
from the velocity fields, the flow in L01W1H1 is highly 3-D in
nature. This can be witnessed by the velocity fields in two cross
sections: at z = 0.02, the flow field belongs to conduction-
predominated type, while the flow in z = 0.21 exhibits strong
convection, and boundary layer type flow can be observed along
the two vertical surfaces of the hole (Fig. 8). With the increase in
the hole number convection becomes weaker and weaker, and for
the L14W6H1 the magnitude of velocity has a two-order difference
compared with that of L01W1H1. Only the V vectors for the
L8W4H1 brick are shown in Fig. 10, and those for L14W6H1 brick
Fig. 9. Isotherms for the L8W4H1 hollow clay brick (z = 0.21).
1798 L.P. Li et al. / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 1790–1798
Fig. 10. V vectors for the L8W4H1 hollow clay brick (z = 0.02 and z = 0.21).
Fig. 11. Isotherms for the L14W6H1 hollow clay brick (z = 0.21).
are so small that they can hardly be spotted with the same printed
scale and are not shown by figures.
5. Conclusions
Through an extensively numerical study on the influence of the
hole number and arrays, with and without surface radiation as well
as variable indoor–outdoor temperature difference on the
equivalent thermal conductivity of 290  140  90 hollow clay
bricks, following conclusions can be made.
1. The surface radiation in the holes makes the equivalent thermal
conductivity augmented in some extent, with the maximum
increment being 25.8% for L2W1H1 brick and the minimum
increment being 4.6% for L14W6H1. With the increase in hole
number the surface radiation influence decreases.
2. The hole number and their arrays have crucial influence on the
equivalent thermal conductivity. The brick with only one hole in
both length direction and width direction has the largest
equivalent thermal conductivity. The L8W4H1 has the smallest
equivalent thermal conductivity of 0.400 W/(m K), which is the
optimum configuration of the 290  140  90 hollow clay
bricks. The effect of hole number in length direction is larger
than that in width direction. For the hole number of 2–6 in width
direction their variation curves of the equivalent thermal
conductivity with the length direction hole number are quite
close to each other. The reason is explained in the context.
3. Within the range of 20–50 8C of the indoor–outdoor tempera-
ture difference, its effect on the equivalent thermal conductivity
is not very significant, with most percentage difference being
within 5%. Interestingly, for the optimum configuration
L8W4H1, its equivalent thermal conductivity almost does not
change with the temperature difference. Moreover, the nearer to
the optimum configuration, the smaller the change of their
equivalent thermal conductivity with the temperature difference.
4. Compared with the results in [12], it is found that the two kinds
of hollow clay bricks (290  140  90 vs. 240  115  90) have
much similar variation trends about the influence of the hole
number and arrays, surface radiation and indoor–outdoor
temperature difference. Therefore, it can be anticipated that
above variation trends may also be suitable to other types of
hollow clay bricks. However, to optimize the configuration of
each type of hollow clay bricks individual simulation is required.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (50636050) and the National Fundamental
Projects of R&D of China (2007CB206902).
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