Thermovision study of a residential building under climatic conditions of South Kazakhstan in a cold period

In this study, a nine-storey residential building was examined for thermal protection, located in Shymkent, Republic of Kazakhstan. Two two-room flats were considered with the possibility to inspect the exterior envelopes in four orientations. The examination was carried out at different times of the day according to three criteria: exterior envelope in the form of corner joints, translucent envelope in the form of window openings and the exterior façade of the building. The study found that the temperature at the surface of the room joints at lunchtime increased from 0.8% to 12% depending on the orientation of the exterior envelope. At the same time, it was found that in the morning and evening hours the temperature inside the living rooms is maintained at 25.8 - 26.5ºC due to excessive consumption of heat energy by increasing the heating power up to 15.6% relative to lunchtime, which leads to an excessive increase in air temperature by 7 - 18%. The value of humidity of living rooms also showed non-compliance with the optimal value by 3 - 15% relative to the current norms. As a result of the analysis of thermograms of translucent openings it was found that the surface temperature of the envelope at lunchtime increased by 9.9 - 23.2% in all cases of orientations, and the surface temperature of translucent openings of southern orientation is on average 18.2% higher relative to other orientations, which also indicates the influence of solar radiation on the thermal values of translucent openings. The analysis of thermograms and temperature of characteristic points of the external façade with regard to orientations showed a temperature difference from 7.5ºC to 21ºC depending on the orientation of the building, where the most exposed to solar radiation façade of southern orientation, which showed an increase in surface temperature by 3 times. Thus, the obtained results of the study will further contribute to the development of energy-efficient designs of external enclosures, considering the influence of all factors on the process of heat exchange, which is the main objective of the authors’ comprehensive study.