Southwest Thermal Mass Study, Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico: the effect of envelope thermal mass on the heating energy use of eight test buildings in a high desert climate (September 1981-December 1982)

Eight windowless one-room test buildings, 6.10 m square and 2.29 m high inside, were constructed on a high desert site near Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico, to study the influence of wall dynamic heat transfer characteristics on building heating energy requirements (such influence is sometimes called the thermal mass effect). The buildings are nominally identical except for the walls, and are instrumented to record building component temperatures and heat fluxes; indoor temperature, humidity, globe temperature, and interior surface temperatures; and outdoor weather, solar data, and ground temperatures. This report presents the results from analysis of heating season data for one year. A simple method of analysis using steady-state methods on time-averaged data is derived from first principles. Energy use data for each building are correlated to weather parameters and building interior conditions, and are compared to predictions of steady-state modeling. Comfort parameters are evaluated for each building, and critically compared. In situ measurements of wall thermal properties and dynamic heat transfer characteristics are presented, including data for adobe walls.