Simulation of the dynamic behaviour of a hydronic floor heating system

Abstract

The development of a two-dimensional numerical model for a hydronic heating panel is described. The model couples the heating panel to an enclosure, which in turn is losing heat to the surroundings, and is capable of predicting both steady state temperature profiles and transient responses. Both the finite difference method and the finite element method were used to solve the numerical model. Of the two, the finite difference method gave slightly higher temperature values and required more execution time. Model predictions are compared with the experimental data from a bungalow style house equipped with hydronic heating. Steady state results from the simulation compared well with the experimental results, while the model predicted a faster response time for the room air temperature than was observed experimentally. Incorporation of an extra term in the dynamic model to account for heat retention in the walls of the structure resulted in good agreement between the experimental and simulated responses.