Thermal Mass in Buildings Webinar 2015 quiz

Please answer the following 8 multiple choice questions, then click 'submit' to check the result. The pass mark for a CPD certificate is 6 out of 8, and you may retake the quiz as many times as you wish, but the questions will vary! Please note that one, two, three or all of the possible answers presented for each question may be right, and to gain a mark for that question all correct answers must be identified.

Good luck

Thermal Mass in Buildings

Both the Wessex Water building and the Cooperative HQ building utilised thermal mass. What was/were the common construction feature/features?

A composite metal deck floor
Beams support exposed precast concrete coffer units that sit on the bottom flanges of the beams.
Large atria allowing natural daylight to penetrate the floor plates.
All of the above.

Which of the following featured in the office/library case study in Seaham?

In parts of the building, acoustic suspended ceiling panels were installed to improve the acoustic environment.
A composite metal deck floor.
Water cooling in the floor slab.
All of the above

In the Aecom study, which, if any, of these floor systems provided the best thermal mass performance?

Composite metal deck slab
Reinforced concrete flat slab
Hollow core precast plank
They all provided the same performance

In the Knowsley school example, which of the following were given as reasons to explain why utilising thermal mass in the building would have little value?

The high degree of compartmentation meant that it would have been difficult to get the cross flow necessary for natural ventilation.
The cooling requirements of the building were very small.
The removal of the suspended ceiling would have created acoustics problems.
All of the above.

In the example of the London high rise office block, which of the following statements is/are correct?

For reasons of security and pollution, one would not normally try to use thermal mass and natural ventilation in this type of building.
The thermal mass that could be mobilised in the building was independent of floor type.
The benefit of the thermal mass was balance by the extra heating and cooling required for the space opened up by the removal of the ceiling tiles.
All of the above.

Which of the following were identified as features of the case study for Shires House in Guiseley?

Long span construction.
A network of water pipes in the floor slabs to provide enhanced thermal capacity.
A composite metal deck floor.
All of the above

Which of the following statements is/are correct with respect to using permeable ceilings when utilising thermal mass?

An open area of 40% is about the maximum that can be used if a perforated ceiling is to hide the soffit.
Under test conditions, over 85% of the cooling effect of an exposed soffit can be obtained with a thin perforated steel ceiling.
When using a perforated steel ceiling, the loss in convective heat transfer is partly compensated by the action of the thin metal tiles absorbing and re-radiating heat from the air into the slab.
All of the above.

It has been claimed that structurally massive buildings with thick floors can mobilise greater levels of thermal mass than lightweight buildings during a prolonged warm period because temperature variations can penetrate a greater distance into the slab than is possible on a diurnal cycle. What might be wrong with that claim?

It has not been tested and proven
It has the potential to create a giant thermal ‘flywheel’ within the building which will increase the radiant temperatures.
The thicker slab may take longer to cool when the weather eventually breaks thus prolonging the effects of the warm period.
All of the above