An investigation of some errors due to the use of finite difference techniques for building heat transfer calculations.

Errors in the application of finite difference methods to the solution of the heat conduction equation in building thermal models are examined. The discussion covers methods for treating multi-layer walls, and the effect of surface heat transfer on stability. Results are reported which show the effect of varying the size of the time and space increments in a typical finite difference building model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]