A potentially fast, flexible and accurate earth-contact heat transfer simulation method

It is a basic premise of this paper that accurate earthcontact simulation is important and that the rapid parametric analysis of a structure can help designers pinpoint critical aspects of a structure early in the design stage. Numerical tools are an attractive option for this role in that they are potentially flexible and accurate. However, their application to such a tool is limited by their lack of speed. A new tool for use in paramteric analysis is proposed which incorporates a numerical model with elements of the response factor method. Details of the model are given, the testing of the model described and the results presented. The new tool appears to be able to reproduce the accuracy and flexibility of the numerical model whilst operating by up to a factor of 1000 more rapidly.