When reading about vaults, arches and especially the Nubian vault in architecture I came across some vague mentions that indicate domes and vaults somehow have better climate control and/or a higher insulation value, but I couldn’t find out why. Does it have something to do with the way heat rises?
In: Physics
It’s mostly surface-to-volume ratio, plus some convection.
Heat enters and leaves the structure through the surface. All other things being equal, the thing with higher surface area can move heat faster (is a poorer insulator). This is why heat sinks have a bazillion fins: high surface area for their size.
So to have the best insulation (with equal materials) you want the smallest surface that can enclose your space of interest (the interior). A sphere has the lowest surface-to-volume ratio you can get, but spheres make terrible habitable spaces. A vault/arch or other similar structure is closer, so has better surface-to-volume than a traditional cube (technically, rectangular prism).
Then there’s convection…hot air rises and tends to spread out on the ceiling. With a big flat ceiling you expose the entire ceiling to the highest heat, which drives the fastest heat lost. A vault/arch/other-pointy-type-ceiling tapers gradually, so the top/highest temperature is much smaller. Most of the ceiling is exposed to less than peak temperature.
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