Abstract:In the design of high-energy performance buildings with ventilated facade systems, the evaluation of point thermal bridges is complicated and is often ignored in practice. This paper analyzes the relationship between the point thermal bridges resulting from aluminum fasteners, which are used for installation facades cladding, and the thermal properties of materials that are used in external walls layers and dimension of layers. Research has shown that the influence of the point thermal bridges on the U-value of the entire wall may achieve an average of up to 30% regarding thermal properties of materials of the external wall layers and the dimension of layers. With the increase in thermal conductivity of the bearing layer material and the thickness of the thermal insulation layer, the point thermal transmittance χ-value increased. For this reason, the U-value of the entire wall may increase by up to 35%. With the increase of the thickness of the bearing layer and thermal conductivity value of thermal insulation layer, the point thermal transmittance χ-value decreased by up to 28%. A simplified methodology is presented for the evaluation of point thermal bridges based on the thermal and geometrical properties of external wall layers.
Inevitably, the 21st century has initiated a series of developments in the construction industry, leading to its digitalization and resulting in a series of innovative approaches and practices. At the same time, the construction industry, being one of the main global environment polluters, should fulfil well-established, as well as novel, sustainability requirements in order to evolve in harmony with the rising concerns on the availability of natural resources. This overview study aims to present the main developments, research, and scientific challenges in the field of sustainable construction, emphasizing the field of energy. The study aims to present a state-of-the-art scientific discussion on the sustainable built environment topic by analyzing cutting edge topics in the fields of building elements and whole building energy assessment, of indoor air quality and low carbon buildings, as well as on sustainable energy systems and smart buildings. The study also presents the state-of-the-art in existing tools which are adopted for the assessment of the sustainable built environment, including the use of digital tools and building information modelling for the energy assessment of the built environment, as well as the application of Life Cycle Assessment on building-related processes. Cross cutting issues related to the analysis of the building sector in the Industry 4.0 era, such as sustainability management topics and environmental geomatics are also discussed. The study concludes in those fields which will be of interest of the scientific community in the following years, towards achieving the goals of the sustainable development of the building sector.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.