Investigation of Thermal and Energy Performance of the Thermal Bridge Breaker for Reinforced Concrete Residential Buildings

Abstract

Thermal bridges in building envelopes can cause significant heat loss and heat gain. In this study, the developed thermal bridge breaker was applied to an interior insulation finishing system in residential buildings to minimize the thermal bridges in building envelopes. To investigate the thermal and energy performance of the developed thermal bridge breaker, the surface temperatures and heat flow at the wall and floor junctions were predicted using Physibel. In addition, the heating and cooling energy consumption in a residential building was analyzed by EnergyPlus. As a result, the use of the thermal bridge breaker can minimize the effective thermal transmittance in the building envelope system. Moreover, when the building envelopes were equipped with the thermal bridge breaker, the heating and cooling load through the exterior walls was decreased by 15–27%. Thus, the thermal bridge breaker can play an important role in minimizing the heat loss and occurrence of condensation in building envelopes.

Experimental and Numerical Assessment of the Thermal Bridging Effect in a Reinforced Concrete Corner Pillar

“…Numerical simulation (IRIS) 0.385 −0.471 CENED abacus 0.401 −0.456 atlas -−0.380 French regulation (Th-K 77) 0.15 -On the one hand, the CENED abacus implies the calculation of the "equivalent thermal conductivity" (λ eq ) and the "non-dimensional thermal transmittance" (U*). Here, the abovementioned parameters assume the values calculated using Equations ( 9)- (11), where the wall thickness is L WALL = 0.34 m:…”

“…Here, the wall thickness L WALL and the "non-dimensional" thermal transmittance U*, calculated as in Equation (11), take the insulating layer into account. Equations ( 14) and ( 15) hold if 0.30 m ≤ L WALL ≤ 0.65 m and 0.76 ≤ U* ≤ 1.18, which is the case of the investigated thermal bridge (U* = 0.78 to 0.87, L WALL = 0.40 m to 0.48 m).…”

“…Curto et al provided a detailed analysis of thermal bridges in a building with tuff blocks and RC structures and drew up a list of "good practice" precautions to insulate the building and reduce the transmission heat losses in the thermal bridges to 9% of the total [10]. Thermal breakers emerge as an interesting, innovative solution to correct the thermal bridge between exterior walls and concrete slabs, both with and without a balcony, leading to a reduction in the space heating demand ranging from 5% to 25% according to the climate and the building geometry [8,[11][12][13][14].…”

Thermal Bridge Modeling According to Time-varying Indoor Temperature for Dynamic Building Energy Simulation Using System Identification

“…The thermal bridge (TB) is the region of the building envelope where the insulation is broken, and the thermal performance is weak. Many studies have pointed out the energy loss caused TB [15][16][17][18], and technological developments such as thermal breakers have been developed as a solution to TBs [19][20][21]. In addition, various modeling and analysis methods for TBs in BES have been developed [12].…”