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Abstract
In this paper, we develop statistical models of the thermal transmittance of 2D thermal bridges (c). We aim to give building designers plain
and practical tools for the evaluation of the most common 2D thermal bridges. Three examples are considered: a slab-on-grade floor–wall
junction, a floor–wall junction and a roof–wall junction. For each case, we perform computer simulations of the thermal transmittance, c, for
several values of the most important variables. Then, we fit these numerical results to a nonlinear regression model. The results appear to be
good with relative errors less than 5%.
# 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Heat transfer; Thermal bridge; Building; Computer simulation; Statistical modelling
0378-7788/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2004.12.013
946 A.B. Larbi / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 945–951
Nomenclature
adj adjacent
e width of a thermal bridge (m)
em width of a wall (cm)
ep width of a roof (cm)
In. inside
L length of an adjacent wall (m)
Out. outside
R thermal resistance (m2 K/W)
Riv thermal resistance of wall insulation (m2 K/
W)
Rsp thermal resistance of roof insulation (m2 K/
W) Fig. 1. Geometrical model of a 2D thermal bridge.
DT temperature difference between the inside and
outside environment (K) The linear thermal transmittance is given by
U thermal transmittance (W/m2 K)
Fg XN
c¼ U i Li ðW=mKÞ (1)
Greek letters DT i¼1
x point thermal transmittance (W/K) where Fg is the global heat flow per unit of length (W/m), Ui
Fg global heat flow per metre length (W/m) the thermal transmittance of the 1D component i separating
c linear thermal transmittance (W/m K) the two environments (W/m2 K), Li the length within the 2D
geometrical model over which the value Ui applies (m), DT
Subscripts the temperature difference between the inside and outside
adj adjacent environment (K) and N the number of 1D components.
Table 1
Boundary conditions
Title Surface heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) Surface thermal resistance (m2 K/W) Temperature (8C)
Horizontal flow Upward flow Downward flow Horizontal flow Upward flow Downward flow
Internal 7.69 10 5.88 0.13 0.10 0.17 20
External 25 25 25 0.04 0.04 0.04 0
A.B. Larbi / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 945–951 947
However, the heat flow through the thermal bridge also 4.1. Computer simulations
depends on the insulation of the building envelope. The
more the envelope is insulated, the higher the heat flows This section presents numerical results for three thermal
through the thermal bridge are. Following the European bridges, which amounts for the most of the overall envelope
Standard EN ISO 10211-1 [1], we limit the calculations to heat loss. For each one, we give on one side the thermal
adjacent walls. characteristics (flow lines) and on the other the c-value (W/
In order to take into account the effect of the adjacent m K) resulting from the numerical calculations. For each
walls, we add a function of the thermal resistance of the thermal bridge two situations have been simulated; the exterior
adjacent walls (Radj) in Eq. (2): wall, with internal insulation, is made of either concrete or
masonry. In all cases the floor is made of concrete.
F ¼ eUDT þ f ðRadj Þ ðW=mÞ (3)
The linear thermal transmittance is obtained by dividing the 4.1.1. Slab-on-grade floor–wall junction
heat flow by the temperature difference between the inside Figs. 3 and 4 show the cross section of the 2D thermal
and outside environment (DT): bridge and the flow lines, respectively. In this case the c-
value depend on the floor thickness (ep), the wall and floor
F f ðRadj Þ
c¼ ¼ eU þ ðW=mKÞ (4) insulations (Riv and Rsp). As shown in Fig. 4 the heat flow
DT DT lines concentrate on the floor width, thus the thermal bridge
By assuming f (Radj) as a linear function of the adjacent width is proportional to the wall width.
walls thermal resistance: The computerized c-values for a junction with a concrete
wall (resp. a masonry wall) are given in Table 3 (resp.
c1 e Table 4). The foundation is made of concrete.
c¼P þ c3 Radj1 þ c4 Radj2 þ cn
i 2 Ri þ cd
c (5)
ðW=mKÞ 4.1.2. Floor–wall junction
Figs. 5 and 6 show the cross section of the 2D thermal
P
where e is the thermal bridge width, i Ri the total thermal bridge and the flow lines, respectively. The c-value depends
resistance of the bridge, Radj1, Radj2 are the insulation on the floor thickness (ep), the wall width (em) and the wall
resistances of the adjacent walls and c1, c2, c3, c4, cd, cn insulation (Riv). The thermal bridge width is proportional to
are the estimated coefficients. the floor thickness where the flux lines concentrate (Fig. 6).
Table 3
The c-values for a slab-on-grade floor–wall junction (exterior wall made in
concrete)
Riv Rsp (m2 K/W)
1.5 2.5 3.5
15 20 25 15 20 25 15 20 25
1.5 0.54 0.62 0.69 0.57 0.65 0.72 0.59 0.67 0.74
2.5 0.51 0.59 0.66 0.54 0.62 0.69 0.56 0.64 0.71
3.5 0.48 0.56 0.63 0.50 0.58 0.65 0.52 0.60 0.67
Floor thickness, ep = 15, 20 and 25 cm.
Table 4
The c-values for a slab-on-grade floor–wall junction (exterior wall made in
masonry)
Riv Rsp (m2 K/W)
1.5 2.5 3.5
15 20 25 15 20 25 15 20 25
1.5 0.45 0.52 0.59 0.48 0.55 0.62 0.50 0.57 0.64
2.5 0.43 0.50 0.57 0.46 0.53 0.60 0.48 0.55 0.62
3.5 0.41 0.48 0.55 0.44 0.51 0.58 0.46 0.53 0.60
Floor thickness, ep = 15, 20 and 25 cm.
Fig. 6. Flow lines.
Table 5 Table 6
The c-values for a floor–wall junction (exterior wall made in concrete) The c-values for a floor–wall junction (exterior wall made in masonry)
em Riv (m2 K/W) em Riv (m2 K/W)
1.5 2.5 3.5 1.5 2.5 3.5
15 20 25 15 20 25 15 20 25 15 20 25 15 20 25 15 20 25
17.5 0.91 1.08 1.23 0.83 0.99 1.14 0.76 0.91 1.05 22.5 0.72 0.87 1.02 0.67 0.82 0.96 0.62 0.77 0.90
22.5 0.87 1.03 1.17 0.80 0.95 1.09 0.73 0.88 1.01 25.0 0.70 0.85 0.99 0.65 0.80 0.93 0.61 0.75 0.88
27.5 0.83 0.98 1.11 0.77 0.92 1.05 0.71 0.85 0.98 27.5 0.67 0.82 0.95 0.63 0.77 0.90 0.59 0.73 0.85
Floor thickness, ep = 15, 20 and 25 cm. Floor thickness, ep = 15, 20 and 25 cm.
A.B. Larbi / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 945–951 949
Table 7
The c-values for a roof–wall junction (exterior wall made in concrete)
Rsp (m2 K/W) em Riv (m2 K/W)
2 3 4
15 20 25 15 20 25 15 20 25
1.5 17.5 0.72 0.83 0.92 0.66 0.77 0.86 0.61 0.72 0.80
22.5 0.70 0.80 0.89 0.65 0.75 0.83 0.60 0.70 0.78
27.5 0.68 0.78 0.86 0.63 0.73 0.81 0.59 0.69 0.77
2.5 17.5 0.74 0.86 0.96 0.67 0.79 0.89 0.62 0.74 0.83
22.5 0.72 0.83 0.93 0.66 0.77 0.86 0.61 0.72 0.81
27.5 0.70 0.81 0.90 0.65 0.75 0.84 0.60 0.70 0.79
3.5 17.5 0.75 0.88 0.98 0.68 0.81 0.91 0.63 0.75 0.85
22.5 0.73 0.85 0.95 0.67 0.78 0.88 0.62 0.73 0.82
27.5 0.71 0.83 0.92 0.66 0.76 0.86 0.61 0.71 0.80
Floor thickness, ep = 15, 20 and 25 cm.
950 A.B. Larbi / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 945–951
Table 8
The c-values for a roof–wall junction (exterior wall made in masonry)
Rsp (m2 K/W) em Riv (m2 K/W)
2 3 4
15 20 25 15 20 25 15 20 25
1.5 22.5 0.66 0.76 0.85 0.62 0.71 0.80 0.57 0.67 0.75
25 0.65 0.74 0.83 0.61 0.70 0.78 0.56 0.66 0.74
27.5 0.64 0.73 0.82 0.60 0.69 0.77 0.56 0.65 0.73
2.5 22.5 0.68 0.78 0.88 0.63 0.73 0.82 0.58 0.68 0.78
25 0.66 0.77 0.86 0.62 0.72 0.80 0.57 0.67 0.76
27.5 0.65 0.76 0.85 0.61 0.71 0.79 0.57 0.67 0.75
3.5 22.5 0.69 0.80 0.90 0.63 0.74 0.84 0.59 0.70 0.80
25 0.67 0.78 0.88 0.62 0.73 0.82 0.58 0.69 0.78
27.5 0.66 0.77 0.86 0.61 0.72 0.81 0.57 0.68 0.77
Floor thickness, ep = 15, 20 and 25 cm.
0:409 ep
masonry wall; c ¼ þ 0:025Rsp þ 0:184
0:02Riv þ 0:243
(7)
Fig. 10. Fitted model for a floor–wall junction (concrete and masonry wall). Fig. 11. Fitted model for a roof–wall junction (concrete and masonry wall).
A.B. Larbi / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 945–951 951
0:31 ep
masonry wall; c ¼
0:02Riv þ 0:213 em þ 0:065 Table 11
Statistics for roof–wall junction model
þ 0:017Rsp þ 0:312 (11)
Variable Concrete walla Masonry wallb
Coefficient t-Statistic Coefficient t-Statistic
ep 0.287 28.34 0.31 25.11
5. Conclusion em 0.155 12.86 0.213 8.49
cd 0.06 14.95 0.065 8.89
This paper presents regression models of the thermal Rsp 0.02 11.12 0.017 11.19
transmittance for three examples of 2D thermal bridges (c- cn 0.34 39.68 0.312 41.83
values): slab-on-grade floor–wall junction, floor–wall a
No. of observations: 81; R̄2 : 0.981.
junction and roof–wall junction.
b
No. of observations: 81; R̄2 : 0.982.
For slab-on-grade floor–wall junction, the results show
that the models, for concrete or masonry wall, give results
relative errors of the proposed models will be about 10%
with relative errors less than 3%. The statistics of this model
which are less than errors generally obtained by calculation
are also good. The adjusted R-squared (R̄2 ) is about 0.99 for
formulas (about 20%) [6].
concrete wall and is close to 1 for masonry wall. For all the
The presented models can be used by practitioners,
coefficients in the two cases, the t-statistics are higher than
provided that both boundary conditions and material
10, which mean that all the coefficients are significant. For
characteristics are similar to those considered above.
floor–wall junction, the relative errors are less than 2% for
the two cases. The R̄2 are close to 1 and the t-statistics are
higher then 20. For roof–wall junction, the relative errors are
References
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