Abstract
Advanced building envelopes targeting high energy performance should combine high thermal performance with easy and fast installation. The combination of lightweight steel-framed building systems with vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) form an attractive solution toward this requirement. In the present study, a lightweight metal frame drywall building insulated with VIPs is constructed and experimentally/theoretically investigated, focusing on the impact of every type of thermal bridges on the thermal performance of the envelope and its upgrade due to the presence of the VIPs at the walls. Temperature measurements obtained at several locations of the envelope, over a period of one year, are presented and analyzed. The results are in agreement with the theoretical values and demonstrate that the VIPs can reduce the thermal transmittance of the central part of the wall by ca. 50%, limiting the impact of metal studs. The paper discusses the impact of dimensional inaccuracies and damaged panels on the thermal performance of the envelope. It is shown that VIP decreases the impact of thermal bridges and reduces the risk of condensation inside the walls.
Highlights
Current challenges for energy reduction and sustainability in the building sector require advanced building envelopes combining high thermal performance with easy and fast implementation, sound, seismic structural and fire resilience, and recyclability of wastes
This paper presents the theoretical analysis for the thermal performance of the lightweight building envelope by calculating and evaluating the effect of all thermal bridges
Focus was given on the impact of the repeating and geometrical thermal bridges caused by the metal structure and the junctions, respectively
Summary
Current challenges for energy reduction and sustainability in the building sector require advanced building envelopes combining high thermal performance with easy and fast implementation, sound, seismic structural and fire resilience, and recyclability of wastes. The main drawback of these constructions regarding their thermal performance is the strong effect of thermal bridges, introduced by the steel frame structure, reducing the overall energy efficiency of the building envelope. This is a well-known problem that has been previously studied. The use of VIPs in steel frame masonry can reduce the thickness of the walls and increase the net floor area of a building while maintaining or even improving its thermal performance [16,19]. As already explained, the application of VIPs in steel-framed lightweight envelopes appears to be an attractive solution for the reduction of thermal bridges.
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