A new method to estimate point thermal transmittance based on combined two-dimensional heat flow calculation

A well-insulated, airtight and thermal bridge free building envelope is a key factor for nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB). However, increased insulation thickness and minimized air leakages increase the effect of thermal bridges on overall energy efficiency of the nZEBs. Although several more prominent linear thermal bridges are accounted for in the practice the three-dimensional heat flow through vast array of fixation elements, mounting brackets and other point thermal bridges are usually neglected due to time-consuming model preparation routine, lack of input data as well as high number of different thermal bridges that have to be assessed for a single project. In this study a new method was proposed for predicting three-dimensional heat flow and the point thermal transmittance of thermal bridges caused by full or partial penetration of the building envelope with metal elements with uniform geometry in third dimension based on multiple two-dimensional numerical heat flow calculations. A new parameter (equivalent length of thermal bridge) was defined which incorporates the effect of additional thermal transmittance in third dimension when multiplied by the difference of two thermal coupling coefficients derived for two-dimensional cross section. Multiple linear regression model was fitted on database with 102 cases and verified with separate case of window to wall connection incorporating metal penetration at fixation points. The proposed methodology can be useful in general practice where the design team lacks the skills or software tools for conducting detailed numerical analysis in three dimensions