Overview
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ABSTRACT
Minimizing energy use in buildings, thereby improving the thermal performance of building envelopes, has become increasingly important in the drive for sustainability and energy security. We have seen the adoption of more stringent envelope thermal performance requirements in Building Regulations. Adding insulation to the building is one obvious way to do this, but insulation is not effective if there are easy heat flow paths around it. This is why codes and standards are progressively moving to requirements based on Effective Thermal Resistance, which requires identifying and minimizing thermal bridges in the building envelope with thermal break elements.
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Steffen SCHEER: Technical Director, Civil Engineering Engineer (University of Stuttgart (D), INSA Lyon (F)) - SCHÖCK France (Entzheim, France)
INTRODUCTION
As buildings become better and better insulated, thermal bridges have an ever-greater impact on heat loss. To limit or eliminate them, technical solutions exist that are constantly evolving. This is the case, for example, with thermal bridge breakers, the subject of this article.
The higher the insulation performance of a wall, the greater the losses caused by thermal bridges. Caused by discontinuities between materials, and between materials and the wall, thermal bridges become the only points through which heat can pass to the outside, generating losses in addition to the surface losses of the walls.
It's worth noting, for example, that in a building insulated to BBC (Bâtiment basse consommation) standard, which is the minimum level required by the thermal regulations currently in force in France, thermal bridges can account for more than half of all losses, excluding ventilation. This is not a new problem, however, and all professionals, contractors and project managers alike, are well aware of the need to reduce these leaks. In fact, this has become a mandatory requirement for all new buildings, as thermal bridges must be treated.
It should also be noted that, over and above regulatory compliance, the treatment of thermal leaks also ensures the comfort of occupants, by avoiding the sensation of cold, and the durability of the building against pathologies such as the risks of cracking, mould, condensation and corrosion at thermal bridges, inside the building itself.
A special feature of France, unrivalled in any other European country, is the practice of insulating from the inside out. The lining complex, an insulation panel generally finished in plaster and placed inside buildings, is very widespread in France. Obviously, this type of insulation creates more thermal bridges with singular points, than insulation from the outside; the latter being common practice elsewhere in Europe and even the world.
Apart from France, only Japan, South Korea and Turkey use interior insulation.
This article first reviews the evolution of French thermal regulations, before detailing the aspects specific to the regulations currently in force, the RT 2012 standard. It then explains what thermal bridges are, and describes the concepts of hygrometry and moisture transfer.
In order to make the reader aware of the mistakes that should not be made, yet are all too common, a few examples of ineffective solutions are then highlighted. Solutions that really deal with structural thermal bridges are then detailed, and the article concludes with an examination of simple calculation methods that can be used to dimension thermal bridge breakers.
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The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference
KEYWORDS
standards | Regulation | building | dissipated energy | building | energy performance | thermal performances | thermal bridges
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Sustainable construction
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Thermal regulations, structural thermal bridges and technological solutions
Bibliography
- (1) - - LIVRE VERT sur l'efficacité énergétique ou Comment consommer mieux avec moins, Commission des Communautés Européennes, Bruxelles, 2005 ( https://www.euractiv.fr/section/sciences-legislation/linksdossier/livre-vert-sur-l-energie-quelle-politique-energetique-pour-l-europe-fr/...
Websites
Regulations
Decree no. 2010-1269 of October 26, 2010 on the thermal characteristics and energy performance of buildings. JO n° 0250 du 27 octobre 2010, page 19250, texte n° 2
Arrêté du 26 octobre 2010 relatif aux caractéristiques thermiques et aux exigences de performance énergétique des bâtiments nouveaux et des parties nouvelles de bâtiments. JO n° 0250 du 27 octobre 2010, page 19260, texte n° 7
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