Building envelopes in non-conventional building construction in northeast argentina and the problem of thermal bridges.

Abstract

This research analyzed the thermal performance of building envelopes in Northeast Argentina (NEA), whose construction systems use mass-produced, prefabricated materials and specialized workers. Particular attention was paid to the impact of thermal bridges. The objective was to diagnose and develop criteria to optimize the energy performance of these envelopes. To this end, the types and subtypes of non-conventional buildings were studied and samples of those most used in NEA were selected. These were evaluated using the calculation procedures established by the 11,600 series of the IRAM standards, as well as by simulations performed with THERM software. The values that were obtained with both procedures presented average discrepancies of 2.6%. With the software it is possible to obtain a weighted coefficient of transmittance that incorporates opaque walls and thermal bridges and, by graphing the heat flow through the element, easily recognize the most critical points, to thus concentrate optimization actions