Analysis Techniques, Materials, and Methods for Treatment of Thermal Bridges in Building Envelopes

To meet mandated energy reduction goals, this work developed capabilities to characterize energy losses through building envelopes (especially thermal bridge losses), and to devise potential mitigation strategies using advanced techniques and materials. This report reviews existing thermal bridge quantification and mitigation strategies, as well as Army and building code requirements. It is proposed that, first, additional guidance must be authored to encourage treatment of thermal bridges and, second, that an easy to use thermal bridge catalogue must be composed. To this end, important thermal bridges in Army buildings are identified by infrared imaging and drawings review. Next, several 3-D heat transfer simulations are performed on these details as the first step to predicting their performance for inclusion in a details catalogue. Finally, advanced materials are characterized to better serve as mitigation options for thermal bridge retrofits.
Prepared in collaboration with Information Technology Laboratory (ITL), US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS. The original document contains color images.