Conference Paper

Proceedings of BSA Conference 2019: Fourth Conference of IBPSA-Italy

Dynamic characterisation of thermal bridges in historic balconies in Palermo

Roberta Zarcone, Maurizio Brocato

Abstract: The improvement of the energy performance of a historic building entails a process of intervention that should take into account the historical, aesthetic, technical and material features. The first step of the retrofit process is an accurate knowledge of the thermal behaviour of historic building in order to preserve this heritage and reduce their impact on the environment. In terms of the thermal characterization of the construction elements of the traditional building in the Mediterranean region, the balconies constitute a disruptive element of the heat transfer by the envelope. Although there are many catalogues that collect typical actual constructive solutions with the corresponding thermal bridge values, the use of catalogues induces an error of 35% compared to physical reality. In this paper, we present a numerical method for the evaluation that takes into account the effects of thermal mass of thermal bridges in different historic balconies in the city of Palermo. We select typical construction details of balconies based on relevant literature on traditional architecture in Palermo. We present internal heat flow results and we compare them with the results of homogeneous envelope. Finally, we relate the results performed in dynamic and steady conditions.
Pages: 23 - 28
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