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Key Concepts
Calculation Guidelines
Tutorial with THERM and Excel
Key Concepts
Key Concepts
Key Concepts
roof
wall
wall
slab edge
slab center
slab perimeter
Components
Key Concepts
roof
wall
wall
slab edge
slab center
slab perimeter
Intersections
Key Concepts
Intersections Note: taking windows from NFRC to PHPP has two problems: 1) physics
of ISO vs. NFRC and 2) NFRC has one combined value for glass, frame, and spacer.
Check my website for window inputs calculation method coming in time.
Key Concepts
Thermal bridging typically means that the heat gets a short cut across the envelope.
Key Concepts
Thermal Bridges
wall to slab (can be a big one!)
wall to roof
wall to wall
glass to frame (spacer in WinType)
frame to wall (installation in WinType)
etc
In PHPP, whether or not the heat gets a short cut, a thermal bridge coefficient can be
applied any place where heat flow cant be accurately calculated using the simplified
method, i.e. an intersection!
Key Concepts
=
(W/K per meter
into the page)
Key understanding: the thermal bridge is the extra heat loss associated with the
intersection. This means that the thermal bridge loss is the total loss from 2D analysis
minus the loss calculated for that same section using the simplified method.
Key Concepts
Key Concepts
For thermal bridge heat loss, either reference a calculation done by others...
Key Concepts
Key Concepts
Ambient no ground
interactions
Ground bridge is in
contact with ground, far
from grade. Do not
include ground or
exterior air film in model.
Perimeter partly
above, partly below
grade. Special!
Calculation Guidelines
Calculation Guidelines
R-0.45
R-0.74
R-1.14
R-0.22
R-0.97
Schneiders, Protocol 16: Thermal Bridge Free Construction, PHI, January 2008
Calculation Guidelines
IP units
METRIC units
Calculation Guidelines
Schneiders
Calculation Guidelines
Calculation Guidelines
Calculation Guidelines
Outdoor temp,
e.g. 13F for NYC
Adiabatic
2.5m?
2.5m
1.0m
This is how to model a perimeter thermal bridge! (from Schnieders 2008). The
indoor/outdoor temps are arbitrary in terms of of calculating psi. The specific temps
used here are useful because they also tell us something about condensation risk.
Wall
Slab
Draw detail in THERM (to save time, it is pre-drawn for the tutorial).
Assign boundary conditions and U-factor tags.
adiabatic
adiabatic
Note: U-factor tags are drawn in red along interior surface. The U-factor tags can go anywhere as
long as they mark one gate through which all heat flow passes so THERM can measure the flow.
Note: German and US air film values differ slightly, so there are a few discrepancies w/ slide #18
Set error tolerances and max iterations Then run it. Manual (7.3.2) warns of accumulated
rounding errors below 5% Maximum Error Energy Norm. Software author says 5% is ok.
Subtract 1D losses from 2D losses. Be careful to assign the correct temperature difference to each
component. Divide the net loss by the deltaT to ambient (not ground) because PHPP asks for
perimeter thermal bridges with respect to outdoor temperature. The result is the -value.