Study of light‐multi‐layered façades

Abstract

Purpose

Traditional façade systems are at the point where the minimum comfort guarantees have peaked, showing hygrothermic performance deficiencies which result in higher heating consumption, which is why it is necessary to make improvements in design and building construction, especially in envelopes, for which efficient building enclosures should be used, generating notable benefits. For these reasons, the study of new façade construction systems is essential, particularly light multi‐layers, which offer favorable characteristics for energy consumption savings. With this background, the main aim of this study is to generate knowledge to find out to what extent light multi‐layered façades are better, determining which façades are the most efficient and guarantee the comfort conditions of a building, contributing in this way to energy consumption savings.

Design/methodology/approach

To carry out this study, a methodology of analysis was used, signifying that in the first phase a theoretical study has been made, analyzing different configurations of the sample façades, to obtain their thermal performance, using two different methods, thermographic and thermal, obtaining in the thermographic study: surface temperatures of the façades, while in the thermal simulation, generating isotherms, heat flows, data on thermal coupling coefficients to calculate the value of the thermal transmittance and surface conditions, among others.

Findings

Using these data, the conclusion has been reached that comparing a traditional enclosure to a light multi‐layered one of equal thickness, an improvement of 65 percent can be achieved in the thermal transmittance, which signifies a saving in energy consumption, exceeding the Technical Building Code.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates great advancement over traditional systems.

Citation

Ruiz, L., Gómez, E., García Santos, A. and Vega, S. (2010), "Study of light‐multi‐layered façades", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 65-77. https://doi.org/10.1108/09699981011011320