Air permeability measurements of dwellings and building components in Portugal

Pinto, Manuel; Viegas, João Carlos; Freitas, Vasco Peixoto de

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2011.06.009

Cited by 43 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Another Portuguese study carried our air permeability tests in five flats of a single building. Although the properties had the same size, components and construction characteristics, the results revealed wide variations in airtightness attributed to the quality of installation work [34]. Similar results were also found for nine semi-detached social housing dwellings in Ireland, where the measured and modelled airtightness result differed by up to 89% [35].…”

Section: Building Fabric Thermal Performance: Evidence To Datesupporting

confidence: 72%

Magnitude and extent of building fabric thermal performance gap in UK low energy housing

Gupta

Kotopouleas

2018

Applied Energy

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• Air-permeability, U-value and whole house heat loss data were statistically tested.• Building fabric thermal performance gap was widespread in low energy dwellings.• Airtightness gap was trivial in Passivhaus but significant in non-Passivhaus units.• Gap increased by 0.8 m 3 /h/m 2 for every 1 m 3 /h/m 2 decrease in design air permeability.• Building regulations should require in-situ tests to reduce fabric performance gap. ARTICLE INFO Keywords:Building fabric Low energy dwellings Passivhaus Airtightness Heat loss Thermal transmittance Co-heating test ABSTRACT This paper presents new evidence from a nationwide cross-project meta-study investigating the magnitude and extent of the difference between designed and measured thermal performance of the building fabric of 188 low energy dwellings in the UK. The dataset was drawn from the UK Government's national Building Performance Evaluation programme, and comprises 50 Passivhaus (PH) and 138 non-Passivhaus (NPH) dwellings, covering different built forms and construction systems. The difference between designed and measured values of air permeability (AP), external wall/roof thermal transmittance (U-value) and whole house heat loss were statistically analysed, along with a review of thermal imaging data to explain any discrepancies. The results showed that fabric thermal performance gap was widespread especially in terms of AP, although the magnitude of underperformance was much less in PH dwellings. While measured AP had good correlation with measured space heating energy for PH dwellings, there was no relationship between the two for NPH dwellings. The regression analysis indicated that for every 1 m 3 /h/m 2 reduction in designed air permeability, the gap increased by 0.8 m 3 /h/m 2 @50 Pa. Monte Carlo analysis showed that likelihood of AP gap was 78% in NPH dwellings designed to 5 m 3 /h/m 2 @50 Pa or lower. The study provides useful evidence for improving the fabric thermal performance of new housing through in-situ testing.

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Section: Building Fabric Thermal Performance: Evidence To Datesupporting

confidence: 72%

Magnitude and extent of building fabric thermal performance gap in UK low energy housing

Gupta

Kotopouleas

2018

Applied Energy

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“…Consequently, the flow is neither fully turbulent nor dominated by laminar characteristics and the shape of leakage paths cannot be clearly defined. The overall uncertainty in the parameters obtained with the test using standard equipment remains below 15% in most cases [4,35,45] under calm conditions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is deduced that one of the variables with greater relevance is the year of construction [27][28][29][30]. Also, characteristics of the building such as typology [31], type of construction [30], type of window/glazing [15] and window frame [6,32], foundation [28], construction system [33], materials [15,24,32,34], floor area [28], total height [28], number of storeys [33], ventilation system [35,36], type of insulation [30] and sealing devices [34], and management type [31] should be considered. In addition, the execution also seems to be a relevant factor in the airtightness of the envelope [36,37].…”

Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodology for the Study of the Envelope Airtightness of Residential Buildings in Spain: A Case Study

et al. 2018

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Air leakage and its impact on the energy performance of dwellings has been broadly studied in countries with cold climates in Europe, US, and Canada. However, there is a lack of knowledge in this field in Mediterranean countries. Current Spanish building regulations establish ventilation rates based on ideal airtight envelopes, causing problems of over-ventilation and substantial energy losses. The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology that allows the characterization of the envelope of the housing stock in Spain in order to adjust ventilation rates taking into consideration air leakage. A methodology that is easily applicable to other countries that consider studying the airtightness of the envelope and its energetic behaviour improvement is proposed. A statistical sampling method has been established to determine the dwellings to be tested, considering relevant variables concerning airtightness: climate zone, year of construction, and typology. The air leakage rate is determined using a standardized building pressurization technique according to European Standard EN 13829. A representative case study has been presented as an example of the implementation of the designed methodology and results are compared to preliminary values obtained from the database.

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“…In the following sections, the building, the dwelling where the test was conducted and the respective experimental results are presented. The chosen building was studied in the context of a wider research project for which results on the permeability of the components of the ventilation system and the dwellings have already been presented [27].…”

Section: Mixed Ventilation Systems In Portugalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The flats had a ceiling height of approximately 2.5 m. The natural ventilation system proposed by the designer had the following characteristics and locations (Fig. 3) [27]:…”

Section: Description Of the Building And Ventilation System Testedmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of ventilation systems on domestic gas appliances: An experimental study

Pinto

Viegas

2013

Building and Environment

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a b s t r a c tVentilation systems play an important role in the energy consumption of heating and cooling, defining hygrothermal conditions and air quality of dwellings. Among other functions, they are absolutely necessary to ensure oxygen levels needed for household combustion appliances.In Portugal in multifamily housing and with natural ventilation systems, installing a mechanical exhaust fan in every kitchen (decentralized ventilation) is common. In this paper, the impact of such a device is evaluated regarding the performance of a water heating appliance for heating the indoor environment or for domestic hot water (B-type gas appliance usually installed in the kitchen). The combination of natural or mechanical ventilation in the kitchen with the natural exhaust of the gas appliance's combustion products were tested as well as the evaluation of critical conditions that lead to stopping the gas appliance safely or to reversing the combustion products in the respective exhaust duct. One of the main conclusions to be drawn is that in the case of mechanical exhaust in the kitchen simultaneously with the natural exhaust of the gas appliance's combustion products, the kitchen's exterior air inlet is a key device for ensuring proper exhaust of combustion products. In extreme situations, reduced air intake by other means or high extraction flows, they can prevent safely stopping the appliance or even reversing the flow of the combustion products. For this purpose, the maximum flow of mechanical exhaust should also be limited.

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Air permeability measurements of dwellings and building components in Portugal

Cited by 43 publications

References 1 publication

Magnitude and extent of building fabric thermal performance gap in UK low energy housing

Magnitude and extent of building fabric thermal performance gap in UK low energy housing

Methodology for the Study of the Envelope Airtightness of Residential Buildings in Spain: A Case Study

The influence of ventilation systems on domestic gas appliances: An experimental study

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