Analysis of Thermal Bridge Impact in a Hotel Building for the Eight Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones

Abstract

This article aims to present an analysis of the influence of thermal bridges on reinforced concrete structural systems regarding energy performance of the envelope of a commercial building located in the bioclimatic zones 1 to 8 in Brazil, using computer simulation. The method used to achieve this goal includes the following steps: (1) definition and configuration of the base case; (2) definition and configuration of the reference model; (3) optimization of energy modeling; (4) energy modeling and comparison of consumption between the base case and the reference model. Main results showed that thermal bridges in reinforced concrete interfere on the building's energy performance and that the impact is related to the WWR (window-to-wall ratio) on the building. For hotel buildings with WWR from 30% to 45%, thermal bridges imply a decrease in estimated consumption, which can reach 10%, depending on the bioclimatic zone. For 60% WWR, the non-consideration of thermal bridges can represent up to 5% of increase in estimated consumption, depending on the Brazilian bioclimatic zone.

The effect of moisture transfer on heat transfer of roof-wall corner hygrothermal bridge structure

“…Ge and Baba 6 found that the presence of a thermal bridge could cause an increase in the annual heat load by 38%-42%. Cunha et al 7 concluded that the energy consumption of buildings when considering a thermal bridge was 40% higher compared to buildings without taking the thermal bridge into account. Moreover, the share of additional energy use in buildings caused by thermal bridges was growing.…”