Performance assessment of thermal bridge elements into a full scale experimental study of a building façade

In this paper, an experimental and numerical approach to the characterization of thermal bridges is presented. The need for this characterization was found within an experimental study in a 2 floor high facade. This facade was constructed with 3 concrete elements which were placed in it to produce a similar thermal bridge effect to the one created by floor slabs traditional building construction in Spain. Commonly applied thermal assessments perform one-dimensional heat transfer analysis over planar elements such as the facades studied in this experiment. However, it is well known that thermal bridges are locations in buildings where one-dimensional heat transfer analysis cannot be applied. This problem was approached by creating a numerical 2D thermal model which was calibrated against experimental data from several temperature and heat flux sensors which were located at specific points in the thermal bridge elements.