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



Author(s)

Eduardo Grala da Cunha and Beatriz Echenique Gioielli

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DOI:10.17265/1934-7359/2015.04.003

DTC (Department of Construction Technology), Architecture Faculty, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas 96020-240, Brazil

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.

Thermal bridge, thermal performance, energy efficiency.