Analytical Mathematical Modeling of the Thermal Bridge between Reinforced Concrete Wall and Inter-Floor Slab

Abstract

The evaluation of thermal bridges in buildings, following the UNI TS 11300-1:2014 standard, must be carried out with finite element analysis or through the use of atlases compliant with the UNI EN ISO 14683:2018. The paper illustrates the development of an analytical tool to determine the internal linear thermal transmission coefficient (ψi) for the thermal bridge between concrete wall and inter-floor slab, neglected in the main existing catalogs or atlases. This type of thermal bridge is relevant in multi-story buildings, and is typical of public housing districts built between the 1960s and 1970s throughout Europe by means of industrialized systems. Considering energy requalification, due to their low energy efficiency, these buildings require adaptation to the standards imposed by law, and this thermal bridge, which has a high percentage incidence on the total heat losses, cannot be overlooked. From the survey of a representative number of such buildings in Italy, three different technological solutions were examined, with dimensional variations in the individual technical elements and the related functional layers. The combination of these variables resulted in 216 different case studies. The analysis of the existing atlases and catalogues has demonstrated their inapplicability for the selected case studies. For each one of these, ψi was calculated, using off-the-shelf software. The correlation of the data made it possible to determine an analytical mathematical modeling process to assess heat losses due to the analyzed thermal bridge. The validity of this mathematical formula was verified by recalculating the typologies investigated, reaching an error evaluated by means of the mean square deviation equal to ±4%.