airtightness

As environmental issues are rapidly gaining more and more interest globally, various measures and standards are being set to minimize the use of energy in the architecture field, which consists about a fourth of the total use of energy. Korea, like other developed countries, is also aiming to make zero-energy buildings mandatory(by 2025) implementing various measures such as energy efficiency rating system and energy performance certification systems to gradually minimize energy consumption in buildings. 

The airtightness of the building envelope was studied in field measurements in recently constructed experimental small test buildings. Two types of research studies were carried out: the effect of special air tight sealing and the experimental determination of air exchange rate (h-1) under real operating conditions. In very small buildings with many joints between materials and construction the role of the air tight sealing is very important; the experiments show changes in measured air tightness.

CETE de Lyon gives support to French administration for thermal regulation definition and enforcement. They must therefore work on measurements in order to set appropriate requirements and give advice to professionals about building methods.

A large social housing retrofitting program was implemented in Porto, Portugal, a mild climate region. One of the features of that program was the upgrade of windows and ventilation systems. An increased airtightness was expected and mechanical extraction on kitchens and bathrooms was implemented. This work analyses the changes in building airtightness that resulted from that renovation.

The paper presents a calculation method for the combined standard uncertainty associated with the buildings airtightness measurement done in accordance with the ISO standard 9972:2006 (or EN 13829).

The method consists in an application of the law of propagation of uncertainty (JCGM 100:2008) combined with a linear regression (y = a x + b). It goes from the measured values to the air leakage rate and the air change rate.

Pushed at first by the labels backed onto the 2005 French energy performance (EP) regulation, and later on by the 2012 energy performance regulation, which imposes envelope airtightness requirements for any new dwellings, and pulled by a growing interest for low-energy labels, an important market transformation is observed in France on envelope airtightness measurement.

Since January 1st 2013, the French energy performance (EP) regulation requires building airtightness level to be justified to a lower-than-required value. These requirements represent an important change in the airtightness market. As a consequence, it is the State’s responsibility to accompany this market evolution and to supervise the implementation of the quality in building airtightness. French regulation allows two ways to justify the airtightness value for the building envelope.

From 2006 till 2012, the 2005 energy performance (EP) regulation (RT 2005) did not entail any obligation to justify the envelope airtightness level. As a consequence, asking for the certification of airtightness quality management approaches was a voluntary request from constructors. Thus, they might be allowed to take into account a better-than-default value into the thermal calculation. Since 2012, French 2012 EP regulation (RT 2012) requires building airtightness level to be justified, with two ways of justification.

An efficient thermal insulation of glazing or window frame is important because poor insulating performance usually cause the largest heat loss on any buildings. As one of the methods decreasing heat loss of buildings, we proposed a dynamic insulation system applied to window frame, and its energy saving performance and applicability for buliding had been confirmed using numerical simulation in previous study [1].

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of measuring position of air-tightness performance in Flat-type and Tower-type apartments. Air-tightness performance was measured on entrance doors using the Blower Door System in accordance with CAN/CGSB 149 and on the windows using air-tightness Measuring (KNS-serise) in accordance with JIS A 2201. The air-tightness test was performed with newly builted apartments in 2011. The air-tightness test results on location were converted into ACH50 for comparison.