Analysis of Air Leakage of French Residential Dwellings

In this work the air leakage database of French single family dwellings, available at the CETE de Lyon (Centre d’Études Techniques de L’Équipement), has been analysed. This database accounts for 251 blower-door measurements of single family dwellings, made after 1983 as a result of several campaigns carried out across France to quantify the performance of French dwellings in terms of envelope airtightness and the existing directives. A statistical analysis was performed in order to find out the available buildings characteristics that most influence dwellings airtightness, represented by the flow coefficient C of the leakage function. The floor area, the number of stories, the structure type and the age were found to be the most significant characteristics. Finally, a linear model to estimate C was developed using these variables as predictors.