The importance of wind barriers for wood frame construction.

The main goal of a research project on wind barriers was to get more information about the influence of wind pressure on the heat loss from wood frame constructions. The project was divided into three parts: calculations, hot-box measurements and wind pressure measurements on a rotatable test house, The theoretical studies as well as the experimental investigations in the hot-box, have been restricted to one specific type of forced convection in the thermal insulation, called "anblasning", i.e. the interchange of air between the insulation and the airspace between the wind barrier and the outer cladding. The results of the project show the importance of protecting the insulation layer with a wind barrier to achieve full effect of the insulation in wind exposed constructions. The measurements indicates that heat loss caused by this type of forced convection, can be three to ten times higher than calculated