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The tendency to impose stricter building regulations in order to further decrease energy consumption contradicts the tendency to build more transparent architecture and apply thinner façade construction elements. This contradiction can be seen as one of the driving forces of all research efforts that focus on developing translucent façade elements with high insulating values.
This work is part of the ongoing research program on ‘Climate Adaptive Skins’ and focuses on thin and transparent façade elements with gas-filled cavities. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computer simulation program Flovent was applied to study the air flow and temperature distribution in an insulating glazing unit.
The CFD-simulations were compared with values found in the literature. The cfd-simulations were also compared with simulations which were performed with the less sophisticated computer program Trisco. The Trisco program can only calculate the heat transfer trough conduction, using the norm EN 673 as an approximation for the heat transfer though convection in the cavity.