Testing the thermal properties of modern ventilated facade fastening systems

The study reported in this paper investigated a set of building fasteners used in ventilated facades. For the building fasteners actually present in the industrial market the values of the effective thermal conductivity were measured experimentally. These values were used next in numerical simulations run with COMSOL Multiphysics software application. The validation of the simulation model was done in specific additional experimental test. The paper presents a method of determining the effective thermal conductivity coefficient for fasteners with a novel design. Temperature distributions and heat fluxes were determined for different variants of multilayer walls with the fasteners. The calculation of the effective thermal conductivity coefficient for a structural profile is based on the heat balance of the measuring stand. The performed tests show not only an expected reduction in the coefficient value for structures in which stainless steel is used. The results also demonstrate that the fasteners with holes cut out in their structures have significantly lower effective thermal conductivity coefficients than those with solid walls. This effect can be justified by the formation of labyrinth-like narrowings extending the conductive heat flow path in the fastener. As a final result of the experimental tests and the COMSOL simulations the application of the effective thermal conductivity as the new indicator of a thermal effectiveness of building fasteners is proposed in industrial practice. Consequently the design of the building fasteners with various shapes of holes is recommended for improving their insulation features.