Thermal Performance Of Light Wood Frame Wall

Light wood frame construction with its environmental protection, energy saving, earthquake resistance, fire resistance, durability and comfort, which has developed rapidly in recent years in China. The thermal performance of walls has a direct effect on energy saving of light wood frame construction. The study calculated eight different wall specimens for thermal performance by means of box-heat flow meter, exploring the impact of stud size and spacing, stud arrangement, glass fiber filling thickness and external thermal insulation system on the thermal performance of walls, and determining thermal level and acclimations of different light wood-frame walls. Meanwhile, the study adopted the theoretical calculation and ANSYS simulation for comparison with experiment. The result of this study as following:(1) The filling glass fiber had an effect on heat transfer property of stud, and a great deal of glass fiber could improve the thermal performance of walls in the cavity adjacent studs. The staggered studs and large spacing stud also could enhance the thermal performance. Especially it would get more excellent capability of thermal performance when adopting a bigger size stud or double studs. The heat transfer coefficients of the walls with 38mm×89mm and 38mm×140mm studs were respectively reduced by 26.6% and 19.9%. Therefore, we can improve the thermal performance of walls by using external insulation system.(2) The average heat transfer coefficient of tests eight walls was between 0.176 W/(m2·K) to 0.376 W/(m2·K), belonging to the level of thermal I t and also applying to cold zones referred to standards. Except for the wall 2, the others all meet the requirement of 75% energy efficiency standard in Beijing. Walls meet the cold zone (zone B) of 65% energy efficiency of residential buildings except for the walls 2 and 3, besides, the wall 5,6, 8 can meet the cold zone (zone A) of 65% energy efficiency of residential buildings.(3) Both the theoretical calculation and ANSYS simulation values have a relative error about 10% with measured values, showing the good consistency. Therefore, theoretical formula may contribute to calculate the heat transfer coefficient, and ANSYS simulation may conduce to analyze the thermal performance, which providing guidance for wall thermal design.