Interior insulation—Characterisation of the historic, solid masonrybuilding segment and analysis of the heat saving potential by 1d, 2d,and 3d simulation

When considering interior insulation of historic, multi-storey buildings with solid masonry walls, it isimportant to focus on two important factors: How big is the building segment to which it can be applied,and what is the significance of how the multi-dimensional geometry of these fac¸ ade walls is consideredin the assessment of the heat saving potential.The findings show that a large proportion of Danish multi-storey dwellings with solid masonrywalls, high energy consumption, and uniform characteristics were found to originate from the period1851–1930.

This segment accounts for 25% of all multi-storey apartments in Denmark. It was investigated,which relative reduction of the average thermal transmittance could be obtained by interior insulationwhen simulated in different dimensions, degrees of insulation and thickness. The analysis showed thatpartial insulation of the spandrels below windows on the 2nd/3rd highest storeys accounted for up to 40%of the average thermal transmittance reduction achievable by fully insulating inside walls, while covering17% of the space needed in the full insulation strategy.

Furthermore, the analysis showed an underes-timation of average thermal transmittance by 2-dimensional compared to 3-dimensional simulation byup to 57%, indicating that 3-dimensional analysis is needed to obtain realistic results.