Experimental measurement of thermal transmittance in reinforced concrete buildings

To reduce the incidence of greenhouse gas emissions, radical measures need to be adopted in the most pollutant sectors, among which the building one, where actions can be undertaken, involving both the passive (envelope) and the active (thermal plants) sections. In this framework, the aim of this paper was to elaborate and test a suitable procedure to measure one of the characteristic parameters of the envelope, the thermal transmittance of the opaque components. A codified procedure has been exploited, using instruments and experimental techniques able to overcome most of the drawbacks (e.g. long period of measurement) which often have to be dealt with, during field measurement of thermal transmittance of opaque building envelope structures. The technique was exploited to measure wall thermal transmittance of different buildings located in the city of Reggio Calabria (Italy),