Airtightness Analysis of the Built Heritage–Field Measurements of Nineteenth Century Buildings through Blower Door Tests

Alexander Martín-Garín, José Antonio Millán-García, Juan María Hidalgo-Betanzos, Rufino Javier Hernández-Minguillón and Abderrahmane Baïri
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Alexander Martín-Garín: ENEDI Research Group, Department of Thermal Engineering, Faculty of Engineering of Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Plaza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
José Antonio Millán-García: ENEDI Research Group, Department of Thermal Engineering, Faculty of Engineering of Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Plaza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Juan María Hidalgo-Betanzos: ENEDI Research Group, Thermal Area of the Laboratory for the Quality Control in Buildings, Basque Government, c/Agirrelanda N 10, 01013 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Rufino Javier Hernández-Minguillón: CAVIAR Research Group, Department of Architecture, Higher Technical School of Architecture, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Plaza Oñate 2, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Abderrahmane Baïri: Laboratoire Thermique Interfaces Environnement (LTIE), EA 4415, Département Génie Thermique et Énergie (GTE), Université de Paris, 50, Rue de Sèvres, F-92410 Ville d’Avray, France

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-28

Abstract: Airtightness is a major issue in architectural design and it has a significant impact on the energy performance of buildings. Moreover, the energy behaviour of built heritage is due, to its singular characteristics, still a great unknown. The aim of this study is to establish a better knowledge of the airtightness of historical buildings, based on an in depth field study using blower-door tests. A set of 37 enclosures were analyzed inside eight buildings located in historical areas of a Spanish city with a significant built heritage. They were constructed between 1882 and 1919 and include diverse construction typologies applied for many building uses such as residential, cultural, educational, administrative and emblematic. The results indicate lower values compared to other previous airtightness studies of historical buildings. The average air change rate was found to be n 50 = 9.03 h −1 and the airtightness of the enclosures presented a wide range of between 0.68 and 37.12 h −1 . Three main levels of airtightness were identified with two thirds of the tested samples belonging to the intermediate level between 3–20 h −1 . To conclude, several correlations have been developed which provide a method to estimate air leakage and could serve as a basis for energy performance studies of these kinds of building.

Keywords: air leakage; airtightness; blower door test; built heritage; energy efficiency; historic buildings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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