IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i14p3545-d382424.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating Patterns of Building Envelope Air Leakage with Infrared Thermography

Author

Listed:
  • Milad Mahmoodzadeh

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada)

  • Voytek Gretka

    (Department of Building Specialty Services, Morrison Hershfield Ltd., Victoria, BC V8W 1C6, Canada)

  • Stephen Wong

    (Department of Building Specialty Services, Morrison Hershfield Ltd., Vancouver, BC V5C 6S7, Canada)

  • Thomas Froese

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada)

  • Phalguni Mukhopadhyaya

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada)

Abstract

The next-generation performance-based building energy codes are focusing on minimizing building envelope air leakage. The quantification of air leakage in buildings is typically performed with a blower door test. However, this test does not provide information about the locations of air leakage. The aim of this study is to demonstrate a method involving qualitative and quantitative components that can be used to characterize locations of air leakage with infrared thermography. Since air leakage can have a significant impact on building energy consumption in cold climates, like in Canada, this approach can quickly inform where air barrier discontinuities occurred during construction or where to selectively target air sealing efforts in existing buildings. The observations from this study are presented, based on a thermographic image analysis during a depressurized blower door test at various pressures, in an attempt to quantify the relative rates of air leakage. The results from the investigation showed that infrared thermography (IRT) was able to discern locations and infer relative ratios of air leakage. The qualitative analysis showed that areas of air leakage are more evident under higher pressure difference. The quantitative approach showed that a minimum of 25 Pa pressure difference was required to detect the air leakage in the vicinity of the window frame, as the surface temperature decreased rapidly (almost 60% of the indoor surface/outdoor air temperature difference) at this pressure. A temperature index was defined to prioritize the areas of air leakage for retrofitting purposes. Furthermore, a thermal image subtraction method was used to determine the characteristics of the cracks based on thermal patterns. Finally, the practical implication of this study, for building developers, home inspectors, property mangers, and homeowners, is the early detection of air leakage for both existing and newly constructed buildings which could result in energy and cost savings.

Suggested Citation

  • Milad Mahmoodzadeh & Voytek Gretka & Stephen Wong & Thomas Froese & Phalguni Mukhopadhyaya, 2020. "Evaluating Patterns of Building Envelope Air Leakage with Infrared Thermography," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-16, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:14:p:3545-:d:382424
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/14/3545/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/14/3545/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kyung Hwa Cho & Sun Sook Kim, 2019. "Energy Performance Assessment According to Data Acquisition Levels of Existing Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Asdrubali, Francesco & Baldinelli, Giorgio & Bianchi, Francesco, 2012. "A quantitative methodology to evaluate thermal bridges in buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 365-373.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amjad Almusaed & Asaad Almssad & Asaad Alasadi & Ibrahim Yitmen & Sammera Al-Samaraee, 2023. "Assessing the Role and Efficiency of Thermal Insulation by the “BIO-GREEN PANEL” in Enhancing Sustainability in a Built Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-25, July.
    2. Yuqing Chang & Yuqian Wang & Wen Li & Zewen Wei & Shichuan Tang & Rui Chen, 2023. "Mechanisms, Techniques and Devices of Airborne Virus Detection: A Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-30, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kylili, Angeliki & Fokaides, Paris A. & Christou, Petros & Kalogirou, Soteris A., 2014. "Infrared thermography (IRT) applications for building diagnostics: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 531-549.
    2. Fokaides, Paris A. & Jurelionis, Andrius & Gagyte, Laura & Kalogirou, Soteris A., 2016. "Mock target IR thermography for indoor air temperature measurement," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 676-685.
    3. Francesco Asdrubali & Cinzia Buratti & Franco Cotana & Giorgio Baldinelli & Michele Goretti & Elisa Moretti & Catia Baldassarri & Elisa Belloni & Francesco Bianchi & Antonella Rotili & Marco Vergoni &, 2013. "Evaluation of Green Buildings’ Overall Performance through in Situ Monitoring and Simulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Blanca Tejedor & Eva Barreira & Vasco Peixoto de Freitas & Tomasz Kisilewicz & Katarzyna Nowak-Dzieszko & Umberto Berardi, 2020. "Impact of Stationary and Dynamic Conditions on the U-Value Measurements of Heavy-Multi Leaf Walls by Quantitative IRT," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Stefano Converso & Paolo Civiero & Stefano Ciprigno & Ivana Veselinova & Saffa Riffat, 2023. "Toward a Fast but Reliable Energy Performance Evaluation Method for Existing Residential Building Stock," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-24, May.
    6. Anna Życzyńska & Zbigniew Suchorab & Jan Kočí & Robert Černý, 2020. "Energy Effects of Retrofitting the Educational Facilities Located in South-Eastern Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-16, May.
    7. David Bienvenido-Huertas & Juan Antonio Fernández Quiñones & Juan Moyano & Carlos E. Rodríguez-Jiménez, 2018. "Patents Analysis of Thermal Bridges in Slab Fronts and Their Effect on Energy Demand," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, August.
    8. Asdrubali, Francesco & Baldinelli, Giorgio & Bianchi, Francesco & Costarelli, Danilo & Rotili, Antonella & Seracini, Marco & Vinti, Gianluca, 2018. "Detection of thermal bridges from thermographic images by means of image processing approximation algorithms," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 317(C), pages 160-171.
    9. Capozzoli, Alfonso & Gorrino, Alice & Corrado, Vincenzo, 2013. "A building thermal bridges sensitivity analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 229-243.
    10. Mohamed F. Zedan & Sami Al-Sanea & Abdulaziz Al-Mujahid & Zeyad Al-Suhaibani, 2016. "Effect of Thermal Bridges in Insulated Walls on Air-Conditioning Loads Using Whole Building Energy Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-20, June.
    11. Przemysław Brzyski & Magdalena Grudzińska & Martin Böhm & Grzegorz Łagód, 2022. "Energy Simulations of a Building Insulated with a Hemp-Lime Composite with Different Wall and Node Variants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-16, October.
    12. Shabunko, Veronika & Badrinarayanan, Samyuktha & Pillai, Dhanup S., 2021. "Evaluation of in-situ thermal transmittance of innovative building integrated photovoltaic modules: Application to thermal performance assessment for green mark certification in the tropics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    13. Martin, Miguel & Chong, Adrian & Biljecki, Filip & Miller, Clayton, 2022. "Infrared thermography in the built environment: A multi-scale review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    14. Albatici, Rossano & Tonelli, Arnaldo M. & Chiogna, Michela, 2015. "A comprehensive experimental approach for the validation of quantitative infrared thermography in the evaluation of building thermal transmittance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 218-228.
    15. Yang, Xinyan & Zhang, Shicong & Xu, Wei, 2019. "Impact of zero energy buildings on medium-to-long term building energy consumption in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 574-586.
    16. Akkurt, G.G. & Aste, N. & Borderon, J. & Buda, A. & Calzolari, M. & Chung, D. & Costanzo, V. & Del Pero, C. & Evola, G. & Huerto-Cardenas, H.E. & Leonforte, F. & Lo Faro, A. & Lucchi, E. & Marletta, L, 2020. "Dynamic thermal and hygrometric simulation of historical buildings: Critical factors and possible solutions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    17. Flores Larsen, Silvana & Hongn, Marcos, 2014. "Determining the infrared reflectance of specular surfaces by using thermographic analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 306-313.
    18. Yu Hou & Rebekka Volk & Lucio Soibelman, 2021. "A Novel Building Temperature Simulation Approach Driven by Expanding Semantic Segmentation Training Datasets with Synthetic Aerial Thermal Images," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-16, January.
    19. Miłosz Raczyński & Radosław Rutkowski, 2020. "How Pro-Environmental Legal Regulations Affect the Design Process and Management of Multi-Family Residential Buildings in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-23, October.
    20. Nuno Simões & Joana Prata & António Tadeu, 2019. "3D Dynamic Simulation of Heat Conduction through a Building Corner Using a BEM Model in the Frequency Domain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-27, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:14:p:3545-:d:382424. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.