ABSTRACT
This chapter explains elementary principles of heat transfer associated with thermal insulation and airtightness and demonstrates implementation in dynamic simulation. Scale model experiments with thermal insulation were conducted by author's students as part of coursework in Environmental Design. In the first 'insulation inside' case the outer cavity is filled with sand and the inner cavity with thermal insulation. In the second 'insulation outside' case the outer cavity is filled with thermal insulation and the inner cavity with sand. Airtightness tests during the construction phase are essential to reveal and rectify any imperfections in the building envelope. Airtightness tests should be carried out in every single building. In housing projects it is a common practice to test only a sample of the total number of houses being built, which leaves a majority of houses untested and potentially with worse airtightness than the tested sample.
