Investigating Thermal Bridges in Curtain Walls of High-Rise Building in Indonesia

Thermal comfort plays an important part when considering the performance of the building façade. One strategy to achieve thermal comfort is to reduce the thermal loss in the building envelope, which is often referred to as thermal bridges. Although the issue of thermal bridges has been extensively considered in the building design and construction, its contexts are predominantly addressed in the four-season countries due to the need for insulating materials during winter. In fact, this issue also has great relevance in tropical countries such as Indonesia, especially related to high energy consumption due to the cooling loads system. Thus, this study aims to analyze thermal bridges on curtain walls of high-rise buildings in Indonesia. To do so, a computational simulation workflow is developed by using THERM and Ladybug in Grasshopper. In parallel with that, on-site measurements are also conducted to gather the room and materials temperature by using HOBO temperature logger and FLIR thermal camera. As result, this study reveals that linear thermal bridges are found in the building element junction and they can significantly affect the building performance both interior and exterior. This study recommends addressing the issue of thermal bridges in Indonesian building codes.