Thermal performance of sandwich insulation system for apartment buildings according to the shear connectors and insulation

Highly insulated envelope or external insulation systems are being applied in recent energy saving buildings to reduce the heat loss through envelope. Internal insulation systems are applied to most apartments in Korea because they are inexpensive and convenient to construct. However, the internal insulation systems have poor performance because of the heat bridges through structures such as slabs. The external insulation systems have better thermal performance because the heat bridges through the structure are rarely formed. However, it has problems regarding the external insulator separation because of strong winds, spread of fire because of insulator combustion in case of fire, formation of heat bridges through the connectors between structure and external insulation. In this study, the thermal performance of the sandwich insulation system for apartment buildings was evaluated according to the shear connectors and insulation materials.