Thermal resistance values for composite wall and roof systems were evaluated numerically for the design of an energy-efficient housing system. Special emphasis was on identifying thermal short circuits inherent in such structures and suggesting modified designs. The computer program HEATING-V was modified to obtain the solutions.

An estimation of the average thermal resistance value for the front wall and the roof system of a residential two-story house was obtained in this study. Two-dimensional sections of the wall system and the roof were considered and analyzed to compute local thermal resistance values. The weak spots of the thermal design were thus identified so that corrective measures could be taken. Finally, the local values were space averaged to give the overall thermal resistance values of the building system.