Thermal Bridge Heat Transfer & Vapour Diffusion Simulation Program AnTherm Version 6.115 - 10.137

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Air Cavity Calculator (Tool)

Air Cavity Calculator - Small Rectangular CavitiesThe Air Cavity Calculator window is used as a tool for rapid calculation of equivalent heat conductivity of small air cavities and air gaps based on the input of their dimensions and heat stream direction.

To calculate equivalent heat conductivity (lambda) the application uses formulas defining calculation of heat transfer resistance of air spaces described in EN ISO 6946:2005 Appendix B - please be aware of limitations related to its application (e.g. small, closed air cavities).
Calculation regulation are geared to European norms EN ISO 6946 and EN ISO 10077-2 and cover two dimensional calculations.

This tool can be started from the menu Tools.

Heat Stream direction Definition of heat stream direction:
  • Horizontal (default)
  • Upwards
  • Downwards
Size in stream direction The size of the cavity measured in the heat stream direction (thickness).
Remark: Thickness and width can be swapped via a context menu.
perpendicular to str. dir. The size of the cavity perpendicular to the stream direction (width)
Remark: Thickness and width can be swapped via a context menu.
Temperature difference dT The difference of temperature between cavity boundaries in the heat stream direction.
Remark: According to normative regulations one shall set the temperature difference, if exact value is not known, accordingly.
Buttons "5K (EN 6946)" and "10K (EN 10077) set this value to one of magnitudes required in these respective regulations.
Equiv. Resistance Equivalent heat transfer resistance of particular air cavity
Equiv. Lambda Equivalent heat conductivity of particular air cavity
Result Calculation result is replaced by the actual value.
A double click on this button results in an assignment of the calculation result to currently selected elements of element list.
Remark: The button is also used a a source of a drag-drop operation of material property of a equivalent material.

Remark: An air cavity will consist of only one element rarely; usually an air cavity is described by a group of several elements.

Air Cavity Calculatro - Small Non Rectangular CavitiesFor the very usual case of non rectangular air cavities normative regulations define following procedure to account for:

An equivalent conductivity is to be calculated for a fictive rectangular cavity. Such fictive cavity shall be constructed as follows:

  1. create a rectangle surrounding the cavity of interest.
  2. the area of a fictive cavity rectangle shall be equal to the area original (non rectangular) cavity.
  3. the ratio of width to the height of the fictive rectangle cavity shall be the same as of the rectangle surrounding the original.

The conductivity calculated for such fictive rectangular cavity is the used instead for the (non rectangular) original air cavity.

Heat Stream direction Definition of heat stream direction:
  • Horizontal (default)
  • Upwards
  • Downwards
Thickness (stream dir.) The thickness of the rectangle surrounding the cavity measured in the heat stream direction.
Remark: Thickness and width can be swapped via a context menu.
Width The width of the rectangle surrounding the cavity (perpendicular to the thickness)
Remark: Thickness and width can be swapped via a context menu.
Area The actual are of the real (non rectangular) air cavity
Temperature difference dT The difference of temperature between cavity boundaries in the heat stream direction.
Equiv. Lambda Equivalent heat conductivity of particular air cavity
Result Calculation result is replaced by the actual value.
A double click on this button results in an assignment of the calculation result to currently selected elements of element list.
Remark: The button is also used a a source of a drag-drop operation of material property of a equivalent material.

Remark: For this procedure the most sophisticated it is to calculate the real are of the non rectangular cavity itself.

Air cavity dimension picked from element selection

This air cavity calculator provides a feature allowing automatic acquisition of area and dimension values from current element selection. Already selected temperature difference and stream direction are not affected. Only dimensions of the rectangle surrounding selected element(s) and the sum of its/their respective area(s) are automatically calculated and transferred into calculator.
Possibly one will have to swap the thickness and width manually (via the context menu or respective button) to adjust to the fact, that the thickness must be specified parallel to the assumed stream direction!

Applying the result onto selected elements

A double click onto the button "Result" will apply the calculated result of equivalent conductance onto all material elements currently selected within the element list.
For the material's name a text "Cavity dir t=..w=..(A=...) dT=..." is used.

Remark: The result (equivalent lambda) can be drag-dropped from the button "Result" directly onto am element within element editor or onto elements (Element list, Elements 2D) or event into material list.

As an alternative, to assign the result (an equivalent lambda), on can use the clipboard also: Click onto the result field "Equiv. Lambda" with the right mouse button and select "Copy". Then you are able to paste the resulting value into the lambda input field of the element editor or material editor within the material list (by pasting it from the clipboard there).
 

Remark: The exact direction of stream flow is known in advance within multi dimensional calculations. This means, that the requirement to decide the correct choice of the "width" and "thickness" for the cavity cannot be fulfilled easily. It is user's decision to estimate the right heat stream direction by some heuristics based on his experience („along the x- or y-axis“).

Note: You shall switch between input fields by using the TAB-key. Using that key confirms the data entry. On the other hand it provides a good alternative compared to permanent mouse use.

Additional remarks

  • The standalone version of the tool can be invoked with an argument of "en" or "de" to work in the language different from the operating system default.

 

See also: Element Editor, Materials window, Element selection window, Elements 2D window


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