The study of heat flows in masonry walls in a thermal test building incorporating a window

Over the past four years the University of Newcastle, in conjunction with the Clay Brick and Paver Institute, has embarked on a research program to study the thermal performance of masonry construction under Australian climatic conditions. This has led to the construction of a guarded hot box apparatus and the instrumentation of three purpose-built modules on the university campus. This paper presents results for the third module which features a large north-facing window with the walls being constructed using cavity brickwork. The results indicate that the window becomes the dominant factor in the thermal performance with the exterior heavy mass walls being subjected to bi-directional heat flows. This report gives an overview of the instrumentation and data collection and describes typical results obtained during the six months of monitoring under free-floating internal conditions.