Analysis of Existing Approaches to Specifying and Determining of Window Air Permeability

The paper presents an analytical review of the issue of determining and assigning the air permeability of window structures. For this purpose, both the provisions of the current regulatory and technical documentation of a number of countries, as well as the results of scientific research on the subject under consideration, were considered. As a result, it was established that the current standard value of windows air permeability is specified based only on considerations of energy saving. At the same time, this characteristic is assigned for the statistically average operating conditions. The existing methods for calculating and determining the air permeability of windows don’t correspond to the real operating conditions because they don’t take into account the whole complex of climatic influences to which the windows are exposed (outside temperature variations, wind pressure pulsation). The experience of operation, as well as a number of studies conducted, shows that for the above reasons, in winter there is a significant increase in the air permeability of window structures, this leads to a violation of the comfort of the microclimate near the window (drafts, etc.). The normative value of windows air permeability specified based on the comfort conditions of microclimate should be introduced in design practice, as well as a universal calculation method for determining the air permeability of windows that meets their real operating conditions and takes into account their design features.

A.P. KONSTANTINOV, Candidate of Sciences (Engineering) (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.),
I.S. AKSENOV, Master’s degree (postgraduate student)

National Research Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (26, Yaroslavskoe Highway, Moscow, 129337, Russian Federation)

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