The opaque areas in glazed wall systems, known as spandrel assemblies, often have poorer-than-expected thermal performance due to thermal bridging from the structural framing components that interrupts the insulation. A multiphase research program is seeking to address this performance gap. The program’s main goals are to develop a validated thermal simulation procedure for evaluating the thermal performance of spandrel assemblies and to provide guidance on how to improve spandrel thermal performance. This article summarizes Phase 1 of the study and includes a literature review, an industry survey, an evaluation of current practice, computational fluid dynamics simulations, and the development of a test program.
This article was published in IIBEC Interface, Spring 2025, and previously presented at the 2024 IIBEC/OBEC BES.