Abstract
During January and May, 2009, two configurations of steel-framed walls constructed with conventional 2×4 steel studs insulated with R-19 ~14cm. (5.5-in. thick) and R-13 ~9cm. (3.5-in. thick) fiberglass insulation batts were tested in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) guarded hot-box using ASTM C1363 test procedure. The first test wall used conventional 2×4 steel studs insulated with 2.5-cm. (1-in.) thick foam profiles, called stud snugglers. These stud snugglers converted the 2×4 wall assembly into a 2×6 assembly allowing application of R-19 fiberglass insulation. The second wall tested for comparison was a conventional 2×4 steel stud wall using R-13 insulation batts.
Further, numerical simulations were performed in order to evaluate the steady-state thermal performance of various wood- and steel-framed wall assemblies. The effects of adding the stud-snugglers to the wood and steel studs were also investigated numerically. Different combinations of insulation and framing factor were used in the simulations.