Effect of test conditions on the experimental determination of thermal conductivity of walls by means of heat flow meters

The use of heat flow-meters to measure thermal conductivity of walls has a larger margin of error compared with other laboratory tests. The aim of this work is to investigate which variables can influence the measurement results. Computational simulations are elaborated, changing the heat transfer coefficients on surfaces, the thermal conductivity and the thickness of walls, the configuration of probes on the wall. The results of the simulations are collected in tables containing the errors on thermal conductivity values due to different factors. Moreover, experimental tests are done on a wall specimen following indications of simulations results. This work shows computational and experimental results.