KRANZLER, THOMAS1

1) Dr.-Ing., Association of the German Brick and Tile Industry, Bonn, kranzler@ziegel.de

Monolithic external masonry walls do not need additional (exposed) thermal insulation. Nevertheless they have to fulfil all requirements with respect to structural design, mechanics, fire design etc.. Not just since the energy-saving ambitions of the European Commission which had been put down in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in 2002, have the German Clay Industry optimized their products with the aim to reduce the thermal conductivity. The results till now are thermal-insulating blocks with thermal conductivities as low as  = 0.07 W/mK. The paper presents these products and their performance regarding the requirements nowadays taking into account the general and the specific requirements for this type of masonry structure, in particular the wall-slab-junction. Furthermore a proposal to enhance Eurocode 6 will be presented to improve the design of monolithic masonry.

Keywords: monolithic masonry, thermal-insulating clay blocks, EPBD, energy saving, load bearing capacity, thermal bridge, wall-slab-junction