Numerical Investigations of the Thermal Properties of Window Systems: A Review

Windows are an essential part of building envelopes since they enhance the appearance of the building, allow daylight and solar heat to come in, and allow people to observe outside. However, conventional windows tend to have poor U-values, which cause significant heat losses during the winter season and undesired heat gain in summer. Modern glazing technologies are therefore required to improve thermal resistance and comfort of the occupants, whilst mitigating the energy consumption of buildings. In the present work, a comprehensive review of the numerical investigations of the thermal properties of window systems and glazed buildings partitions is presented. However, the proposed models to predict the thermal performance most often concern only specific cases of window systems related to geometry and used material solutions, focused on specific physical processes, thus they contain a lot of simplifications, such as omitting the influence of radiation, temperature changes or velocity profiles.