AnTherm Help

AnTherm^®

Analysis of Thermal behaviour of
Building Constructions with
Heat and Vapour Bridges

AnTherm® is a powerful modern application used for the "analysis of thermal behaviour of building components with heat and vapour bridges". It calculates temperature distribution and heat flows and/or vapour diffusion flows in building structures of arbitrary form and complex material composition - particularly such with thermal bridges. It presents critical condensing air humidity (dew point) at all component's surfaces and shows the distribution of partial vapour pressure in component's interior. This application is also suitable for analysing dynamic behaviour of building components (for periodic, harmonic, transient boundary conditions).

For the technically qualified designer, AnTherm is a reliable, indispensable tool in meeting the demands of the current European standards (EN) for evaluating thermal performance thoroughly and precisely.

In particular the program allows the calculation of:

• steady state (stationary) and transient calculation of temperature distribution of components in two- and three dimensional modelling ,
• fully automatic calculation of the matrix of thermal coupling coefficients L^2D or L^3D,
• completely automated calculation of linear thermal transmittance Ψ (psi)
• transient periodic, harmonic calculation of the matrix of dynamic (harmonic) coupling coefficients (with the HARMONIC-Option),
• fully automatic calculation of temperature weighting factors (fRsi, g) at coldest surface points of every spaces,
• equally appropriate for very detailed modelling (e.g. facade constructions, window frames, ...) and for very large calculation cases (e.g. components at ground surface, complete spaces, groups of spaces, ...) ,
• calculation and presentation of critical condensing air humidity (dew point) at all component's surfaces,
• calculation and presentation of partial vapour pressure and, by comparing it to the saturation pressure, simple identification of condensation risk in component's interior (with the VAPOUR-Option),
• extensive three dimensional graphical evaluation (visualization) also dynamically, under time dependant, periodic boundary conditions.

AnTherm® - validated according to EN ISO 10211: AnTherm has been qualified as a "Class A precision tool" – as for two- and three-dimensional, steady state precision method. It also fulfils all requirements raised in EN ISO 10077 for the simulation program to qualify it as standard method for calculation of heat flow through frames of windows, doors and shutters.

• Table of contents •
• Copyright •
• License Terms and Conditions of Use •
• Validation according to EN ISO 10211:2007 •
• Validation according to EN ISO 10077-2:2003 •
• System requirements •
• Short reference •
• Installation of the software •
• Introduction •
• Country specific localisation •
• Starting AnTherm •
• Project types •
• Coordinate system •
• Results and Evaluation •
• Primary Concepts •
• Main application window •
• Editing windows (Input windows) •
• Evaluation & Results windows •
• Dialog windows •
• Further control elements •
• Working with files •
• Application Settings (dialog) •
• Theoretical background •
• Tutorials and Cookbooks •
• FAQ - Questions & Answers •

Daily experience gained so far by using the program AnTherm® have impressively proven, that the input, calculation and the evaluation part of the program satisfy highest demands regarding highest complexity of calculated components.

Very high resolution (e.g. modelling at 1/10 mm ranges or less) as well as very large models (e.g. complete building assemblies or components in contact with ground) can be easily dealt with.

Major strengths of that software, like unlimited number of elements, easy to control and flexible graphical evaluations even with very large computational cases, direct calculation of thermal coupling coefficients and temperature weighting factors, etc. have been implemented very carefully in AnTherm®.

Essential properties of the program

With respect to input data, AnTherm

• facilitates the generation of geometrical models by supporting a graphic input display of building structures, as well as by providing an entirely independent, fully automatic method of fine subdivision (which can also be influenced by the user through manual manipulation of parameters).
• delivers complete input model documentation (geometry of material elements, thermal design values of materials, spaces, heat sources...) upon request.
• allows the precision of numerical solutions to be influenced and controlled by the user (definition of calculation parameters).

Evaluation results yielded by AnTherm are conformant to European Standards and include:

• generally applicable results in the form of g-values and conductance matrices. These conform to the temperature weighting factors and "thermal coupling coefficients" defined in the European Standards, including the required information on calculation precision.
• specific results, applicable to particular air temperature conditions in spaces thermally coupled by the building components analyzed, in the form of surface temperature minima and maxima as well as respective dewpoints.
• graphic plots and prints of isotherms, surface temperatures or temperatures along an edge (2- or 3-dim. models), as well as heat flow diagrams (not limited to 2-dim. models only, but also in 3D).

Furthermore, fully automatic execution of calculation with AnTherm is given even in the event of poorly conditioned calculation cases. The maximum quantity of balanceable cells is nearly unlimited (many millions), thus making the thorough analysis of large, three-dimensional models feasible. Complex cases are given, for example, by

•  components or spaces in contact with ground.
•  entire spatial envelopes or groups of spaces.
•  detailed modelling of complicated assemblies (window frame and installation details, steel structures, etc.).

The thermal performance of building assemblies with overall dimensions of up to app. 100 m can be simulated with AnTherm.
Limitations to the scope of evaluation depend on the PC hardware implemented.