Steel elements that bridge across the insulation in a building enclosure can cause significant heating and cooling energy loss in a building, adversely affecting a building’s energy performance and the comfort of inhabitants – but they don’t have to. A number of effective mitigation techniques exist and other are under development to combat this issue.
As buildings become tighter and more insulated, it becomes increasingly important to address thermal steel bridging. Matthew D. Brady, PE, LEED GA, from the Chicago-based American Institute of Steel Construction will explain the issues and present practical solutions. He will address the use of manufactured structural thermal break assemblies, proprietary support systems, thermal ‘shims’, isolation techniques, and others. The issue of the thermal capacity of buildings will also be explored from the perspective of system mass, exposed thermal area and the heat propagating properties of materials.
Bring your lunch; beverages provided.
Speaker: Matthew D. Brady, PE, LEED Green Associate, works with project decision makers to connect members of the design team with the resources of the steel production and fabrication community to help assess the viability of a structural steel option on upcoming projects. He is also an educational resource to the design community on technical and economic aspects of building with structural steel.
Prior to becoming Upper Midwest Regional Engineer for AISC, Matthew worked as an advisor in AISC’s Steel Solutions Center for three years. He developed conceptual solutions for many steel structures including parking garages, multi-story residential, office, industrial, educational, and healthcare buildings. Before joining AISC, Matthew worked in a variety of roles including construction, forensics, and design both as a consulting engineer and an internal designer for A/E firms. He has worked on design of bridges, buildings and non-building structures involving steel design, detailing, fabrication, and erection. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
