A Retrospective Look at 50 Years of the Outdoor Testing Field in Holzkirchen

摘要

The research tasks carried out in the outdoor testing field of Holzkirchen reflect the development in the field of heat insulation and moisture protection in the building sector after World War II. Almost all new developments in this field were tested at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics in Holzkirchen. The different points of view that influenced research objectives for almost two generations are remarkable. Whereas immediately after World War II economical use of material was of utmost priority because of lack of building and insulation material, our task today is to save energy by utilizing insulation materials. The fact that development and research cannot be free of the influence of economic policy, shows a proposal to increase the minimum thermal insulation values of external wall constructions. This proposal filed in the mid 1960s, was rejected on the grounds that the existing coal heaps had to be gradually eliminated first. By using the immense resources of experience and knowledge gained through experimental research, in combination with modern calculations methods, new possibilities were opened up in the last decade substituting time-consuming and expensive experiments. With the help of numerical simulations of that kind, supported and validated by the existing resources of experimental knowledge, experimental research can be amended and statements expanded.