[GSBN] Can someone validate RT's US R to (metric) lambda conversion?

[stoneandstraw]

All,
As I said in Bruce's book, the tests that showed a difference of R-value per inch for differently oriented bales were not the same tests that provided the R1.45/inch.  I believe that all of the tests previous to the one overseen by David Eisenberg and Jeff Christian at ORNL, were flawed in one way or another.  That includes (1) the tests that I oversaw in Fresno the year before, and (2) the one done by Jeff Christian at ORNL a couple years before that.  
The tests that showed a lower thermal resistance per inch for flat bales versus bales on edge (Fresno), had significant issues with non-uniform density (we stuffed the top 4-6" of the wall with straw as best we could after reffing down on the bales with airline strap and levers), and with incomplete drying before the tests were initiated.  We had little ability at that commercial lab to do those tests differently, but we still recognized that the tests did not very accurately represent real-world condidtions.  ORNL in their test the next year, created their test buck in such a way that the compressed bales fully filled the hole, and they were able to set the test wall aside long enough that it completely dried before testing.  ORNL's test procedures were well informed by what was discovered in the previous tests.
I am not going to attempt to convert from U.S. performance numbers to metric, but I will advise that one ought to start from R1.45/inch U.S.  ...or, equivalently, a U-factor of 0.6897.
Hope this helps.
Nehemiah Stone

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <contact at lamaisonenpaille.com>
To: "GSBN" <GSBN at greenbuilder.com>
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 8:48 AM
Subject: [GSBN] Can someone validate RT's US R to (metric) lambda conversion?


> Hello,
> 
> For the purpose of publishing Bruce Kings book "Design of SB Buildings" 
> in french I would appreciate someone from this list confirming Rob Tom's 
> conversion below (for page 187):
>> A thermal resistivity of 1.45 ft^2*hr*degF/Btu*inch (Murrican)
>> converts to 10.05 m^2*degC/W*m (SIU).
>>
>> The thermal conductivity, or lambda value = 1 / thermal resistivity
>>                                           = 1 / 10.05  m^2*degC/W*m
>>                                           = 0.0994 W/mK  lambda (λ)
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> André de Bouter
> La Maison en Paille
> www.lamaisonenpaille.com
> 
> 
> 
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