Steel is becoming a very important constructive element in Brazil's civil construction, because of the steel structure advantages presented. Adding all these advantages together with good design, buildings in metallic structure are becoming an effective system with the additional gain of earlier building occupation. In order to correctly select the insulation panels, it is necessary to observe both the constructive details and their thermal performance. This work presents the results of a comparative study on the thermal performance of several closing systems existing in the Brazilian market intended for small buildings using metallic structures for the Usiteto housing program. In this study, climate architectural principles, material properties as well as external and internal heat sources regarding the analyzed environment were taken into consideration. Computational simulations using the ESP-r program were performed and the results allow to determine which type of insulation element is the best to obtain the ideal thermal comfort for the users.
steel structure; small building; insulation panels; thermal performance
