Heat flow lines: Each line represents an equivalent amount of heat flow through the wall. The concentration of heat flow increases slightly around the wood stud, and much more dramatically at the steel stud. The many lines at each side of the steel stud seem to disappear because they all converge (overlap) at the flange.

Illustrations courtesy Alex McGowan, Enermodal Engineering. These plots were created with Enermodal’s Frame computer program and were modified for clarity.