TY - JOUR
T1 - Numerical Study of Fire and Energy Performance of Innovative Light-weight 3D Printed Concrete Wall Configurations in Modular Building System
AU - Suntharalingam, Thadshajini
AU - Perampalam, Gatheeshgar
AU - Upasiri, Irindu
AU - Poologanathan, Keerthan
AU - Nagaratnam, Brabha
AU - Rajanayagam, Heshachanaa
AU - Navaratnam, Satheeskumar
PY - 2021/2/20
Y1 - 2021/2/20
N2 - 3D Printed Concrete (3DPC) technology is currently evolving with high demand amongst researches and the integration of modular building system (MBS) with this technology would provide a sustainable solution to modern construction challenges. The use of lightweight concrete in such innovative construction methods offers lightweight structures with better heat and sound insulation compared to normal weight concrete. It is worth noting that fire and energy performance has become central to building design. However, there are limited research studies on the combined thermal energy and fire performance of 3DPC walls. Therefore, this study investigates fire performance of 20 numbers of varying 3DPC wall configurations using validated finite element models under standard fire conditions. The fire performance analysis demonstrated that 3DPC non-load bearing cavity walls have substantial resistance under standard fire load and its performance can be further improved with Rockwool insulation. There is significant improvement in terms of fire performance when the thickness of the walls increases in a parallel row manner. Previous thermal energy investigation also showed a lower U-value for increased thickness of similar 3DPC walls. This research concludes with a proposal of using 3DPC wall with Rockwool insulation for amplified combined thermal energy and fire performance to be used in MBS.
AB - 3D Printed Concrete (3DPC) technology is currently evolving with high demand amongst researches and the integration of modular building system (MBS) with this technology would provide a sustainable solution to modern construction challenges. The use of lightweight concrete in such innovative construction methods offers lightweight structures with better heat and sound insulation compared to normal weight concrete. It is worth noting that fire and energy performance has become central to building design. However, there are limited research studies on the combined thermal energy and fire performance of 3DPC walls. Therefore, this study investigates fire performance of 20 numbers of varying 3DPC wall configurations using validated finite element models under standard fire conditions. The fire performance analysis demonstrated that 3DPC non-load bearing cavity walls have substantial resistance under standard fire load and its performance can be further improved with Rockwool insulation. There is significant improvement in terms of fire performance when the thickness of the walls increases in a parallel row manner. Previous thermal energy investigation also showed a lower U-value for increased thickness of similar 3DPC walls. This research concludes with a proposal of using 3DPC wall with Rockwool insulation for amplified combined thermal energy and fire performance to be used in MBS.
KW - 3D printed concrete wall panels
KW - Fire performance
KW - Energy Efficiency
KW - Finite element modelling
KW - Insulation fire rating
KW - Standard fire
U2 - 10.3390/su13042314
DO - 10.3390/su13042314
M3 - Article
SN - 1937-0695
VL - 13
JO - Sustainability
JF - Sustainability
IS - 4
M1 - 2314
ER -