Numerical Study of Fire and Energy Performance of Innovative Light-weight 3D Printed Concrete Wall Configurations in Modular Building System

Thadshajini Suntharalingam, Gatheeshgar Perampalam, Irindu Upasiri, Keerthan Poologanathan*, Brabha Nagaratnam, Heshachanaa Rajanayagam, Satheeskumar Navaratnam

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)
89 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

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.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2314
Number of pages21
JournalSustainability
Volume13
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Feb 2021

Keywords

  • 3D printed concrete wall panels
  • Fire performance
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Finite element modelling
  • Insulation fire rating
  • Standard fire

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