• Suchorzewskib, Jan
• Beltran, Gabriel
• Voigt, Pamela
• Gimeno, José Manuel Bielsa
• Ortún-Terrazas, Javier

Abstract

The scarcity of natural resources and the increasing awareness of the need to reduce energy consumption have driven the adoption of principles such as "Zero Waste Energy Building" in the development of construction materials. In this context, lightweight and insulating materials like Cellular Lightweight Concrete (CLC) and aerogel, reinforced by other materials, such as Textile-Reinforced Concrete (TRC), represent a promising avenue to meet these objectives by enabling more efficient and sustainable structures [1]. The behavior of these composite materials is complex due to the interaction of several variables at different scales. Hence, for instance, in a wall façade panel of CLC with aerogel covered by TRC layers, the thickness of the aerogel structure is a few nanometers, while layer thickness and woven structure size are in millimeters. Due to this complex interrelationship, the configuration of this combination requires numerous experimental tests, which could be partially avoided by simulation-based design tools [2].In this work [3], a multiscale methodology is presented to assess the impact of various parameters on the thermal insulation of reinforced CLC. To achieve this, a simulation framework has been developed based on the Representative Elementary Volume (REV) analysis, Finite Element Method (FEM), homogenization algorithms, geometric optimization like Voronoi, and Discrete Element Method (DEM) for sphere packing. The methodology has been calibrated and validated using experimental results at the material, composite, and component levels. As a result, this methodology has allowed for the assessment of factors ranging from the impact of microporosity on aerogel conductivity to the effect of increasing panel thickness on the mechanical strength and insulation properties of the component. It has proven to be a powerful tool for the design and analysis of complex panels. Figure 1. Scheme of the panel studied.Besides thermomechanical behavior, future works should also include metaphysical phenomena such as fire resistance, chemical degradation, or the influence of humidity on property loss or element resistance. References[1] Miccoli, L., Fontana, P., Silva, N., Klinge, A.,, & Sjöström, C. J. Facade Des. Eng. 3(1), 91-102 (2015). [2] Cappelli, L., Balokas, G., Montemurro, M., Dau, F., & Guillaumat, L. Compos. B: Eng. 176, 107193. (2019). [3] iclimabuilt Project supported by Horizon 2020. https://iclimabuilt.eu/

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• simulation
• strength
• composite
• homogenization
• woven
• discrete element method