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 language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2314 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-21 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Sustainability (Switzerland) |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Feb 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Authors would like to acknowledge the financial and technical support of Northumbria University, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and RMIT University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.