Buildings consume large amounts of energy, and lighting consumes a substantial amount of this energy. Therefore, an alternative technology that depends more on natural lighting is needed in order to reduce the building energy consumption. In this paper, based on the excellent properties of light guiding and elasto-optic effect of optical fibre, a novel transparent concrete with plastic optical fibres (POFs) arranged into the concrete was developed and evaluated. The light transmitting performance of plastic optical fibre transparent concrete product (PTCP) was tested by optical power method. The ZEMAX software was used to simulate the transparent test, and the prediction model was established to predict the light transmittance of PTCP. The evaluation of the energy-saving effect due to the use of this building material was studied using the Autodesk Ecotect software. The results showed that PTCP possesses excellent light transmittance property, which was proportional to the content of the optical fibres. The model established by ZEMAX can effectively predict the transmittance of PTCP. The average daylighting factor of the room built with PTCP was increased by nearly 30%, the lighting uniformity was upgraded by nearly 40% and nearly 20% reduction in energy consumption was realised.
The development of new building materials is a crucial engine for promoting the development of green energy efficient buildings. In this paper, based on the excellent properties of light guiding of resin materials, a new type of resin translucent mortar-based concrete (RTMC) was researched; meanwhile, transmittance properties, mechanical properties, and thermal performance were studied, respectively. The results showed that the resin material possessed excellent light transmittance within the thickness of 100 mm, which can be as high as 93%. Moreover, when the area ratio was within 5%, the compressive strength of RTMC was close to that of plain concrete. Besides, RTMC had excellent thermal performance that the thermal conductivity of RTCM was 0.3815 w/(m·K), which was 60% lower than 0.89 w/(m·K) of plain concrete.
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