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

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.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of 3D Concrete Printing and Casting Processes for Cementitious Materials Incorporating Ground Waste Tire Rubber

“…In this context, one can see the benefit of the design flexibility of 3D printing in building complex concrete structures (which are challenging to create with conventional manufacturing methods) with functional geometries in terms of thermo-acoustic damping. For instance, different cavity patterns in wall elements can be easily implemented by additive fabrication to improve the thermal and noise insulation performance while reducing the energy consumption within the life cycle of the concrete structure [35].…”

Finite Element Modelling to Predict the Fire Performance of Bio-Inspired 3D-Printed Concrete Wall Panels Exposed to Realistic Fire

“…Therefore, researchers previously investigated some 3D-printed concrete non-load-bearing wall panels with different cross-sectional configurations, such as triangular, lattice, and sinusoid, with a focus on investigating fire resistance and thermal behaviour under standard fire conditions and different real fire circumstances. (i.e., hydrocarbon fire, rapid fire, and prolonged fire) [16,17,30,50].…”

3D printed concrete components and structures: an overview

“…Besides, Nguyen et al [29] suggested that the 3D printed cellular structure has extensive application prospects such as coastal protection blocks, noise insulation panels and so on. To compare the fire performance of varying 3D printed concrete walls, the finite element analysis was carried by Suntharalingam et al [43] and the results showed that 3D printed non-load bearing cavity walls had superior fire resistance. To create an energy-saving and comfortable environment, a guideline was presented by Alkhalidi et al [44] by investigating the thermal comfort of 3D printed structures.…”