Preliminary monitoring results of ventilated heavyweight building envelope from recycled aggregate

Syracuse, NY

Potential of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) has already been acknowledged by many researchers, but the focus was primarily on its mechanical and durability properties at material level. If the focus is shifted to element and whole building level, then the question can be raised; how building envelopes made from RAC behave when exposed to real environment? The present paper describes an experimental set up to monitor hygrothermal behaviour of one three-storey family house built with prefabricated ventilated sandwich wall panels made from recycled concrete and recycled brick aggregate. This type of building envelope can be classified as a heavyweight envelope. In ground-floor flat a wall in the living room facing south is analysed in terms of internal temperature evolution and humidity distribution. Conditions of indoor and outdoor environment were monitored as well. Time lag and decrement of temperature extremes were observed and these benefits can be attributed to the presence of thermal mass. Ventilation of air in cavity ensured acceptable humidity level in all characteristic layers of wall panel. Summer overheating occurred due to insufficiently shaded large transparent openings. Further step is validation of numerical model and assessing the suitability of presented envelope type to different climates. This paper indicates the great potential of RAC application in energy efficient and moisture safe building envelope design.

https://surface.syr.edu/ibpc/2018/posters/26