Abstract
In the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, the European Commission financed the project EASEE (2012–2016), which was aimed at developing façade solutions for the energy retrofitting of multi-storey multi-owners existing residential buildings, built in an historical period in which no specific attention was paid to the energy issue. For the outer envelope, the consortium proposed textile reinforced concrete precast sandwich panels. The high durability, high aesthetic potential, low impact on occupant life during installation, and increase in impact resistance make this solution competitive with the exterior insulation and finishing system, now the most widespread energy retrofitting method adopted on existing buildings. Within the project, the panel has been mechanically investigated at multiple scales, and finally applied on some demo-buildings. This paper presents the investigation of the bending behavior of full-size panels up to failure when tested according to four-point bending scheme, focusing the attention on the effects of the production procedure and panel details on the structural behavior. The capability of expanded polystyrene in transferring shear stresses to the external TRC layers—already exhibited by specimens at lab-scale—is here verified on full-size elements. In addition, a numerical model—already validated for lab-scale sandwich beams—is here applied in order to check its reliability for the design of full-scale panel.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 may 2010 on the energy performance of buildings
Davies J (2001) Lightweight sandwich construction. Wiley, Hoboken
Benayoune A, Samad A, Trikha D, Ali A, Ellinna S (2008) Flexural behaviour of pre-cast concrete sandwich composite panel—Experimental and theoretical investigations. Constr Build Mater 22:580–592
Naito C, Hoemann J, Beacraft M, Bewick B (2011) Performance and characterization of shear ties for use in insulated precast concrete sandwich wall panels. J Struct Eng 138:52–61
Salmon D, Einea A, Tadros M, Culp T (1997) Full scale testing of precast concrete sandwich panels. ACI Structural Journal 94:354–362
Einea A, Salmon DC, Fogarasi GJ, Culp TD, Tadros MK (1991) State-of-the-art of Precast Concrete Sandwich Panels. PCI Journal 36:78–92
Hegger J, Horstmann M (2009) Light-weight TRC sandwich building envelopes. Excellence in concrete construction through innovation, pp 187–194
Shams A, Horstmann M, Hegger J (2014) Experimental investigations on Textile-Reinforced Concrete (TRC) sandwich sections. Compos Struct 118:643–653
Colombo M, di Prisco M, Zecca C (2008) On the coupling of soft materials with thin layers of Glass Fibre Reinforced mortar. In: Proceedings of CCC 2008—challenges for civil construction, Porto, Portugal, on CD
Dey V, Zani G, Colombo M, di Prisco M, Mobasher B (2015) Flexural impact response of textile-reinforced aerated concrete sandwich panels. Mater Des 86:187–197
di Prisco M, Ferrara L, Lamperti M, Lapolla S, Magri A, Zani G (2012) Sustainable roof elements: a proposal offered by cementitious composites technology. In Fardis MN (ed) Innovative materials and techniques in concrete construction. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp 167–181
di Prisco M, Zani G (2012) Experimental and numerical analysis of advanced cementitious composites for sustainable roof elements. In: Proceedings of the Numerical modeling—Strategies for Sustainable Concrete Structures—Aix-en-Provance, France
Ferrara L, Colombo M, di Prisco M, Zecca C (2008) Sandwich panels with glass fiber reinforced surfaces for affordable housing. In: Proceedings of CCC 2008—challenges for civil construction, Porto, Portugal on CD
Müller F, Kohlmeyer C, Schnell J (2012) Load-bearing behaviour of sandwich strips with XPS-core and reinforced HPC-facings. In: Ultra-high performance concrete and nanotechnology in construction, proceedings of hipermat 2012—3rd international symposium on UHPC and nanotechnology for high performance construction materials. Kassel University Press, Kassel, pp 781–788
Vervloet J, Van Itterbeeck P, Verbruggen S, El Kadi M, De Munck M, Wastiels J, Tysmans T (2019) Experimental investigation of the buckling behaviour of Textile Reinforced Cement sandwich panels with varying face thickness using Digital Image Correlation. Constr Build Mater 194:24–31
Williams Portal N, Flansbjer M, Zandi K, Wlasak L, Malaga K (2017) Bending behaviour of novel Textile Reinforced Concrete-foamed concrete (TRC-FC) sandwich elements. Compos Struct 177:104–118
Colombo IG, Colombo M, di Prisco M, Salvalai G, Sesana MM (2018) TRC sandwich panel for energy retrofitting exposed to environmental loading, ACI SP-326, pp 76.1–76.10
Colombo IG (2015) Multilayer precast façade panel: structural optimization for energy retrofitting. PhD thesis. PhD in Structural, Seismic and Geotechnical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Colombo IG, Colombo M, di Prisco M (2015) Tensile behavior of textile reinforced concrete subjected to freezing-thawing cycles in un-cracked and cracked regimes. Cem Concr Res 73:169–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2015.03.001
Colombo IG, Colombo M, di Prisco M (2015) Bending behaviour of Textile Reinforced Concrete sandwich beams. Constr Build Mater 95:675–685
Colombo IG, Colombo M, di Prisco M (2015) TRC precast façade sandwich panel for energy retrofitting of existing buildings. ACI SP-305, pp 30.1–30.10
Colombo IG, Colombo M, di Prisco M, Pouyaei F (2018) Analytical and numerical prediction of the bending behaviour of textile reinforced concrete sandwich beams. Journal of Building Engineering 17:183–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2018.02.012
Colombo IG, Colombo M, di Prisco M (2016) TRC multilayer precast façade panel: structural behavior in freezing-thawing condition. In: Proceedings of the II international conference on concrete sustainability ICCS16, Madrid, June 13th–15th, 2016
EN 196-1. 2005. Methods of testing cement—part 1: determination of strength
Colombo IG, Colombo M, Magri A, Zani G, di Prisco M (2011) Textile reinforced mortar at high temperatures. In: Proceedings of “Protect 2011—performance, protection and strengthening of structures under extreme loading, Lugano, August 30th–September 1st, 2011
UNI EN 13163 (2009) Thermal insulation products for buildings—factory made products of expanded polystyrene (EPS)—specification
Hegger J, Will N, Curbach M, Jesse F (2004) Tragverhalten von textilbewehrtem Beton. Beton- und Stahlbetonbau 99:452–455
Deshpande VS, Flek N (2000) Isotropic Constitutive Model for Metallic Foams. J Mech Phys Solids 48:1253–1276
Lee J, Fenves G (1998) Plastic-Damage Model for Cyclic Loading of Concrete Structures. Journal of Engineering Mechanics 124(8):892–900
Brameshuber W, Brockmann T, Curbach M, Meyer C, Vilkner G, Mobasher B et al (2006) Textile reinforced concrete—state-of-the-art. In Brameshuber W (ed) Report of RILEM Technical Committee 201-TRC. RILEM Publications
Colombo IG, Magri A, Zani G, Colombo M, di Prisco M (2013) Textile Reinforced Concrete: experimental investigation on design parameters. Mater Struct 46(11):1933–1951
Materials Data Book (2003) Cambridge University Engineering Department
ASTM International A473—17a: Standard specification for stainless steel forgings
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Gavazzi for the supply of AR glass fabric, Magnetti Bulding for the casting of the panels, Stam for the design of the mould for vertical casting, Halfen for the production of HPFRC boxes and DSC-Erba for the design cooperation. The research was financially supported by the European “EASEE” project, Grant Agreement No. 285540, Thematic Priority: EeB.NMP.2011-3—Energy saving technologies for buildings envelope retrofitting, Starting date of project: 1st of March 2012, Duration: 48 months.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Colombo, I.G., Colombo, M. & di Prisco, M. Precast TRC sandwich panels for energy retrofitting of existing residential buildings: full-scale testing and modelling. Mater Struct 52, 104 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-019-1406-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-019-1406-1