Experimental Investigation of the Multi-Physical Properties of an Energy Efficient Translucent Concrete Panel for a Building Envelope

The multi-physical properties of the building envelope play a major role in the energy efficiency of buildings. Translucent concrete panels (TCPs) with various volumetric ratios of optical fibers (OFs) were cast. To understand the multi-physical properties of the TCP for the building envelope, compressive strength, thermal and light transmittance tests were carried out. The compressive strength test showed that TCP with light-weight mortar (LWM) has higher strength compared to that with normal-weight mortar (NWM), but it did not exhibit an apparent ductile behavior. The U-values of the plain panel were 4.25 and 5.45 W/(m² K) for TCPs with the LWM and NWM, respectively. The existence of the OFs improved the thermal insulation property. The K-values of the LWM TCP were smaller than that of the common façade, which proved its excellent energy-efficient performance. The solar heat gain coefficients (G-values) of the two tested TCP types—LWM and NWM—were 0.198 and 0.242, respectively. The visible light transmission test showed that the light transmitted by the TCP was proportional to the density of the OFs in a matrix of concrete. The experimental light acceptance angle of the OF was close to the computational value (35 °C). Therefore, all the experimental results demonstrated that TCPs can improve the energy efficiency of buildings.