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Open AccessArticle

Simulation of the Hygro-Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of Earth Brick Walls in Their Environment

by Lamyaa Laou, Laurent Ulmet, Sylvie Yotte, Jean-Emmanuel Aubert and Pascal Maillard

Buildings 2023, 13(12), 3061; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13123061 - 8 Dec 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1655

Earth constitutes an attractive building material, not only for its eco-friendly characteristics but also for its hygroscopic qualities. In order to understand the influence of this quality on an earth brick interior wall, a comparison was drawn between earth and plaster interior walls. For this purpose, a numerical model was developed to evaluate the coupled hygro-thermo-mechanical behavior of the earth brick material. A scenario simulating a one-year T4-type house occupation in terms of indoor and outdoor temperature as well as moisture was studied. This house has four rooms: a living room and three bedrooms, plus a kitchen, bathroom, and toilet. The thermal, hygroscopic, and mechanical characteristics of the material were experimentally assessed to provide input into the numerical model. The one-year numerical simulation shows that the earth brick partition walls play a significant role in the hygrometric comfort in comparison with the plaster partition walls. In addition, it was observed that dynamic changes between the wall and the external environment generate more intense water transfer mechanisms in the first layer of the wall, which exposes it to critical situations that exceed the failure criterion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Building Structures)

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29 pages, 2489 KB

Open AccessReview

The Evolution of Crop-Based Materials in the Built Environment: A Review of the Applications, Performance, and Challenges

by Sina Motamedi, Daniel R. Rousse and Geoffrey Promis

Energies 2023, 16(14), 5252; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16145252 - 8 Jul 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2319

Abstract

The use of bio-based building materials as an alternative to replacing concrete or insulation materials is called to become a growing trend in the construction industry. On Science direct, publications concerning “bio-based materials” have increased from 4 in 2002 to 1073 twenty years later, demonstrating a growing interest in these materials However, among bio-based materials, crop or plant-based materials are not as popular. Due to their relative novelty, little is known about their potential applications, physical characteristics, and environmental impacts. The aim of this review is to qualitatively investigate the technical and environmental viability of crop-based materials in modern building applications. The specific objectives of the study consider greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches, contribution to the circular economy, and physical and hygrothermal characteristics. Another objective is to examine the progress of crop-based materials’ R&D, current bottlenecks, and a future roadmap for their evolution in state-of-the-art renewable buildings. The paper is broad enough to capture a large readership rather than experts in the domain. The review reveals that crop-based materials have the potential to replace traditional, highly emissive building materials. They offer low environmental impacts, in all stages of their life cycle. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Efficiency and Optimization Strategies in Buildings for a Sustainable Future)

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27 pages, 72374 KB

Open AccessArticle

Neural Network-Based Prediction Model to Investigate the Influence of Temperature and Moisture on Vibration Characteristics of Skew Laminated Composite Sandwich Plates

by Vinayak Kallannavar, Subhaschandra Kattimani, Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar, M. A. Mujtaba, Saad Alshahrani and Muhammad Imran

Materials 2021, 14(12), 3170; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14123170 - 9 Jun 2021

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 3606

Abstract

The present study deals with the development of a prediction model to investigate the impact of temperature and moisture on the vibration response of a skew laminated composite sandwich (LCS) plate using the artificial neural network (ANN) technique. Firstly, a finite element model is generated to incorporate the hygro-elastic and thermo-elastic characteristics of the LCS plate using first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT). Graphite-epoxy composite laminates are used as the face sheets, and DYAD606 viscoelastic material is used as the core material. Non-linear strain-displacement relations are used to generate the initial stiffness matrix in order to represent the stiffness generated from the uniformly varying temperature and moisture concentrations. The mechanical stiffness matrix is derived using linear strain-displacement associations. Then the results obtained from the numerical model are used to train the ANN. About 11,520 data points were collected from the numerical analysis and were used to train the network using the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm. The developed ANN model is used to study the influence of various process parameters on the frequency response of the system, and the outcomes are compared with the results obtained from the numerical model. Several numerical examples are presented and conferred to comprehend the influence of temperature and moisture on the LCS plates. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Engineering Materials: Development, Characterization, Statistical Analysis, Simulation, and Soft Computing)

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14 pages, 1316 KB

Open AccessReview

Advances in the Deformation and Failure of Concrete Pavement under Coupling Action of Moisture, Temperature, and Wheel Load

by Wanguo Dong, Chunlin Liu, Xueben Bao, Tengfei Xiang and Depeng Chen

Materials 2020, 13(23), 5530; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13235530 - 4 Dec 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3295

Abstract

The deformation and cracking of concrete will lead to various deterioration processes, which will greatly reduce the durability and service life of the concrete pavement. The relating previous studies and analysis revealed that the coupling action of environmental temperature, moisture, and wheel load will cause cracking and seriously affect the normal service and durability of pavement concrete. This paper presents theoretical and numerical state-of-the-art information in the field of deformation and failure of pavement concrete under coupling action of moisture, temperature, and wheel load and draws some conclusions. (a) Concrete is a typical porous material, moisture and heat transfer theory has obtained enough data to simulate the hygro-thermo properties of concrete, and the relationship between moisture and heat is very clear. (b) There are few studies on concrete pavement or airport pavement considering the coupling action of moisture, temperature, and wheel load. (c) Concrete pavement is subjected to hygro-thermal-mechanical coupling action in service, which has the characteristics of a similar period and its possible fatigue effect. (d) COMSOL software has certain advantages for solving the coupled hygro-thermal-mechanical of concrete. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical Behavior of Concrete Materials and Structures: Experimental Evidence and Analytical Models)

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