A New Model for Optimal Mechanical and Thermal Performance of Cement-Based Partition Wall

• Main Authors: Shiping Huang, Mengyu Hu, Yonghui Huang, Nannan Cui, Weifeng Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-04-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: porous materials; mechanical properties; cement-based materials; thermal analysis; partition wall; finite element method
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/11/4/615

The prefabricated cement-based partition wall has been widely used in assembled buildings because of its high manufacturing efficiency, high-quality surface, and simple and convenient construction process. In this paper, a general porous partition wall that is made from cement-based materials was proposed to meet the optimal mechanical and thermal performance during transportation, construction and its service life. The porosity of the proposed partition wall is formed by elliptic-cylinder-type cavities. The finite element method was used to investigate the mechanical and thermal behaviour, which shows that the proposed model has distinct advantages over the current partition wall that is used in the building industry. It is found that, by controlling the eccentricity of the elliptic-cylinder cavities, the proposed wall stiffness can be adjusted to respond to the imposed loads and to improve the thermal performance, which can be used for the optimum design. Finally, design guidance is provided to obtain the optimal mechanical and thermal performance. The proposed model could be used as a promising candidate for partition wall in the building industry.