Abstract
Recently, the concept of green architecture has become a common interest in various disciplines; innovative materials are continuously developed to fulfill the green architecture requirements. Translucent concrete (TC) or light-transmitting concrete (LTC) is produced as one of those innovative types of materials which allows external light to transmit through interior spaces by using some light elements like optical fibers with concrete. This paper aggregates and reviews the previous studies in terms of translucent concrete' applications, proper ratio and arrangement pattern of optical fibers, light-transmitting, mechanical, thermal and energy-saving properties. We reviewed the remarkable studies carried out especially last 10 years in translucent concrete techniques. Notwithstanding the advantages, literature concurs that several gaps were found in translucent concrete studies. Translucent concrete' strength and proper ratio of fibers are key limitations. The gap between studies examining the effect of using different ratios of optical fibers on the material strength and on energy-saving concluded that the proper ratio of fibers should be less than 5% for strength, and the optimum ratio ranges 4.3% to 6% for energy-saving. We identify possible areas for future research and suggest recommendations in the conclusion to fill these gaps.
Highlights
Concrete can be considered as one of the significant building materials used worldwide
The best results were shown using 3mm diameter with about 5% volume ratio in the specimen (7 in.*7 in.*0.5 in.) Light transmission simulation of straight optical fibers showed light loss due to bending of the fiber, this is not available during the actual process of construction, the results recommended that bending radius should be less than 15 times fiber diameter as it affects the light transmission performance. The study tested another different translucent concrete panels of the varied thickness (3, 6, and 10mm) that was designed as a replacement for windows to measure the light transmission from outside to inside, illuminance results confirmed that the distribution and spaces between fibers were vital factors affects daylight entered a space
This study found that translucent concrete conducts less heat than non-fiber concrete, since the thermal conductivity coefficient, whose bulk density is between 2200 Kg/m3 and 2400 Kg/m3, is equal to 1.75 W/(mk), and through the tests it was found that the translucent concrete is 1.61 W/(mk), showing that the addition of optical fibers in the concrete makes it a better thermal insulator
Summary
Concrete can be considered as one of the significant building materials used worldwide. A study made by Bhushan, et al 2013 [4]; clarified the definition with the light-transmitting property because of the use of light optical elements, and reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of translucent concrete blocks. They concluded that there were many ways to use translucent concrete and actualized it into numerous shapes to be profoundly advantageous. This paper aims to review the remarkable studies carried out in the field of translucent concrete' applications, material properties, thermal and energy-saving, and light-transmitting. Because there aren't any of reviewed studies that achieve both maximum energy-saving and better mechanical properties, so the paper discusses the gap in differing of the ratios of optical fibers in translucent concrete between researches interested in studying translucent concrete' compressive strength and ones interested in studying energy saving
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