Investigation of thermal performance and life-cycle assessment of a 3D printed building

Abstract

Due to the growing population and unsustainable development, global energy consumption is rising, contributing to more environmental issues such as global warming. On the other hand, this ever-increasing population leads to an increase in demand for housing. Nevertheless, the conventional construction industry is low-speed and energy-consuming. The emerging technology of 3D printing has been used in this industry recently, and it has brought some benefits such as less material waste, higher construction speed, and building complex geometries. The purpose of this study is to investigate the energy performance of a 3D printed building that has used two types of cement, namely reactive magnesium oxide cement (RMC) and calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement, in their concrete along with thermal insulation and phase change materials (PCMs). Afterward, a life cycle assessment is performed on these two types of concrete, and the result is compared with the conventional Portland concrete. The results show that the use of RMC is very effective in terms of energy savings and waste than CSA cement. Also, according to the life cycle evaluation, it is concluded that the construction of a building using RMC and CSA cement instead of Portland cement reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 400 times.