Interior Partition Walls Research Articles

High-performance lightweight aggregate concrete research and mechanical property analysis: A review

In the current era where prefabricated construction is dominant, under the trends of industrialization, mechanization, and green construction, a series of experiments and explorations have been conducted in a multidisciplinary approach of materials engineering, structural engineering, and civil engineering. This paper presents an overview of existing domestic and international research on high-performance lightweight aggregate concrete used for prefabricated interior partition walls. This includes: research and design of high-performance lightweight aggregate concrete and initial mechanical property analysis; determination of its significant optimization effect for preparing prefabricated interior partition panels; seeking ways to further enhance the performance of lightweight aggregate concrete-made interior partition panels and increase their applicability in building assembly. Taking into account engineering practical applications, the future application prospects of high-performance lightweight aggregate concrete in prefabricated interior partition panels are discussed, alongside further research directions and suggestions. The research outcomes of this paper are of great significance in promoting the development of industrialized construction and green buildings.

Research on A Kind of Lightweight Heat-insulating, Sound-insulating and Light-transmitting Concrete Interior Partition Wall Block

The new composite concrete with both lightweight, thermal insulation, heat insulation and light transmission properties is a new type of building The new composite concrete with both lightweight, thermal insulation, heat insulation and light transmission properties is a new type of building material with energy saving and consumption reduction functions. This paper integrates the research status of scholars in this field at home and abroad, realises the lightweight of blocks by studying the properties of lightweight aggregate concrete and porous concrete, and selects suitable light- transmitting materials, tests the light transmittance and mechanical properties of concrete blocks after adding light-transmitting materials, then analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the sound insulation effect produced by adding soundproofing materials made from different materials to concrete blocks, and selects the best sound insulation effect by adding soundproofing materials to concrete blocks. concrete blocks, and selects the best soundproofing material for the comprehensive performance. Then we analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Then we analyze the advantages and disadvantages of adding different sound insulation materials into concrete blocks, and select the best sound insulation material with comprehensive performance. the same time of realising the three properties of light weight, sound insulation and light transmittance, we further study the effect of adding different thermal insulation materials on the thermal insulation effect of the blocks, and select the concrete blocks with the best thermal insulation performance.

Comparative environmental life cycle assessment of partition walls: Innovative prefabricated systems vs conventional construction

Prefabrication is increasingly recognized as an alternative to conventional on-site construction, offering potential environmental benefits. However, these benefits are context-specific, requiring precise studies for optimal solutions. This paper presents the life-cycle environmental performance of an innovative prefabricated interior partition wall and benchmarks it against a conventional system, providing a replicable model for other novel partition walls. Detailed data collected directly from direct sources were utilized to conduct a cradle-to-gate with options Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), presenting a conveniently described method that can be widely replicated in the construction sector. The adapted LCA method presented in this study contributes to sustainable construction, providing a straightforward and robust approach to assessing the environmental impacts of innovative partition walls compared to conventional walls. For the specific scenario studied, the life-cycle impact assessment results generally indicate a superior environmental performance of the innovative prefabricated interior partition wall compared to the conventional system, resulting in impact reductions ranging from 10 to 60% across evaluated categories. For both systems, the production of materials plays a predominant role in the impact contributions. Furthermore, exploring alternative scenarios yielded significant environmental benefits, particularly in cases considering higher incorporation of recycled materials. Therefore, the direct comparison of the environmental performance of innovative partition walls against traditional solutions emerges as an environmentally sustainable path in the short and medium term. This aligns with the ongoing progress towards decarbonizing the building sector, not only in choosing more environmentally friendly solutions but also in improving the environmental performance of products through assertive changes.

Thermal properties and Life Cycle Assessment of new eco-sandwich panel for building thermal insulation

Lightweight eco-materials are in high demand in many sectors, such as aerospace, industry, and building due to their several characteristics. The present paper is an experimental investigation of the thermal characteristics of novel sandwich panels made with local and ecological materials namely agglomerated cork for the core and bio-composite materials for the skin. Three configurations (symmetric, asymmetric, and two layers) were studied with different cork core thicknesses. Density values have been measured and compared. Thermal characterization consists of determining thermal conductivity and specific heat using a HFM apparatus; whilst thermal diffusivity and thermal effusivity have been calculated using the experimental findings. The panels are lightweight and thermally insulating. The values of thermal conductivity are in the range 0.071 and 0.102 W.m−1.K−1. The comparison between experimental results of thermal conductivity to theoretical values highlights the accuracy of method for multi-layer thermal characterization and the good adhesion between layers. Finally, a life cycle assessment of the new sandwich panels has been carried out and compared with common insulation materials. The sandwich panels are efficient in terms of embodied energy and CO2 emissions compared to commercialized insulators and some insulators based on recycled or natural materials, the embodied energy for symmetric configuration with 4 cm cork core are 79.73, 94.75, and 89.35 MJ/FU corresponding to an embodied carbon 5.33, 6.32, and 6.01 CO2/FU respectively. They can be classified in the middle between synthetic and natural insulators. Based on the findings, it was concluded that utilizing these sandwich panels as construction materials for interior paneling or partition walls could offer benefits in terms of being environmentally sustainable and cost-efficient.

Cost Estimation Model Based on Building Information Modeling and Virtual Reality for Customizing Presold Homes

Presold homes refer to houses that are sold before construction has begun or while the construction is still underway. To facilitate the selection and purchase of houses by clients, construction companies usually use sample houses, models, or videos to show the appearance of new houses being constructed. Clients have numerous opportunities to participate in the spatial planning and spatial allocation of the houses because these houses have not yet been constructed, and clients can direct the style and materials used for interior partition walls and furnishings. However, when discussing housing styles with their clients, construction companies often depend on their imagination to create three-dimensional images depicting the interior layout of houses. Construction companies can neither immediately present new styles when clients request changes to partition walls or styles nor estimate the costs of the changes. Consequently, clients cannot immediately decide on such changes, which then leads to poor communication between the two parties. Accordingly, this study designed a system that integrates building information modeling (BIM) and virtual reality (VR). Through this system, clients can change and immediately view house styles in immersive VR and decide on whether the changes meet their demands. Furthermore, the designed system is linked to a unit price database for materials. When clients make alterations in the system, it automatically calculates the costs of the changes and then helps the client determine whether the changes are within their budgets. The results of this study indicate that the designed system can accurately and rapidly achieve cost estimation. Furthermore, the proposed system ensures consistency between BIM and virtual environment information, thereby promoting the application of BIM in the stages of a building life cycle subsequent to building design.

Dynamic life cycle assessment of the recurring embodied emissions from interior walls: Cradle to grave assessment

The construction sector is recognized as being one of the main generators of CO₂ emissions and consumption of resources. Lately, special attention has been directed to the search for strategies that optimize and mitigate the embodied impact of constructive systems. In this research, the widely used life cycle assessment is applied to analyze the embodied emissions of several constructive systems used as interior partition walls (IPW), from a “cradle to grave” perspective. The study includes dynamic parameters in the design of scenarios for calculating the recurrent embodied emissions. The aim of the research is to assess the influence of these parameters on the variability of the accumulated results and to identify the constructive systems with optimal environmental performance. The results show the importance of maximizing the service life of systems and buildings in order to reduce the associated emissions, since the impact can be reduced by up to 60% over a 120-year perspective for the same system. This parameter's direct influence on the accumulated environmental performance was observed when an IPW with high initial impact but with longer service life consideration (IPW 26 – scenario 28 with 506 kg CO2 eq) could be just as suitable as an IPW with lower impact but shorter service life (IPW 27 – scenario 22 with 500 kg CO2 eq). It is also concluded that the initial embodied emissions of the construction systems are determinant in the cumulative impact, therefore highlighting the importance of material selection and optimization and the need for improvement in production processes.

The effects of non-structural components on the dynamic characteristics and vulnerability of concrete structures using ambient vibration tests and Nakamura's criterion

From the past up to now, selecting a reliable structural system as well as analyzing and designing it accurately have considerably attracted the attention of researchers and engineers. An appropriate evaluation of the dynamic characteristics of the structures such as natural frequency and damping ratio has a considerable effect on the accurate analysis and design of structures. In addition, the vulnerability assessment of structures plays a significant role in selecting a resilient structural system against the seismicity of the area. In the light of these facts, one of the most important challenges is that the effects of non-structural components (NSCs) are commonly considered as a concentrated/distributed mass in most FE models and their stiffness and damping ratio are ignored. Therefore, this research aims to figure out the effects of NSCs on the dynamic characteristics and the vulnerability indices of concrete structures using microtremor measurements. For this purpose, the ambient vibrations of four concrete buildings (with two bending frame and two shear wall structural systems) during the construction process are measured in three independent stages: (1) after the completion of the structural system; (2) after the completion of the interior and exterior partition walls; (3) after the completion of the flooring, facade, and parapet elements (when the building is completely constructed). Afterward, to extract the dynamic characteristics and to compute the vulnerability indices of the structures, the measured microtremors are subjected to two signal processing techniques, i.e., floor spectral ratio (FSR) and random decrement method (RDM). It is observed that, by taking the effects of NSCs into account, the values of both dynamic characteristics of the concrete structures (i.e., natural frequency and damping ratio) are increased when the buildings are under the erection process. Furthermore, the obtained results for the concrete structures with the bending frame structural system demonstrate that the vulnerability index increases in the second stage compared with the first one, whereas it remarkably decreases in the third stage compared with the second one. Reciprocally, the obtained vulnerability indices for the concrete structures with the shear wall structural system show a similar behavior.

Microtremor measurements for assessing the influences of non-structural components on the modal properties and vulnerability of steel structures

Non-structural components (NSCs) in the majority of the FE models are commonly considered as a concentrated/distributed mass, and their stiffness along with damping ratio is ignored. Likewise, NSCs have significant efficacy on the accurate vulnerability assessment and select an appropriate structural system versus the seismicity of the area. The chief aim of this research is to present a simple theoretical method in conjunction with a practical empirical technique for assessing the influences of NSCs on the modal properties and vulnerability of buildings, exclusively steel structures. In this regard, the ambient vibrations were measured on four buildings with concentrically steel braced frame structural system under the construction process in three independent stages: (1) after the erection of the structural and skeletal systems; (2) after the construction of the interior and exterior partition walls; (3) after the installation of the facade and parapet elements. Utilizing two signal processing techniques (i.e., floor spectral ratio and random decrement method), the acquired microtremors were analyzed to extract the modal properties and compute the vulnerability indices of the structures. It is perceived that the values of the modal properties of the steel structures, namely, natural frequency and damping ratio, have considerably increased during the construction process with taking the influence of NSCs into account. In addition, the obtained results disclosed that the vulnerability index has significantly decreased in the second stage over the first one. However, it has not noticeably fluctuated in the third stage over the second one.

Life cycle assessment of interior partition walls: Comparison between functionality requirements and best environmental performance

This research analyses 44 interior partition walls (IPW) in the context of Spanish residential sector and establish the systems’ environmental profile through the application of the life cycle assessment technique. The analysis is performed within the stages of production to construction (“from cradle to handover” approach), using Ecoinvent as background database and ReCiPe as the impact assessment methodology. The analysis combines the technical requirements with the environmental data to establish the profile of the different multi-layer construction systems, with the objective of supporting the selection of the optimal elements from the design phase and promoting the development of regulations to include considerations of the embodied environmental impact in the constructive systems. The results show that the product stage has the greatest contribution to the environmental impact (78% average), followed by transport (21% average) and construction with <1% average. A layer contribution analysis shows that the contribution of greater representativity can vary according to the nature of the materials used and that the base layer is the element with greater generation of emissions in most of the IPW (48% average), followed by the exterior layer (30% average) and the insulation and plaster layers with 12% and 11% respectively. The results emphasize the importance of including the technical requirements and evaluating the multi-layer components as an entire element, rather than evaluating single products, in order to obtain more representative and trustworthy results for real practice application.

Preliminary Proposal for an Alternative Wall Lining Panel Based on Molded Recycled Cellulose and Designed for Home Wiring Refurbishment of Building Interior Partitions

Old dwellings usually have shortfalls in insulation, acoustic and thermal, and in security of electrical services in the interior partition walls. A common building solution is to add a wall lining with a laminate base gypsum board that improves both acoustic and thermal insulation and facilitates a new invisible cable layout without demolition. Conventional solutions have had limited success because of time consumption, environmental impact and cost. This research aimed to create an integrated building system to carry out these interior building refurbishment works quickly, cleanly and with low inconvenience and environmental impact. The research specifically focused on incorporating new molded materials that have a low environmental impact and improving the handling and future modification of the wall lining system. In response to the above goals, the product development methodology was applied to the design of an internal panel to be inserted between the existing partition wall and the closure wallboard, which is usually laminated base gypsum board (LGB). The proposed internalpanel is molded with recycled cellulose pulp (Biprocel) and has adequate relief designed to improve cable layout tasks and better join the laminate base gypsum board to the existing wall face. The development resulted from collaboration between the public administration, university researchers and undergraduate students in the co-design process. This research contributes to improving the applications of recycled cellulose fibers in molded panels for the building industry, particularly in refurbishment activities.

Shake table test program of cold-formed steel in-plane partition walls

Cold-formed steel (CFS) partition walls accounting for a significant portion of the nonstructural inventory have been vulnerable to seismic events. The seismic damage to CFS partition walls may occur at even low-intensity ground shaking leading to negligible structural damage and, in turn, results in significant losses. Regarding this, current seismic design provisions require that CFS partition walls on egress paths should be designed to accommodate interstory drifts of a structure. However, there is little information on the seismic performance of CFS partition walls built at low- and moderate seismicity regions although previous studies emphasize that they could be damaged at even low-intensity ground shaking. In order to evaluate the seismic performance of CFS partition walls constructed in low-and moderate seismicity regions, shake table test with CFS partition walls was carried out in this study. The interior partition wall specimens with different stud spacing were built according to the Korean common construction practices and were planned to suffer in-plane deformations. Physical and measured responses of the CFS partition walls observed during the shake table test demonstrated that decreasing the stud spacing can improve the seismic performance of CFS partition walls subjected to in-plane deformation. From the statistical investigation characterizing the damage states of the CFS partition walls and their correlation with engineering quantities, the construction practice of CFS partition walls built in low- and moderate seismicity regions might not provide acceptable seismic performance for life safety even though the structure installing them was assumed to be design to meet the codified limitation related to its engineering quantity.

Thermal Transmittance of Internal Partition and External Facade LSF Walls: A Parametric Study

Light steel framed (LSF) construction is becoming widespread as a quick, clean and flexible construction system. However, these LSF elements need to be well designed and protected against undesired thermal bridges caused by the steel high thermal conductivity. To reduce energy consumption in buildings it is necessary to understand how heat transfer happens in all kinds of walls and their configurations, and to adequately reduce the heat loss through them by decreasing its thermal transmittance ( U -value). In this work, numerical simulations are performed to assess different setups for two kinds of LSF walls: an interior partition wall and an exterior facade wall. Several parameters were evaluated separately to measure their influence on the wall U -value, and the addition of other elements was tested (e.g., thermal break strips) with the aim of achieving better thermal performances. The simulation modeling of a LSF interior partition with thermal break strips indicated a 24% U -value reduction in comparison with the reference case of using the LSF alone ( U = 0.449 W/(m2.K)). However, when the clearance between the steel studs was simulated with only 300 mm there was a 29% increase, due to the increase of steel material within the wall structure. For exterior facade walls ( U = 0.276 W/(m2.K)), the model with 80 mm of expanded polystyrene (EPS) in the exterior thermal insulation composite system (ETICS) reduced the thermal transmittance by 19%. Moreover, when the EPS was removed the U -value increased by 79%.

Environmental Benefits of Timber-Concrete Prefabricated Construction System for Apartment Buildings – a Simplified Comparative LCA Study

The aim of a research project TiCo (Timber Concrete) is to create a standardized flexible construction system for multifamily apartment buildings for central European climatic conditions with low environmental impact. It exploits advantages of advanced prefabrication and favourable material properties of its main elements. Prefabricated structural system was designed using concrete frame with thin columns and lightweight ceilings with reinforcing core. Façades and interior partition walls were designed from prefabricated timber frame panels. The paper presents a simplified comparative LCA study of the designed TiCo building system and conventional building solutions. The compared variants had the same key parameters – load bearing capacity and heat transfer coefficients of building’s envelope. The analyses include load-bearing structures, façade, partition walls, foundations and roof. The others like HVAC systems, floors, doors, windows or tin work were not included. A simplified comparative LCA is based on procedure described in method SBToolCZ, which evaluates the quality of buildings in terms of sustainability. The assessment covered embodied environmental impacts of the construction system structures with their replacement based of their service lives. Prefabricated concrete frame structure with timber envelope was found environmentally friendlier compared to conventional solutions. The combination of the concrete load-bearing structure and lightweight timber frame panels that benefits from favourable characteristics of both materials for the given purpose appropriately used in the construction appeared to be an efficient way of minimizing building’s environmental impact.

Elaboration and Characterization Of Eco-Materials Made From Recycled Or Bio-Based Raw Materials

This work test the feasibility and characterize the thermohygric properties of composite materials, realized with eco-friendly raw materials and designed to make suspended ceilings or interior partition walls. Several raw materials are considered: recycled paper (granules or cellulose wadding) and wood fibers. Aggregates or fibers are bonded with organic or mineral binder. One of the binder considered is starch, due to its availability in Ivory Coast (cassava flour). The calcium sulfate hemihydrate is also used for comparison.The density of the produced composites ranges from 400 to 1200 kg/m3 depending on formulation. The thermal conductivity increases proportionally with the density and ranges from 0.09 to 0.5 W/(m.K). The characterization of hygric behavior is based on the measurement of moisture buffer value (MBV) [1]. The hydric performances of the composites made of mineral binder goes from moderate (MBV around 1 g/(m².%RH)) to excellent (MBV > 2 g/(m².%RH)). The moisture buffer value of the paper granules -starch composite is also excellent (MBV > 2 g/(m².%RH))

Modeling seismic response of a full-scale cold-formed steel-framed building

The objective of this paper is to present finite element modeling protocols and validation studies for the seismic response of a two-story cold-formed steel-framed building with oriented strand board sheathed shear walls. Recently, shake table testing of this building was completed by the authors. The building provides an archetype for modern details of cold-formed steel construction, and provides benchmarks for the seismic response of the building system, subsystem, and components. The seismic response of buildings framed from cold-formed steel has seen little study in comparison with efforts on isolated members and shear walls. Validated building-scale models are needed to expand our understanding of the seismic response of these systems. Finite element models corresponding to the archetype building during its various test phases are developed in OpenSees and detailed herein. For cold-formed steel framed buildings accurate seismic models require consideration of components beyond the isolated shear walls, e.g. the stiffness and capacity of the gravity framing is included in the model. Such decisions require model refinement beyond what is typically performed and details for completing this effort accurately and efficiently are described herein. In addition, nonstructural components, including exterior sheathing of the gravity framing, interior gypsum sheathing for the shear walls and gravity framing, and interior partition walls, are included in the building model based on nonlinear surrogate models that utilize experimental characterization of member-fastener-sheathing response. Comparisons between the developed models and testing for natural period, story drift, accelerations, and foundation hold-down forces validate the model. Performance of the tested archetype building is better than predicted by design or typical engineering assumptions. The model developed herein provides insights into how the building achieves its beneficial performance and will be used to further quantify the lateral resistance of each subsystem and the extent of their coupling. In addition, the protocols used to develop the model herein provide a first examination of the necessary modeling characteristics for wider archetype studies of cold-formed steel-framed buildings and the development and substantiation of seismic response modification coefficients.

Effects of Interior Partition Walls on Natural Period of High Rise Buildings

In regions of low to moderate seismicity, serviceability limits states such as inter-story drift under wind load govern the design of the lateral load resisting structural systems of high rise buildings. The key objective in this regard is to provide adequate lateral stiffness to control lateral deflections and inter-story drifts. Current design practice assumes that the structural system alone provides lateral resistance against wind, the dominant load considered for countries like Australia. The contribution of nonstructural components (NSCs) such as interior partition walls on lateral stiffness is generally disregarded in the analysis of the buildings, even though it is commonly acknowledged that the NSCs play a significant role on the lateral stiffness of buildings. This technical note presents the results of a parametric study on the effects of NSCs, in particular, the effects of masonry interior partition walls on the fundamental period of buildings. The parameters considered in this study include: the number and length of walls, their material properties, the number of parallel moment resisting frames and the height of buildings. The results of this study indicate that interior walls can have significant effects on the lateral stiffness of buildings.

Building Rehabilitation with Dry and Wet Systems – Embodied Water Comparison

Fresh water is a scarce resource. Its availability, essential for life, is being conditioned by several menaces, mostly from human origin. Studies on water saving strategies in building construction and what procedures should be adopted for its efficient use can respond to part of these problems, taking into account the relevance of construction activities, responsible for almost 40% of the overall environmental impact in Europe. Buildings rehabilitation assumes an important role in the construction activities of many European countries. The aim of this paper is to compare the water demand between dry and wet construction systems used in interior partition wall technologies existing in south European climates, specifically on Portuguese territory. This paper focus on the advantages of the dry and lightweight partition walls and it is expected that it may contribute for the reduction of water use in the construction industry. The evolution of interior partition walls, namely by its weight and embodied water analysis, is presented and discussed. Apart from the conclusion that dry construction systems, used in the rehabilitation of existing buildings, can contribute to a significant reduction of water demand, this analysis intends to also reveal on how much these systems can reduce other environmental impact indicators in relation to the wet conventional solutions. Dry construction strategies allows saving material and energetic resources, increasing flexibility and reducing wastes, what constitutes a relevant response to the growing concerns over environmental issues and incertitude on economic development.

Eco-efficiency analysis of the life cycle of interior partition walls: a comparison of alternative solutions

This paper presents an eco-efficiency analysis of the entire life cycle of 10 alternative solutions that can be used for interior partition walls that are variants on five building solutions commonly used in Spain (gypsum plasterboard system, hollow clay brick system, hollow concrete block system, autoclaved aerated concrete block system and gypsum block system). The full life cycle was considered for each of these interior partition wall solutions, which includes raw materials acquisition, transportation to the construction site, on-site installation and demolition and waste management at their end-of-life. For the environmental analysis, standard EN 15804, which provides product category rules for developing environmental declaration of construction elements based on the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, was applied. Main contributions for this application were the development of a comprehensive life cycle inventory adapted to the case study and the sensitivity analysis conducted for evaluating the influence of the characterisation factors in the environmental impact indicators. For the economic analysis, the costs of the life cycle of each solution were obtained. Finally, with the aim of selecting the alternatives with the best behaviour from both perspectives, an eco-efficiency study was conducted, the results of which showed that the gypsum plasterboard system and hollow concrete block system are the ones that combine the best environmental and economic performance. This is mainly due to the fact that they combine the lowest contribution to the impact for all the categories that were analysed, with lower life cycle costs.

Seismic Performance of Cold-Formed Steel Wall Systems in a Full-Scale Building

AbstractThis paper presents the seismic performance of two types of cold-formed steel wall systems as characterized during a full-scale five-story building shake table test program: (1) an exterior architectural facade, which spanned the lower three levels of the building, and (2) interior partition wall systems distributed at all levels of the building. The test building was subjected to a suite of earthquake input motions of increasing intensity, first while the building was isolated at its base, and subsequently while it was fixed to the shake table platen. This paper presents the observed physical and measured responses for the two cold-formed steel wall systems and in particular associates physical damage states with measured drift demands in the building. The tests illustrate damage mechanisms for cold-formed steel wall systems when used in architectural facades and highlights areas that should be given particular consideration during seismic design.

조적채움벽 골조의 내진성능평가를 위한 등가 스트럿 모델의 비교연구

Masonry-infilled walls have been used in reinforced concrete(RC) frame structures as interior and exterior partition walls. Since these walls are considered as nonstructural elements, they were only considered as additional mass. However, infill walls tend to interact with the structure's overall strength, rigidity, and energy dissipation. Infill walls have been analyzed by finite element method or transposed as equivalent strut model. The equivalent strut model is a typical method to evaluate masonry-infilled structure to avoid the burden of complex finite element model. This study compares different strut models to identify their properties and applicability with regard to the characteristics of the structure and various material models.