In this blog post, we will discuss the advantages of using PIR or PUR insulated sandwich panels in the construction of agro-industrial complexes.
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For sure, the high speed of construction, low-cost, and trouble-free operation for at least 20 years.
Contemporary market conditions impose specific requirements for the energy efficiency of such structures. Since the majority of heat or cold loss occurs through the building envelope, it contributes directly to increase energy costs that consequently lead to higher costs of production.
Fruit and vegetable storage has strict requirements for temperature and humidity levels. For example, potatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers are stored at a temperature from 0 to + 8 °C. And this temperature regime should be continuously maintained all the time.
It is necessary to build sealed greenhouses, with a controlled or modified atmosphere with low oxygen content to prevent spoilage of products. As a result, it will increase the refrigerated life of products from 2-3 to 6-8 months.
In addition, the final cost of products is influenced by initial production costs. To cut costs, reduce the building material of the construction. Therefore, agricultural buildings should be built from a lightweight and durable material having a low coefficient of thermal conductivity.
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The speed of construction is influenced by atmospheric phenomena &#; rain, snow, and the so-called &#;human factor&#;. Consequently, the material used to build a vegetable store or an animal farm must be waterproof and all-weather, and all the processes simple and straightforward for installers.
The sandwich panel consists of three layers: external metal support, the insulation layer, and internal metal support.
PIR is a type of flame retardant polyurethane foams, where the so-called thermosetting polymer is polyisocyanurate. Under high temperatures, it prevents the spread of flames. Therefore, using PIR panels, you can erect structures with particularly stringent requirements for fire resistance. It is the first advantage of using PIR-insulated sandwich panels for construction.
Use insulated sandwich panels made of polyurethane foam to build in the shortest possible time for fruit storage, a cold room, or a processing plant. The resistance of polyurethane foam to moisture allows you to install it, regardless of the time of year.
Thanks to their lower weight, PIR panels are easier to manipulate at the construction site.
READ ALSO: HOW TO GET THE MOST OF INSULATION ADVANTAGES | PIR, PUR, Rockwool | FAQ Contact us to discuss your requirements of thermal insulated wall panels export. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
The processing of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit requires the cleanest environment possible. Sandwich panels are moisture-resistant: they are chemically inert and biologically stable. They do not decay with time. They can resist acid and alkaline environments. It does not rot and is not susceptible to the harmful effects of rodents and insects. Moreover, here you can find solutions for an aggressive cold room environment built using insulating metal panels.
The most crucial advantage of PUR foam sandwich panels is the hermetic joint, which does not require any further connectors for assembly.
The advantages of using PIR or PUR insulated sandwich panels confirm that they have no competitors. Using PUR insulated panels significantly speeds up the construction of agricultural complexes up. Insulated panels have a long life, are easy to install, and allow to build of any agro-industrial structure, which in the future will not require repair, therefore, the use of insulated panels reduces all the operating costs in the long term.
Agriculture and farming may create aggressive environments, we can advise you on the best solution for your specific need; insulation made by PIR or PUR foam, ranging from 25 to 240mm of insulating thickness. The standard coating on the external side is Polyester or Plastisol or HPS200, on the internal side, we recommend aluminum or fiberglass reinforced fiber.
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is considered one of the common materials used instead of aggregates to reduce weight and for improving thermal comfort [ 1 ]. EPS is a kind of stable foam with low density, consisting of discrete air voids in a polymer matrix [ 2 ]. As a lightweight artificial aggregate, EPS is commercially available and can be incorporated in mortar or concrete to produce lightweight insulating concrete [ 3 ]. From the engineering point of view, the advantage of using EPS among different types of LWAs is the low water absorption due to its lower porosity. In addition, the low thermal conductivity of EPS (0.03&#;0.04 W/mK) is one of the main reasons for its use in the construction industry, particularly for insulting purposes [ 4 ]. Previous research has promoted the applications of EPS-based concrete in construction and building products. Currently, EPS lightweight concrete is used in various structural and non-structural elements such as precast concrete panels, cladding panels, composite flooring systems, subbase materials in pavements, floating marine structures, and insulating building elements [ 5 ]. However, replacing the normal-weight aggregate with EPS lightweight aggregate increases the drying shrinkage strain [ 6 7 ].
Due to the over-exploitation of virgin construction and building materials, there is a need to develop a suitable alternative eco-friendly building material to satisfy the demand for infrastructural activities. EPS is found to be one of the alternatives fabricated of recycled materials; since EPS is a non-degradable material, it can be recycled after its first life, second life, and so on [ 8 ]. EPS is recycled either in the form of beads or modified with heat treatment [ 9 ]. Recycling and using such materials in the construction sector protects the environment by preventing the emission of harmful gases when incinerated.
Quality construction practices are gaining demand with the increase in the population [ 10 ]. ICF is found to be a promising construction practice. ICF walls are fabricated by placing concrete in the individual cells of EPS foam. Construction of ICF structures has many advantages over conventional structures based on cost, ease of construction practices, thermal insulation, etc. Some other benefits are heatproof, soundproof, faster construction, lower maintenance, and resistance against insects, wind, and disasters [ 11 ]. In the United States (US), nearly 3% of houses are constructed using ICF systems [ 12 ]. ICF is one of the sustainable, eco-friendly alternatives to conventional carbon-emitting cement-based construction practices. ICF&#;s superior performance is mainly due to the EPS [ 13 ]. ICFs are used as construction materials in the construction of schools, colleges, hospital buildings, etc. ICF claims several advantages over conventional building materials [ 14 ]. ICF has been a boon to the construction sectors in India since ; ICF-based structures have been accepted in the US, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Mexico. Moreover, the construction cost of ICF structures is 5&#;10% less than conventional practices. ICF construction practices require more awareness to accept this new system of the construction sectors to meet the current requirements of the infrastructure industry.
EPS employed for producing ICF should have a density of 20 kg/m3 to 40 kg/m3 and a thickness of 50 mm to 100 mm. ICF panels are generally employed to construct a wall system to portion the functional area with a structural wall system. The wall systems are mainly subjected to axial compression due to the load transfer from the floor system. The main intention of the axial load test is to determine the ultimate load-carrying capacity, failure pattern, and stress&#;strain relationship, which helps to design the ICF panels. Past studies have reported that axial compression tests are performed on different wall panels, such as foamed wall panels, composite panels, reinforced panels, precast sandwich panels, precast foamed panels, panels with openings, and panels with shear connectors. Similarly, a four-point bending test was performed on bridge deck panels, Ferro-cement panels, lightweight panels, fiber-reinforced sandwich panels, and hollow concrete wall panels.
16,2-e) [2-e, an alternative binder must be used. Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as sugarcane bagasse ash, Metakaolin (MK), red mud, and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) are industrial by-products. SCMs have cementitious properties and are employed as a cement alternative [22,23,2-e during its production.However, OPC production requires argillaceous and calcareous materials and is energy-intensive. The main reasons for the emission of greenhouse gas during the production of OPC are calcination and fossil-fuel combustion [ 15 17 ]. The production of conventional Portland cement increases yearly by about 8% to 10%. These cement types account for 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions (CO-e) [ 18 ]. To reduce global CO-e, an alternative binder must be used. Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as sugarcane bagasse ash, Metakaolin (MK), red mud, and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) are industrial by-products. SCMs have cementitious properties and are employed as a cement alternative [ 19 20 ]. A durable structure with less greenhouse gas emission and with less energy can be obtained by the addition of fly ash to the concrete [ 21 24 ]. Investigations are carried out on SCMs for producing sustainable, eco-friendly concrete. The outcomes of using SCMs as partial cement replacements are gaining economic impact in reducing CO-e during its production.
2SiO3) [In , a novel binding medium was named geopolymer, which employs 0% cement in its production. These geopolymers are a suitable alternative that completely replaces conventional Portland cement concrete. The early age strength of geopolymer is higher than that of traditional cement concrete and possesses higher fire resistance. Moreover, these SCMs can replace cement by 20% to 30% by weight, beyond which the strength reduction is more significant. The dissolution makes the production of geopolymer concrete (GPC) of source material possible with the alkaline solution (combination of NaOH and NaSiO) [ 25 ]. The source material can be either from geological origin or industrial by-products such as GGBS, MK, Palm Oil Fuel Shell Ash (POFA), Rice Husk Ash (RHA), Fly Ash (FA), and so on [ 26 ]. Previous research has shown that GPC concrete has superior performance compared with OPC concrete in terms of mechanical and durability characteristics [ 25 27 ].
A combination of GPC and ICF can form a sustainable construction practice. The proposed system&#;s significant advantages are lightweight, ease of placement, faster construction, optimized cost, strength, and eco-friendly. Reduction in cost and CO2 emissions are some of the indicators that might be helpful to achieve sustainability goals. The effective utilization of GPC in the ICF system can improve the load-withstanding capacity of the wall panel. With this background, the current study aims to analyze the load-deformation behavior of GPC-ICF systems subjected to axial compressive loading.
Insulated concrete form (ICF) panels are structural wall panels fabricated by pouring concrete in interlocked expanded polystyrene (EPS) that hold the concrete together during the curing process. The EPS form is a permanent part of a wall panel and provides thermal insulation to the building, whereas the reinforced concrete affords a structural system to the building [ 12 ]. Applications of ICFs are extended to a wide range of building constructions, including residences, theatres, schools, and hospitals [ 13 ]. EPS is a by-product of the petroleum industry and is derived by the styrene hydrocarbon polymer (polystyrene) expansion using pentane gas. An EPS bead consists of 2% raw material and 98% of air, which is chemically composed of two elements: carbon and hydrogen [ 11 ]. Generally, EPS sheets have been used in various applications, including impact mitigation packaging, protective helmet, expansion joints, construction filling material, false ceilings, and food packaging material. Diverse structural and geotechnical applications of EPS are also found in the literature, namely structural insulated panels [ 28 ], composite structural insulated panels [ 5 ], insulated concrete sandwich panels [ 14 ], lightweight concrete sandwich panels [ 29 ], and thermal insulators [ 2 ].
The past study found that the axial compression test was performed on various panels of fibers, concrete, and EPS sheets. Research shows that the wall panel characterization focused on load-deflection behavior and load-carrying capacity of the structural element. Moreover, fewer types of research are available on the ICF wall panels subjected to axial compressive loads. In the present work, the ICF wall panels are constructed by creating a hollow outer shell and filling the hollow core with concrete. The study&#;s main aim is to examine the ultimate load-carrying capacity of ICF, load-deflection behavior, and failure pattern of ICF wall panels with GPC filling. The findings may be helpful for future work with large-scale models.
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