INTECIN   20395
INSTITUTO DE TECNOLOGIAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA INGENIERIA "HILARIO FERNANDEZ LONG"
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
A Coupled multiscale approach for modelling ENERGY storage phenomena in Cementitious systems
Autor/es:
ANTONIO CAGGIANO; KOENDERS E.A.B.,
Lugar:
Dresden
Reunión:
Encuentro; Networking Meeting - AvH; 2017
Institución organizadora:
Alexander von Humboldt Stifftung
Resumen:
In the last century, the use of concrete as a building material has grown towards vast quantities. Up till now, innovations in the concrete industry have been mainly focusing on improvements of the concrete properties leading to systems with high performances, high strength or self-compacting properties. However, innovations are now asking for answers in terms of reuse of construction demolishing waste and energy saving concepts. Therefore, a significant effort still has to be done in enhancing the concrete sustainability perspective on the reduction of CO2 emissions and on increasing the efficiency in energy use. Modern technologies make it possible to go even a step beyond these ambitions by turning cement-based elements into energy storing, balancing and reducing elements, via integration of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) into the concrete open porosity. Particularly, storing solar and/or environmental heat in walls of apartment buildings or houses is a way to level-out daily temperature differences and to significantly cut back on energy demands. A way to achieve this goal is to develop advanced cementitious composites that are characterized by a porous microstructure which have the ability to accommodate Phase Change Materials (PCMs) with the potential to store/relief energy during a chemical phase change from solid to liquid or vice versa. Major research challenges address the physical-mechanical design of these composites and how to achieve a stable integrated system where PCMs are homogeneously distributed among the porous cementitious material. Although a significant research effort has already been done in this field in the last decades, unambiguous knowledge on how this porous microstructure should be built up and what are the demands that allow these empty pores to serve as closed encapsulation cavities and that enable PCMs to be accommodated without being encapsulated, is still lacking. Research questions are on how to avoid leaching and how to design a microstructure that isn?t prone to cracking. A multiscale modelling approach that combines microstructure characteristics with moisture diffusivity and thermal conductivity of PCMs would allow for a thorough analysis of the possibilities that make these advanced composites feasible, to reveal their pros and cons, and to achieve the conditions for an optimized solution. The 2CENERGY project will address a coupled set of physical-mechanical models that allow for simulating critical issues that emerge whenever embedding energy storage materials into cementitious materials, i.e. like PCMs. Emphasis of the project is on the poro-mechanical phenomenon such as pore-structure connectivity, internal deformations, fracture mechanics, reactive transport and leaching, with the main objective to simulate the physical-mechanical behavior of advanced cement-based-PCM composites.