The Future of Façades · PDF fileDematerialisation . Apple Cube, New York . Steel plate Glass plate Adhesive P P CAB Technical Conference | Loughborough| May 2015 6 . 2. ... Slide

The Future of Façades

Recent research at the gFT research group

CAB “Fit for the Future” Conference

Loughborough, 14th May 2015

Department of Engineering

Dr Mauro Overend Glass & Façade Technology Research Group

University of Cambridge

Overview gFT

2

Part 1 Context

trends, challenges & opportunities in glass

& façade engineering

CAB Technical Conference | Loughborough| May 2015

Part 2 Introduction to the gFT research group

aims & objectives, set-up and research

themes

Part 3 Research projects

overview of recently completed and on-

going research projects

Part 1 Context gFT

1. Dematerialisation

Apple Cube, New York

Steel plate

Glass plate

Adhesive

P

P

6 CAB Technical Conference | Loughborough| May 2015

2. Robustness

8


3. Complex geometry

Centre de Communication Citroen, Paris

12

TGV Station, Strasbourg, France

Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre, Azerbaijan

4. Energy efficiency

16

Interpane, Germany

17

Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris

Self-adjustingSelf-adjusting Externally activatedExternally activated

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rmo

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rom

icT

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rmo

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pic

Ph

oto

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rom

icT

he

rmo

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rom

icT

he

rmo

tro

pic

Liq

uid

Cry

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us

pe

nd

ed

Pa

rtic

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lec

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rom

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id C

rys

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Long life

High cost

Small panels

Long life

High cost

Small panels

Low E

Durability

Lt trans

Yellow

Low E

Durability

Lt trans

Yellow

Thermal perform

Durability (UV)

Opaque in

darkened state

Thermal perform

Durability (UV)

Opaque in

darkened state

Established tech

V. Poor thermal

performance

Established tech

V. Poor thermal

performance

Est. tech

High heat

to light

Est. tech

High heat

to light

High light to heat gain

Proven technology / low cost

switching time for large panels

Durability issues

High light to heat gain

Proven technology / low cost

switching time for large panels

Durability issues

Gas

injection

switching

Gas

injection

switching


5. Market trends

• The global gross output of the curtain wall market is steadily

increasing driven by the world economy in general and the

construction industry in particular

• Europe and the United States have traditionally been the

two largest markets but are being matched by China, which

has shown the fastest growth in demand

Total market size of the global curtain wall industry for the periods specified (Synovate report)

Market segmentation of the global curtain wall industry

by countries and regions for the periods specified.

(Synovate report)


• Demand has been shifting

from stick to unitized

systems because they:

– rely less on skilled labour

– provide more consistent

quality

– are more capable of offering

advanced technological

developments

• The introduction of

proprietary unitised

systems makes it now

viable for projects where:

– the façade area is relatively

small

– the procurement programme

could not afford long lead-in

periods

Market segmentation of the global curtain wall industry

by product type for the periods specified.

(Synovate report)


6. Guidelines & standards

Relativity by M.C. Escher (1953)

Part 2 Introduction to the gFT research group gFT

Cambridge University Engineering Department gFT

• Largest integrated engineering department in UK and largest

department at Cambridge.

• Greatest concentration of world-leading engineering research in

the UK (REF 2014). Consistently in top 5 engineering departments

globally.

• 145 research-active faculty, >200 contract research staff, >600

research students.

• Research portfolio of approximately £90 million. One third of this

income comes from collaboration with industry.

• Since 2001, staff and students founded over 20 spin-out and start-

up companies with a total investment of over £50 million.

sbe

Div B Electrical

Engineering

Div C Mechanics Materials &

Design

Div A Energy, Fluid Mechanics &

Turbomachinery

Div D Civil, Structural & Environmental

Engineering

Div E Manufacturing &

Management

Div F Information Engineering



On-going research projects:

• Bi-treated Glass

• Cold Bent Glass

• Post-Fracture Performance of Glass

• Adaptive Façades

• Wind loading on Complex Facades

• Composite Glass Structures

The Glass and Façade Technology Research

Group aims to provide solutions to real- world

challenges in the field of structural glass and

façade engineering through fundamental and

application-driven research. The challenges

range form energy demand in buildings to the

mechanical performance of glass and façade

design / construction processes.

Recently completed research projects:

• Multi-Objective Optimisation of Facades

• Novel Glass Connections

• Building Envelope Information Model

www.gf t .eng.cam.ac.uk

IEQ

co

st

(£/y

ea

r)

Projections

Pareto-front set

30% 70% Window-to-wall ratios

Steel-Glass Composite Panels


Project #1

conclusions gFT

Concrete composite floor: The inspiration behind the development of

a steel-glass composite façade system

Simplified CAD visualisation of the proposed steel-glass composite façade system

Glass panels

Steel RHS adhesively

bonded to glass

Silicone sealant


predictive models: stress-based gFT

Small-scale steel-glass SLS joint

THE SIX CANDIDATE ADHESIVES

Two-part epoxies (3M DP490 & 3M 2216B/A) Two-part acrylates (Araldite 2047 & H3295) Two-part epoxy/acrylate hybrid (3M 7271B/A) Two-part silicone (DC 993)

Results

Three of the adhesives showed good shear strength at 3mm gap fill (mean shear strength > 10MPa ) while being reasonably flexible


Adhesive characterisation gFT

Adhesive dumbbell specimens for uniaxial tensile tests

Cylindrical adhesive specimen undergoing compression- relaxation tests

Stress-strain plots of compression relaxation tests


Small scale tests gFT

Schematic drawing of the 4PB test set-up









35 Research Presentation at EPFL | Switzerland | Aug 2014

Failure mode: Glass failure preceded by local adhesive failure

and yielding of steel section





Large scale tests gFT



Specimen A2: Double glazed & one-way spanning Load to 1st glass failure = 33kN @ 32mm

PF load = 18kN @ 115mm Maximum deflection = 170mm

Failure mode: Glass failure preceded by yielding of the steel square sections giving an elasto-pseudo plastic response





0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Lo

ad

(k

N)

Centre Displacement (mm)


Future work in Composite Glass Structures …

FRP-Glass composite gFT


Multi-objective design optimisation of façades


Project #2

High-performance Façade

Technologies

3 / 19

A multi-objective assessment and optimisation tool gFT

45

Multi-objective Design of Facades

• Economy

- Up to 25% of the total building cost

- £400/m2 ~ £2000/m2

• Sustainability

- Embodied energy

- Energy demand

• Occupant comfort

- Thermal comfort

- Aural comfort

- Visual comfort

- Indoor air quality

Conventional façades vs. high-performance façades

• Lower initial capital cost.

• Static shading reduce daylight

• Blinds reduce view-out.

• Larger HVAC system.

• Higher artificial lighting load

• Higher initial capital cost.

• BMS controlled shading

• Better view-out.

• Smaller HVAC system.

• Better use of daylight.



Optimisation method: Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA - II)



Multi-objective optimisation tool – Case Study gFT


Multi-objective optimisation tool – Case Study gFT


• Locations: London, Helsinki, Rome

• Orientations: E/W/N/S

• Office type: Open-plan, cellular

• Method: SRC / Sobol’s total

Multi-objective optimisation tool – Parameter Sensitivity gFT


Future work in Façade Optimisation …

gFT

Optimisation of Adaptive Facades

52

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

T vis

[-]

g-value [-]

DGU U=2.5 +- 2*0.6 [XX]

Electrochromic

NIR Electro-chromics [XX]

Photo-Volta-Chromic DR [XX]

Tvis and NIR EC DR [XX]

Electrochromic

EC All solid state - Econtrol

EC All solid state - SaintGobain

EC All solid state - SAGE

Gasochromic Interpane

1. DGU 42. DGU 14-5. EC DGU ke=2.26-7. EC DGU ke=2.41

+ 8.Tvis/NIR EC DGU

4

3

2

1



glass &

façade technology

research group gFT

www.g ft .eng .cam.ac .uk

http://blog.iesve.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/fabioimage4.jpg

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The Future of Façades · PDF fileDematerialisation . Apple Cube, New York . Steel plate Glass plate Adhesive P P CAB Technical Conference | Loughborough| May 2015 6 . 2. ... Slide