Thermal performance optimization of lightweight concrete/EPS layered composite building blocks

The aim of this paper is to study and optimize the thermal performance of new lightweight and insulating composite blocks (CBlocks). These CBlocks are made up of a central expanded polystyrene (EPS) layer and two lightweight concrete layers with cavities. The aggregate of the lightweight concrete is pumice. A complete corner wall composed of six composite blocks and a specific corner block is numerically analyzed for different thermal conditions. Numerical methods were used in order to obtain the thermal behavior of these CBlocks. On the one hand, material thermal conductivity, convection and radiation inside the cavities were considered in this problem. On the other hand, the variation of the cavities was also taking into account. Finite Element Method (FEM) and Design of Experiments (DOE) have been used to study and analyze this problem. This numerical study reaches the thermal behavior of these new insulating CBlocks and provides new useful information for researchers and builders.