Self-adaptive Building Facade Enabled via Pressure-regulated Metamaterials and Reinforcement Learning Control

虽然作用在我们的建筑存量上的力和能量是高度可变的(即，从不断变化的气候到居住者的行为)，但当前的建筑实践仍然将建筑外部围护结构(例如，外立面)作为一个静态系统进行设计和运营。巨大的节能潜力存在于超越建筑围护结构的解决方案中，从简单的保护性空间分隔器到适应气候和能源优化的更智能和更灵敏的皮肤。该项目研究了一种使用压力调节超材料自主控制建筑外墙的热性能和机械性能的新方法。与需要大量运动部件和高运行能量的机械驱动动能百叶窗不同，某些超材料的可变形细观结构可以对流体压力做出响应，并在宏观水平上共同改变包络特性。这将从根本上减少维护和降低生命周期成本。它还通过提供对气候条件和乘员需求更广泛变化的适应，提供了比智能材料更大的优势。该项目将通过与工业伙伴和国家实验室的合作产生广泛影响。研究经验将被整合到一个多学科的教育和推广计划中，以吸引不同的研究生、本科生和K-12学生群体，特别是来自历史上代表性不足的群体的学生。这项研究的目标是使自适应建筑围护结构的设计和操作能够主动响应周围环境的变化，并随着时间的推移发展其性能。通过利用流体和介孔超材料之间的相互作用，可以对建筑幕墙的热性能和力学性能进行反应性调整，以降低建筑能耗，抑制对建筑结构不利的机械振动。这项研究的假设是：(1)流体和压力敏感型超材料之间的可逆体积反应可以用来控制建筑幕墙的热性能和力学性能；(2)通过允许围护结构系统与不断变化的环境动态相互作用，可以协同提高建筑能量和结构效率。具体地说，将执行三项相互关联的任务：(1)将建立一个计算框架，以设计和优化具有可调节的热和机械性能的压力响应型超材料；(2)将基于无模型强化学习方法制定自主控制策略，以使原本被动的建筑围护结构能够学习并适应不断变化的环境；(3)将进行全面的构件验证测试和案例研究，以量化节能潜力。

While the forces and energies acting on our building stocks are highly mutable (i.e., from the changing climates to the occupant behaviors) current building practices still design and operate building exterior envelope (e.g., façade) as a static system. Substantial energy saving potentials reside in solutions that transcend building envelope from a simple protective space divider to a more intelligent and responsive skin attuned to climate and energy optimization. This project investigates a novel approach to autonomously control the thermal and mechanical properties of building façades using pressure-regulated metamaterials. Unlike mechanically actuated kinetic louvers that require numerous moving parts and high operational energy, the deformable mesostructure of some metamaterials can respond to fluidic pressure and collectively change the envelope properties at macroscale level. This will lead to radically less maintenance and lower life-cycle cost. It also offers advantage over smart materials by providing adaptation to much broader variations in climate conditions and occupant demands. This project will have broad impacts through collaborations with industrial partners and national labs. The research experiences will be integrated into a multidisciplinary education and outreach program to engage a diverse group of graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 students, particularly, the students from historically underrepresented groups.The objective of this research is to enable the design and operation of self-adaptive building envelopes that can proactively respond to the changes in surrounding environments and evolve their performance over time. By utilizing the interactions between fluids and mesoporous metamaterials, the thermal and mechanical properties of building façade can be reactively tuned to reduce building energy consumption and suppress mechanical vibrations that are detrimental to building structures. The hypotheses of this research are (1) the reversible volume reaction between fluids and pressure-responsive metamaterials can be utilized to manipulate the thermal and mechanical properties of building façade; and (2) building energy and structural efficiencies can be synergistically improved by allowing the envelope system to dynamically interact with the changing environments. Specifically, three interrelated tasks will be carried out where: (1) a computational framework will be established to design and optimize pressure-responsive metamaterials with adjustable thermal and mechanical properties; (2) an autonomous control strategy will be formulated based on Model-Free Reinforcement Learning method to enable the otherwise passive building envelope to learn and adapt to the continually changing environments; and lastly (3) full-scale component validation tests and case studies will be performed to quantify the energy saving potential.