An Innovative Building Envelope System Based on Expanded Polypropylene (EPP) for Affordable and High-performance Housing

本研究旨在探讨膨胀聚丙烯（EPP）在预制墙体系统中的应用。EPP具有优异的热学和物理性能，使其适合作为建筑围护结构中的隔热和结构材料。在汽车工业中，EPP的制造和成型工艺已经成熟，并且具有流线型和高性价比。拟议的研究将调查如何将汽车工业的EPP部件的制造过程转移到制造预制墙板上，用于建造可持续和经济适用的住房。蓝谷建筑（BVB）公司是一家垂直一体化公司，总部位于圭尔夫，拥有广泛的汽车和建筑行业知识。他们的研究和开发活动专注于创新与精益建筑原则相一致的制造过程，以开发预制墙和地板系统，这将大大减少浪费，提高建筑围护结构的质量，最大限度地降低成本，并提高加拿大经济适用房行业的生产力。学术团队试图通过模拟和实验室测试来量化拟议的基于epp的墙板的性能，特别关注面板的热、结构和消防安全性能。建议设计的性能将在结构稳定性、气密性和无热桥细节方面进行评估。此外，我们会透过建筑物能源模拟，评估建议的环保墙板对建筑物能源效益和遵守《建筑守则》的影响。目标是指导适当的设计决策，以确保墙体系统的高性能，同时通过采用精益制造过程将建筑成本和废物产生降至最低。BVB将通过在安大略省约21个中高层住宅项目中实施基于epp的墙板系统，并向其他建筑商提供墙板，从而将成果商业化。

The proposed research is aimed to investigate the use of Expanded Polypropylene (EPP) in a prefabricated wall system. EPP has superior thermal and physical properties allowing it to be suitable as a thermal insulation and structural material in the building envelope. The manufacturing and moulding process of EPP has been matured in a streamlined and cost-effective manner in the automobile industry. The proposed research will investigate how the manufacturing process of EPP parts from the automobile industry can be transferred to manufacturing prefabricated wall panels for use in constructing sustainable and affordable housing. Blue Valley Building (BVB) Corporation is a vertically integrated company based in Guelph with extensive knowledge from the automobile and construction industries. Their research and development activities focus on innovating the manufacturing process aligned with lean construction principles to develop prefabricated wall and floor systems that will significantly reduce waste, improve the quality of the building envelope, minimize costs, and increase productivity in the Canadian affordable housing industry. The academic team seeks to quantify the performance of the proposed EPP-based wall panels through simulation and laboratory testing with a specific focus on the panel's thermal, structural, and fire safety performance. The performance of the proposed design will be assessed in terms of structural stability, airtightness, and thermal bridge-free detailing. In addition, the impact of the proposed EPP-based wall panel on building energy efficiency and compliance with the Building Codes will be assessed through building energy simulation. The objective is to guide the appropriate design decisions needed towards ensuring high-performance for the wall system whilst minimizing construction cost and the generation of waste through adopting a lean manufacturing process. The outcomes will be commercialized by BVB through implementing the EPP-based wall panel system on approximately 21 of their mid-rise residential projects across Ontario and supplying the wall panels to other builders.