Design and testing of natural fibre structural insulated panels

鉴于气候变化和环境退化，加拿大社会迫切需要改进建筑系统。申请人将研究天然纤维作为一种现代建筑材料。“天然纤维”是指从植物中获得的纤维素纤维，包括木材、稻草、大麻和亚麻。天然纤维对环境有许多好处。首先，天然纤维是一种可再生资源。加拿大拥有广阔的陆地基地，每年有能力生产数百万吨纤维素纤维。用于绝缘材料的天然纤维可以取代由不可再生材料制成的玻璃纤维或泡沫绝缘材料。其次，植物从环境中去除二氧化碳（导致气候变化的主要温室气体），并用它来生产纤维素。当植物材料被纳入建筑元素时，这些捕获的二氧化碳至少在该组件的设计寿命内被锁定。在加拿大、美国和欧洲，一个新兴产业正在开发包含天然纤维的新型结构部件。一种形式是将废弃的稻草捆堆放起来，在两侧涂上灰泥，形成承重墙或木材或钢框架的包层。目前，这些系统只在数量有限的建筑物中使用。工程师通常不愿意使用这些组件，因为很少有关于这些系统如何在结构上运行的有效信息。申请人将通过对天然纤维结构隔热板进行全尺寸结构测试和建模来满足这些需求。申请人将调查改进的系统，以解决耐久性问题（如预制秸秆捆板），将天然纤维应用于谷仓、仓库和棚子等结构，然后使用其他天然纤维，如大麻。申请人将使用复杂的建模技术，如有限元分析，来了解这些系统如何响应施加的载荷，以及一种创新的数字成像技术，称为粒子图像测速，使研究人员能够高精度地测量面板内任何点的变形。

Canadian society faces an urgent need for improved building systems in light of climate change and environmental degradation. The applicant will investigate natural fibres as a modern construction material. "Natural fibres" are cellulosic fibres obtained from plant sources, including wood, straw, hemp, and flax.Natural fibres have a number of environmental benefits. First, natural fibres are a renewable resource. Canada, with its large land base, is capable of producing millions of tonnes of cellulosic fibres every year. Natural fibres used for insulation can replace glass-fibre batts or foam insulation produced  from non-renewable materials. Second, plants remove CO2 (the main green-house gas leading to climate change) from the environment and use it to produce cellulose. When plant material is incorporated in a building element, this captured CO2 remains locked up for at least the design life of the component.A burgeoning industry in Canada, the United States, and Europe is developing new structural components that incorporate natural fibres. One form uses waste straw bales stacked up and plastered on both sides to form load-bearing walls or cladding in a timber or steel frame. Currently, these systems are used in a limited number of buildings. Engineers are often reluctant to use these components because there is little validated information on how these systems behave structurally.The applicant will address these needs by conducting full-scale structural testing and modeling on natural fibre structural insulated panels. The applicant will investigate improved systems that address durability concerns (such as prefabricated straw bale panels), the application of natural fibres to structures such as barns, warehouses, and sheds, and then use of other natural fibres, such as hemp. The applicant will use sophisticated modeling techniques, such as finite element analysis, to understand how these systems respond to applied loads, and an innovative digital imaging technique, called Particle Image Velocimetry, that allow investigators to measure deformations at any point within a panel with high accuracy.