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2021
Conference Paper
Titel
Wood foam and textile reinforced concrete in sandwich elements and self-supporting modules to modernize intermediate ceilings in old-building renovation
Abstract
Old-building renovation is often a cost-saving way of implementing modernization with regard to comfort and energy savings in existing cities and villages. It also preserves the architectural heritage of such places by avoiding demolition and replacement by rationalized and sometimes faceless architecture. That does not mean that old-building renovation has to forego all the advantages of modern construction and materials. Modern renovation can reduce costs by using a high degree of prefabrication and the right size of a modular design, and it can be sustainable by using a large portion of renewable materials and avoiding or minimizing the use of energy- and waste-intensive materials. A new concept in old-building renovation, self-supporting modules to be mounted in a tessellated structure to modernize intermediate ceilings for reinforcement and increased comfort, was born from research on constructions made basically of wood and concrete by using adhesive bonding as a major joining technique. Small-scale furniture-size modules are necessary to access the buildings through doors, staircases, or windows. To keep the total mass as light as possible, wood and wooden products are combined with thin fiber-reinforced concrete floating screed (footfall sound insulation). The modules are joined by structural adhesive bonding with electrically heated adhesive tapes combined with traditional methods in timberwork. A recently developed wood-based insulation material, the so-called wood foam, is used as the main insulation material in the modules. Wood foam uses the wood's own binding capabilities to avoid synthetic binders. It can be made from wood or annual plants with ligneous fibers and enables the use of renewable resources, which are currently not regarded as useful materials. This paper gives an overview of self-supporting modules in a tessellated structure, including their adhesive bonding aspects and the integration of wood foam as the principal insulation material.