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Abstract: Purpose Intumescent coatings are nowadays a dominant passive system used to protect structural materials in case of fire. Due to their reactive swelling behaviour, intumescent coatings are particularly complex materials to be modelled and predicted, which can be extremely useful especially for performance-based fire safety designs. In addition, many parameters influence their performance, and this challenges the definition and quantification of their material properties. Several approaches and models of various complexities are proposed in the literature, and they are reviewed and analysed in a critical literature review. Design/methodology/approach Analytical, finite-difference and finite-element methods for modelling intumescent coatings are compared, followed by the definition and quantification of the main physical, thermal, and optical properties of intumescent coatings: swelled thickness, thermal conductivity and resistance, density, specific heat capacity, and emissivity/absorptivity. Findings The study highlights the scarce consideration of key influencing factors on the material properties, and the tendency to simplify the problem into effective thermo-physical properties, such as effective thermal conductivity. As a conclusion, the literature review underlines the lack of homogenisation of modelling approaches and material properties, as well as the need for a universal modelling method that can generally simulate the performance of intumescent coatings, combine the large amount of published experimental data, and reliably produce fire-safe performance-based designs. Research limitations/implications Due to their limited applicability, high complexity and little comparability, the presented literature review does not focus on analysing and comparing different multi-component models, constituted of many model-specific input parameters. On the contrary, the presented literature review compares various approaches, models and thermo-physical properties which primarily focusses on solving the heat transfer problem through swelling intumescent systems. Originality/value The presented literature review analyses and discusses the various modelling approaches to describe and predict the behaviour of swelling intumescent coatings as fire protection for structural materials. Due to the vast variety of available commercial products and potential testing conditions, these data are rarely compared and combined to achieve an overall understanding on the response of intumescent coatings as fire protection measure. The study highlights the lack of information and homogenisation of various modelling approaches, and it underlines the research needs about several aspects related to the intumescent coating behaviour modelling, also providing some useful suggestions for future studies.
Keywords: intumescent coatings, fire protection, modelling, structural fire engineering, fire safety, performance-based design
Published in DiRROS: 17.04.2024; Views: 42; Downloads: 10
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Abstract: Forests are important ecosystems that face threats from climate change and global environmental shifts, with invasive alien plant species being a significant concern. Some of these invasive species have already become established, while others are in the process of naturalisation. Although forests are a relatively stable ecosystem, extreme weather events increase their vulnerability to change, and clearings left after natural disturbances are particularly susceptible to invasion by alien plant species (IAPS). We created risk maps of two species that have spread rapidly in the last decade: American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) and the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima). We prepared a generalised linear model based on the occurrence data collected within the LIFE ARTEMIS project. Eleven environmental variables were used to determine habitat characteristics. We constructed two models for each species: one covering the entirety of Slovenia and the other specifically for the forested areas in Slovenia, with the latter incorporating forest-specific variables (such as forest sanitation felling and monocultures). We observed the presence of both species at lower altitudes and in close proximity to water sources. American pokeweed tends to occur nearer to railways, while the presence of the tree of heaven is associated with areas lacking carbonate parent material and influenced by land use patterns. In forested areas, the occurrence of American pokeweed is influenced by forest habitat characteristics, such as disturbances caused by extreme weather events or the prevalence of Norway spruce monocultures. In contrast, the occurrence of the tree of heaven is influenced by more general environmental variables, such as altitude and proximity to railways. Consequently, we have generated risk maps for the entirety of Slovenia and separately for forested areas, both of which indicate similar levels of risk, particularly for the tree of heaven. The risk map for American pokeweed highlights numerous vulnerable areas, especially forest edges, which are highly susceptible to invasion. Furthermore, there is a higher likelihood of this species occurring in areas that have undergone sanitation felling. This study suggests that the production of risk maps of IAPS could be improved by focussing on habitat types and taking into account habitat-specific variables. This approach could enhance the early detection and management of these invasive species.
Keywords: American pokeweed, tree of heaven, species distribution modelling, forests, forest disturbance, habitat suitability
Published in DiRROS: 26.03.2024; Views: 88; Downloads: 42
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Abstract: Shallow geothermal energy systems (SGES) may take different forms and have recently taken considerable attention due to energy geo-structures (EGS) resulting from the integration of heat exchange elements in geotechnical structures. Still, there is a lack of systematic design guidelines of SGES. Hence, in order to contribute towards that direction, the current study aims at reviewing the available SGES modeling options along with their various aspects and practices. This is done by first presenting the main analytical and numerical models and methods related to the thermal behavior of SGES. Then, the most important supplementary factors affecting such modeling are discussed. These include: (i) the boundary conditions, in the form of temperature variation or heat flow, that majorly affect the predicted thermal behavior of SGES; (ii) the spatial dimensions that may be crucial when relaxing the infinite length assumption for short heat exchangers such as energy piles (EP); (iii) the determination of SGES parameters that may need employing specific techniques to overcome practical difficulties; (iv) a short-term vs. long-term analysis depending on the thermal storage characteristics of GHE of different sizes; (v) the influence of groundwater that can have a moderating effect on fluid temperatures in both heating and cooling modes. Subsequently, thermo-mechanical interactions modeling issues are addressed that may be crucial in EGS that exhibit a dual functioning of heat exchangers and structural elements. Finally, a quite lengthy overview of the main software tools related to thermal and thermo-hydro-mechanical analysis of SGES that may be useful for practical applications is given. A unified software package incorporating all related features of all SGES may be a future aim.
Keywords: shalow geothermal energy systems, energy geo-structures, thermal analysis, thermo-hydro-mechanical, modelling, software tools
Published in DiRROS: 05.03.2024; Views: 114; Downloads: 47
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Abstract: A hybrid version of the strong form meshless Radial Basis Function-Finite Difference (RBF-FD) method is introduced for solving thermo-mechanics. The thermal model is spatially discretised with RBF-FD, where trial functions are polyharmonic splines augmented with polynomials. For time discretisation, the explicit Euler method is employed. An extension of RBF-FD, the hybrid RBF-FD, is introduced for solving mechanical problems. The model is one-way coupled, where temperature affects displacements. The thermo-elastoplastic material response is considered where the stress field is generally non-smooth. The hybrid RBF-FD, where the finite difference method is used to discretise the divergence operator from the balance equation, is shown to be successful when dealing with such problems. The mechanical model is introduced in a plane strain and in a generalised plane strain (GPS) assumption. For the first time, this work presents a strong form RBF-FD for GPS problems subjected to integral form constraints. The proposed method is assessed regarding h-convergence and accuracy on the benchmark with heating an elastoplastic square. It is proven to be successful at solving one-way coupled thermo-elastoplastic problems. The proposed novel meshless approach is efficient, accurate, and robust. Its use in an industrial situation is provided in Part 2 of this paper.
Keywords: thermo-mechanical modelling, von Mises small strain plasticity, hybrid radial basis function generated finite differences, polyharmonic splines
Published in DiRROS: 28.02.2024; Views: 105; Downloads: 55
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Abstract: This study focuses on the kinetics of hydration, phase assemblage, microstructure and mechanical properties after various hydration times of two different BCSA cements at 5, 20, 40 and 60 ◦C and compares experimental data with thermodynamic modelling. Different curing temperatures change the type of hydrates and their amounts. Ye’elimite and gypsum in belite-ye’elimite-ferrite cements are almost fully reacted after 24 h of hydration at 20, 40 and 60 ◦C, while not at 5 ◦C. The hydration of belite is slower than the one of ye’elimite, but reaches a high degree of hydration after 150 days which is increasing with temperature. Less ettringite is present at elevated temperatures due to its increasing solubility, while more monosulfate is observed. Furthermore, with increasing temperature siliceous hydrogarnet forms at the expenses of strätlingite as well as more C S H is found as more belite reacts resulting in higher compressive strength. Dense and homogenous microstructure is observed at 5 ◦C, while it is more heterogeneous at higher temperatures. The presence of more ye’elimite resulted in higher ettringite and str¨atlingite formation and a higher compressive strength, while more belite yields more C S H in the hydrates and lower compressive strength.
Keywords: belite-ye’elimite-ferrite cement, temperature, hydration, thermodynamic modelling
Published in DiRROS: 11.12.2023; Views: 151; Downloads: 126
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