The behavior of aerogel blankets as insulation material in external walls at high temperatures

Abstract

The aerogel blanket is a new material that has very low thermal conductivity that makes the material a good candidate for insulating of walls. In fact, nowadays aerogel blankets are used to improve the energy performance of the existing walls. Using aerogel blankets as insulation material in a wall means replacement of existing insulation material. When a material in a building component is replaced in order to improve a specific performance, it is important to verify the influence of the other functional requirement of the wall such as fire performance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate fire performance of a non-load bearing external wall insulated by aerogel blankets. In order to achieve this aim, experiments and numerical simulations were carried out. First, two wall models using aerogel blankets as insulation materials were designed. The fire behavior of the designed walls was investigated and the models were modified according to the fire requirements. Finally, the moisture properties of the aerogel blanket were measured and compared to other common insulation materials. The results indicated that although aerogel blankets thermal properties were excellent, its fire reaction was not so advantageous. However, if aerogel blankets are placed in a safe position of the wall, the thickness of the wall can be reduced. Because of this thickness reduction, using aerogel blankets as insulation material could be an interesting alternative wherever space is an important topic. It is important to mention that in this project constant energy consumption was considered. Further studies are needed for evaluation of other functional requirements of the wall, e.g. heat and moisture transfer, fire resistance and acoustics. Key words: Aerogel blankets, Non-bearing external wall, Insulation materials, Energy performance, Fire performance.