Chapters authored
Seismic Aspects of the Application of Thermal Insulation Boards Beneath the Foundations of Buildings
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the construction of energy-efficient buildings. These buildings are mainly characterized by their thermal envelope, which needs to follow the complete outer perimeter of the building without any interruptions, to avoid thermal bridges. It has been observed, however, that the specific new details which prevent the occurrence of thermal bridges can, in many cases, substantially affect the structural integrity of such buildings during earthquakes. This chapter deals with the seismic aspects of the application of thermal insulation (TI) boards beneath the foundations of buildings. For this purpose, the mechanical characteristics of the most commonly used material in practice (i.e., extruded polystyrene — XPS) were experimentally determined. Additionally, the shear behaviour of differently composed TI foundation sets was investigated and their friction capacity estimated. The authors have proposed a new solution for the foundation detail, which is based on controlling the sliding mechanism between the individual layers of TI boards in order to reduce the seismic forces induced on the superstructure. The proposed detail with a specially designed sliding layer surface is made of commonly used TI materials for modern passive houses, thus reducing the potential additional costs. The solution was verified by means of nonlinear dynamic analysis of several realistic building models and various friction coefficients between XPS boards. The selected results are presented in terms of fragility curves for the occurrence of sliding between the layers of XPS boards. Based on these curves, the desired seismic response scenario and level of protection of a building structure could be selected.
Part of the book: Insulation Materials in Context of Sustainability