Thermal and mechanical behavior of sandwich panel with lightweight core and jute textile reinforced concrete faces

The use of sandwich panels to improve the thermal comfort of residential and commercial buildings is a promising alternative for reducing energy costs associated with indoor climate control. However, to increase the strength of their faces, cementitious sandwich panels typically utilize metallic or polymeric reinforcements, which are non-renewable materials. In this study, a lightweight sandwich panel composed of an expanded-polystyrene (EPS) core and jute-textile reinforced cementitious facings was developed as an alternative to these materials. The objective was to assess the potential use of this configuration for non-load-bearing vertical sealing systems. First, textile-reinforced cementitious composites (TRCC) containing one, two, and three jute-fabric layers were tested under four-point bending. The two-layer configuration showed post-cracking load transfer and increased toughness relative to lower-reinforcement configuration, and was then used as the sandwich panels facing. The mechanical behavior of the sandwich panel was then evaluated through flexural, axial compression, and diagonal compression/shear tests on wall prisms. To determine the thermal performance, a thermal chamber was used to measure heat transfer through the panel. The measured maximum face stress was 1.82 MPa, whereas the core-shear strength was 0.190 MPa for the tested sandwich configuration. The panel prisms reached 4.53 MPa under direct compression and 2.34 MPa under diagonal compression/shear. The results indicate that the use of jute fabric increases the panel’s toughness after matrix cracking. The evaluation of the prisms indicated that both the axial compressive strength and the diagonal compressive strength potential for non-load-bearing vertical sealing systems. The thermal transmittance of 1.33 $$W/m^2 K$$ met the limits specified for external walls, indicating the feasibility of the presented solution.