Experiment and Modeling of Particle Sedimentation Towards FGM Manufacturing for Energy Efficient Building Envelope

A multifunctional material system is designed for building envelope with high performance for energy efficiency and sustainability. It contains photovoltaic (PV) modules laminated on a functionally graded interlayer containing water pipelines, which is then bonded to a lightweight concrete substrate. The functionally graded layer with water flow reduces the thermal stress by continuous material transition, recovers the energy efficiency of the PV cells by controlling the service temperature, and harvests heat as well as saves air conditioning for the building. A sedimentation
process has been investigated to scale up the manufacturing of the functionally graded materials for mass solar panel production. The equivalent inclusion method has been introduced in modeling of particles moving in a viscous fluid. This new modeling method can be extended to numerical simulation of heterogeneous material systems containing different sizes and shapes of particles, whether a ultiphase flow or a composite solid. Finally, Dr. Yin will introduce his vision on energy in sustainable infrastructure and share some ongoing research at Columbia University.

Speaker: Dr. Huiming Yin, Columbia Univ