Experimental Investigation of Recycling of Rock-Wool Insulation as Insulator in Concrete Blocks

Sarath Menon, Dr. Vishal Gangadhar Naranje

Recent developments in building energy saving managements have led to considerable improvements in energy savings of building sector. Therefore looking at various optimization strategies to reduce the building energy consumptions. These measures include improving the building materials, energy conversion technologies, control strategies etc. But there is still a strong interest to reduce the energy use of buildings through reduction of heat losses. The largest source of energy Mineral wool (or rock wool) is a non-metallic, inorganic product manufactured using stone/rock. The Rockwool can be placed inside hollow concrete blocks and the insulation assessment of these materials can be examined based on the heat transfer rate. This study aims at the comparative study of Rockwool and Thermocol (Polystyrene) insulation used in concrete blocks. Cement-based composites are among the most widely-used construction materials due to their low cost, high compressive strength, high durability, versatility, and easy-handling. Unfortunately, cement-based composites are intrinsically porous and may deteriorate and be liable to rebar corrosion as a result of exposure to harsh environments or poor construction quality. In general, proper design procedures, adequate concrete cover depth, corrosion-inhibiting admixture, and low-permeability cement-based composites can be selected for corrosion prevention and control. There are three type of concrete blocks used for this analysis. The thermal properties of Rockwool-concrete composite and Thermocol-concrete composite will be analyzed and will be simulated in ANSYS. Thus we determine the effectiveness of insulation provided by the Rockwool material with the hollow concrete block. In hardware part rock wool inserted building block’s thermal conductivity is tested by ASTM C518 test method (British standard).This analysis will help us to determine the efficient insulator and will help us reuse the Rockwool and Thermocol wastes generated in industries and commercial sites.