The Double C Block is a novel composite CMU developed to offer enhanced thermal performance over the standard blocks. It features an original design registration where a polyurethane foam is inserted in between two concrete C-shape layers, thus acting as the insulating layer and the binding agent of the two concrete elements.
The DCB project Scientific team consists of Prof. Vincent Buhagiar, who is the Principal Investigator, Perit Luca Caruso, who is an RSO2 (Research Support Officer) and an MPhil Candidate and Dr Simon P. Borg. The team will present a manuscript at the prestigious SDEWES conference to be held in November 2022 in Paphos, Cyprus.
These three members of staff hail from the Department of Environmental Design at the Faculty for the Built Environment; they will be representing the University of Malta, at the 17th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES). In line with sustainability principles, the conference promotes resource efficiency through decoupling of growth from the depletion of natural resources. The innovative DCB is in tune with this principle.
The Scientific team will present fresh promising findings for this innovative Concrete Masonry Units (CMU) manufactured to build load and non-load bearing walls. The paper will describe the preliminary test results obtained when assessing the thermal performance of the block against three different methodologies: theoretical steady-state U-value calculations; a two-dimensional conduction steady-state heat-transfer simulation based on the finite-element method; and in situ monitoring of the U-value by means of the Heat Flow method.
A separate ongoing innovation of the DCB is a multidisciplinary development of a bio-based polyurethane foam that is could possibly replace conventional foam (derived from petrochemical sources) when the block will be ready for market launch, set for 2024. This research is currently being developed jointly between the Faculty For the Built Environment and the Faculty of Engineering. It is is part of an ongoing PhD by Perit Caruso under the supervision of Prof. Vincent Buhagiar, with Dr. Arif Rochman as co-supervisor.
The Project R&I 2019 010T Double C-Block is financed by the Malta Council for Science & Technology, for and on behalf of the Foundation for Science and Technology, through the FUSION: R&I Technology Development Programme’.
