Ultra-lightweight membrane structures for a sustainable environment

Understanding the thermo-mechanical behaviour of membranes to create sustainable buildings.

The Paris Climate Act states that buildings should be highly efficient and fully decarbonised by 2050. At the same time, there is a growing demand for new buildings in rapidly developing countries, particularly those characterised by extreme climates. Yet the building construction industry has an enormous environmental footprint – particularly in its use of concrete and steel – and needs to transition quickly to halt its impact on the planet while still meeting the demands of populations.

In response to this, Dr Federico Bosi from UCL Mechanical Engineering is collaborating with other experts on a project to advance design methods for a sustainable built environment. Called the LIGHTEN project, Dr Bosi is collaborating with Professor Francesco Dal Corso (University of Trento, Italy), Professor Miguel Bessa (TU Delft, Netherlands), Adam Bown (Tensys, UK), Dr Massimo Penasa (CAEmate, Italy) and Christoph Paech (Sbp, Germany). The project is being funded by Horizon 2020 through the MSCA-ITN-EID call, and will run until November 2024.

Changing the face of buildings

“The clean energy transition imposes a drastic change of paradigm in the building construction technology,” says Dr Bosi. Having worked with NASA on modelling the membranes of stratospheric balloons to improve flight times and the success of scientific missions, Dr Bosi wanted to explore the idea of using membranes for sustainable buildings.

“Novel fully recyclable and low-carbon structural membranes offer a thinner and green alternative to glass and other transparent cladding materials when implemented in lightweight buildings,” explains Dr Bosi. “This results in significant weight savings in the envelope and supporting structures, thus drastically reducing the environmental impact.”

Although the concept makes good sense for buildings, Dr Bosi says there is a “remarkably incomplete scientific and technological understanding of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of such innovative structural membranes.” Dr Bosi’s research is therefore focusing on the development of engineering models that can predict the performance and mechanical behaviour of these membranes, particularly when exposed to different conditions such as varying temperatures. The team is also looking at the overall resilience and impact of the membranes in ultra-lightweight buildings, and how they enhance energy efficiency.

Furthering knowledge with PhD students

To develop knowledge in this area, the team is working with five PhD students, two of which are at UCL (Alessandro Comitti and Luis Seixas). First, they aim to develop a nonlinear thermo-visco-elasto-plastic constitutive modelling for these membranes. They are also exploring how and why thin membranes used in building structures fail or lose stability. And finally, they will use machine learning to understand how the membranes should be designed to meet their objectives of being lightweight, sustainable, adaptive, and able to withstand extreme conditions.

Dr Bosi says the LIGHTEN project “aims to foster a new generation of highly qualified scientists and engineers to become experts” in this field. In particular, he wants to enable others to “promote the use of recyclable membranes in the design and realization of sustainable ultra-lightweight buildings with a reduced environmental footprint.”