Construction Process Technical Impact Factors on Degradation of the External Thermal Insulation Composite System

Abstract

The European climate strategy has encouraged the usage of the External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) to increase the energy efficiency of external building envelopes. This externally and relatively easily applicable façade solution must meet various technical requirements. This paper develops a technical severity evaluation model of on-site construction activities of ETICS to prioritize the risks of the construction process. The model can be used independently by any stakeholder of the construction process. The relevance of the activities is assessed with the Failure Mode Effects Analysis method. The model weights the impact of the essential technical requirements and simulates an integrated weighted technical severity value, which is derived from the analysis of experts’ judgments validated with the non-parametric Friedman’s test. The data collection for probability of occurrence and difficulty of detectability follows the Delphi technique to quantify the opinions of a group. The simulation, conducted on 103 degradation factors, shows that the on-site construction activities of ETICS strongly influence the decrease in the technical resilience of long-term durability, mechanical resistance, and stability, as well as the ability to bypass tensions. The highest risk is detected by the shortcomings in the layers of substrate, reinforcement, adhesive, and additional details.

The Economic Relevance of on-Site Construction Activities With the External Thermal Insulation Composite System (Etics)

“…The previous study on the technical influence of the degradation factors (Sulakatko & Vogdt, 2018) has emphasised the shortcomings in the layers of reinfocement and additional details as well as the works that influence the adhesion properties in the layers of substrate and adhesive of the purely bonded system. The average ERPN values in the layer of reinforcement are relatively low in this study.…”

Modelling the Technical–Economic Relevance of the ETICS Construction Process

“…The framework of the model (Figure 1) visualizes the simplified interaction of the components included in the model, while the research design ( Figure 2) visualizes the process of the model. This paper represents a further development in the research on technical severity [7] and economic risk assessment and approaches both aspects in a unified TER model.  the thermal insulation product is made out of mineral wool or expanded polystyrene with a thickness from 150 mm to 250 mm;  the study concerns the region of Estonia, which lies in zone Dfb (warm summer, fully humid, snow climate) according to the Köppen-Geiger map.…”

“…The framework of the model (Figure 1) visualizes the simplified interaction of the components included in the model, while the research design ( Figure 2) visualizes the process of the model. This paper represents a further development in the research on technical severity [7] and economic risk assessment and approaches both aspects in a unified TER model. The research design is divided into eight phases, which are marked as grey areas in Figure 2.…”

“…The data collection process was conducted in 2018. A more specific description of the method as well as the results are presented in other papers by the author [7].…”

“…The results of the studies on technical [7] and economic relevance will be presented separately. The results of these individual studies have diverse recommendations due to the different components involved in the evaluation models.…”