Earthquake-resistant and thermo-Insulating infill panel with recycled-plastic joints

Modern buildings should be endowed with features that allow people to carry out their activities in a sustainable environment and with a high level of safety. The major concern of this work refers to one peculiar aspect that recently is gaining the attention of designers and construction companies: the role of infill panels. There is now an increasing consensus on how these non-structural elements should be carefully designed, both, to increase their thermo-insulating capacity and to adapt their earthquake performance to the most recent standards. It is well known that infill panels are the main source of heat dispersion in buildings, Moreover, in recent seismic events, we have witnessed several dramatic collapses of infill panels that overturned outside of buildings. The need arose almost spontaneously: to conceive a new type of infill panel that could solve these two critical issues. The solution was found in an innovative constructive system for infill panels, in which the traditional hollow-core masonry blocks are connected, rather than with the traditional mortar layers, through joints made from recycled plastic. These joints are constituted of a planar surface with a number of protruding “teeth” on both sides that fit into the holes of the blocks. The constructive system has the advantage of a rapid assemblage, which reduces the construction times, and allows the insertion of insulating panels that reduce the thermal conductivity to very low levels. From the anti-seismic standpoint, the teeth are designed to allow for a certain displacement to occur at the joint level, thus reducing the in-plane stiffness of the infill panel and, as a consequence, its damage; at the same time, they realize an interlocking mechanism that prevents the out-of-plane collapse.