Light-Transmitting Concrete
Light-transmitting concrete has the capability of letting light pass through it. It is produced by incorporating optical elements (e.g., optical fibers) into conventional concrete. The mechanical properties and durability of light-transmitting concrete ar
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Light-Transmitting Concrete
Abstract Light-transmitting concrete has the capability of letting light pass through it. It is produced by incorporating optical elements (e.g., optical fibers) into conventional concrete. The mechanical properties and durability of light-transmitting concrete are slightly different from that of conventional concrete because the optical fibers only account for small volume of the concrete. Light-transmitting concrete allows using sunlight as a light source to reduce the power consumption of illumination. It also can be used in cold regions to transmit heat with sunlight or act as a decorative material. Light-transmitting concrete can therefore play an important role in both construction and environment fields. Keywords Concrete
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Light-transmitting Optical fiber
Introduction
Energy saving and nice view are two main pursuing performances for infrastructures. With the economic growth and science-technology development, more and more large-scale infrastructures, such as tall buildings, underground buildings, and landmark buildings, are built around the world. The brightness of indoor environment is entirely maintained by artificial lighting, which has consumed a large number of resources. To reduce the consumption of energy by the existing and upcoming buildings in future, the development of a new construction material which will consume less amount of energy has attracted the attention of many researchers. Light-transmitting concrete is one such material, which has the ability of letting light pass through it. This chapter will provide a systematical introduction to light-transmitting concrete with attentions to its definition, classification, principles, manufacture, properties, current progress, and applications.
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 B. Han et al., Smart and Multifunctional Concrete Toward Sustainable Infrastructures, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4349-9_15
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Light-Transmitting Concrete
Definition and Classification of Light-Transmitting Concrete
Concrete has light-transmitting properties (as shown in Fig. 15.1) due to embedding optical elements like optical fibers in it. Generally, the fibers run parallel to each other, thus transmitting light between two surfaces of the concrete element in which they are embedded. Thickness of the optical fibers can be varied between 2 µm and 2 mm to suit the particular requirements of light transmission. Light-transmitting concrete is produced by mixing 4–5% (by volume) optical fibers in fine materials only, which does not contain coarse aggregates. This concrete has less weight compared to original concrete, but it can have around 70 MPa of compressive strength. In addition, existing researches have proved that the glass fibers do not negatively affect the compressive strength of concrete. Therefore, the light-transmitting concrete does not lose the strength parameter compared to regular concrete at low content of fibers. Light-transmitting concrete is also known as transparent concrete or translucent concrete. It ca
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