Reducing simulation performance gap from hempcrete buildings using multi objective optimization

Abstract

Hempcrete is increasingly used as a construction material, as it provides stable temperature and relative humidity conditions in buildings. In addition to low energy operations, buildings built from hempcrete possess negative embodied CO2, absorbed into the hemp plant material. Hempcrete is hard to represent in design simulations because standard dynamic simulation tools do not have a built-in capability to simulate its effect accurately, due to the specific material structure and combined heat and moisture transfer, causing a considerable performance gap. This paper investigates appropriate specification of key parameters to be used in simulation of hempcrete, to reduce simulation performance gap from hempcrete buildings, using multi objective optimisation, to facilitate hempcrete simulation.