Kinetic façade mock-up with shape memory alloys

@Arcora – April. 2021 – P. Hannequart

Large glass facades in office buildings require an efficient sun protection, which is sometimes designed to change its position during the day, but common mechanical systems like electrical motors are not fully satisfying in architecture. Could a material expansion or shrinkage put sun shades into motion, in reaction to a temperature change? This research aims at exploring the potential of shape memory alloys (SMA) in building facade systems, and especially sun shading devices.

This project originates in a collaboration between Arcora, a subsidiary of Ingérop Group, and Laboratoire Navier around a PhD thesis with Philippe Hannequart

presAAG-HEMERA_ENG2

Facts and figures

First time use of SMA for a building facade application
Materials:
- Shape memory alloy wires (Nickel – Titanium)
- Aluminium facade system
- Laminated glass panels with photovoltaic film
- Interior with bio-based materials

Arcora design team : Philippe Hannequart, Maria Carbonell, Aymeric De La Bachelerie, Antoine Maufay, Quentin Valente, Emmanuel Viglino
Academic team (Laboratoire Navier): Olivier Baverel, Jean-François Caron, Michael Peigney
Industrial partners : Wicona and ARMOR solar power films
Financial support : Ingérop Group.

Publications

Hannequart, P. (2018). Thermomechanical behavior of structures integrating shape memory alloys : Modelling, Simulation and Experimentation. Application to adaptive facades. Ph. D. thesis, Université Paris-Est.
Hannequart, P., M. Peigney, and J.-F. Caron (2019, jul). A micromechanics-based model for polycrystalline ni–ti wires. Smart Materials and Structures 28(8), 085040.