Design of a New Full-scale Facility for Building Envelope Test: FACT (FACade Tool)

In the last years, several innovations have been introduced in the field of building envelope research and development. To bridge the gap between research and commercially available products, one of the key step is to evaluate these technologies in 1:1 scale and under real boundary conditions. For this purpose, test in outdoor full-scale facilities in complement with dynamic numerical simulation, allow to assess the performances of these complex envelope components, systems or whole building. In this framework a new versatile facility, named FACT (FACade Tool), is under construction in the southeastern France (CEA-INES platform – Le Bourget du Lac) for building envelope components test. This new full-scale tool will be dedicated to infield evaluation of: opaque and transparent elements, lightweight and massive facades, different thickness and heights and different geometry of the indoor environment. In this paper it is presented the design phase, the concept and the working principle of the facility. The layout definition was supported by preliminary simulations and the results of this modelling activity are discussed in order to guide the construction of the facility and to outline the experimental protocol for the next campaigns in FACT.

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