Interior walls are intended to separate rooms visually and acoustically. They are intended to form a room closure that can withstand mechanical impacts – even in the event of a fire. Simple planning and easy, fast construction are to be combined with the desire for durable materials. The walls should be suitable for heavy con trunks and effortless fastening. They must not affect the quality of the indoor air. They should be slim and solid at the same time in order to be able to use valuable floor space efficiently and design rooms to a high standard.
For these construction tasks, architects and engineers have been using gypsum wall panels for many decades. Gypsum wall building boards are wall formers with a resistant structure, of low thickness and low weight, which can be carried out almost dry and have proven themselves in terms of fire protection and building acoustics.
Gypsum wall panels combine the material and structural properties of solid construction with the advantages of light and dry construction. Floor plans are optimally used with the slender building materials, and ceilings are less stressed due to the comparatively low mass. Their first-class material quality gives rooms a structurally solid, substantially high-quality character, which can also be reproduced in an economically attractive way. The clean, fast and almost dry design enables concisely short construction times. After the wall construction during the shell construction, the walls, including joint filling, are ready to receive coatings or cladding, additional costs for plastering work as well as moisture ingress and drying times are eliminated.
The
main component of solid gypsum wall building boards is setable gypsum, which has been known in construction, crafts and art since time immemorial as stucco gypsum, today as gypsum binder. Gypsum binder is formed from gypsum rock (CaSO4·2H2O), which loses three quarters of its crystal water through thermal treatment and is then referred to as hemihydrate (CaSO4·1/2H2O). Ground in powder form and mixed with water, the hemihydrate can regain its original shape by rebuilding and hardening its crystalline structure, which has been altered during heating, by forming new crystals in the process. With regard to gypsum wall building boards, this reversible process produces a bonded gypsum body that already has important structural and ecological properties due to its strength, surface hardness and microporosity. With regard to sustainability, dehydration and rehydration explain the resource efficiency as well as the circularity and recyclability of removed gypsum wall panels.
The production of gypsum wall panels is carried out in accordance with DIN EN 12859, which regulates the properties of the different types of panels and the composite wall.
Lightweight interior walls
Gypsum wall panels are intended for weight-optimised space creation in buildings. When dimensioning the ceilings, constructions made of gypsum wall panels are to be treated as lightweight non-load-bearing interior walls. Floor plans can thus also be flexibly adapted at a later date.
If a transverse distribution of the partition wall loads is possible due to the ceiling construction, the dead weight of the walls up to a maximum load of ≤ 5.0 kN/m wall length may be included in the design by means of a uniformly distributed surcharge to the payload of the ceiling instead of an exact verification. This simplification also applies to walls that are parallel to the beams of ceilings without sufficient transverse distribution, if their load is not greater than 3 kN/m wall length. If the walls are to run transversely to the beam layer in the case of existing ceilings framed in wood, sufficiently dimensioned supports must be planned.
For wall loads ≤ 3.0 kN/m wall length, 0.8 kN/m² and for wall loads > 3.0 kN/m ≤ 5.0 kN/m wall length, 1.2 kN/m² are to be applied. Walls made of gypsum wall panels can also be built on suitable composite and floating screeds, provided that the limit values for their compressive and flexural tensile strength are met.
Non-load-bearing interior walls
Constructions made of gypsum wall panels are non-load-bearing partition walls. They are used to create space inside buildings. They may neither transfer vertical building loads nor be used to brace buildings. They can be removed during the redesign of floor plans without compromising the stability of the building.
In Germany, DIN 4103-1 is a building material-neutral basic standard that specifies the requirements and verifications for non-load-bearing partition walls. The DIN 4103-2 standard for interior walls made of gypsum wall panels is based on it with design-specific details. It specifies the design and implementation rules, compliance with which the proof of stability in accordance with DIN 4103-1 is deemed to have been provided.
The design of the walls depends on the size of the load in a paved area (EB1, EB2), their edge support and the type of panel, determined by thickness and bulk density. Their stability is ensured if the boards are joined together in a bond within the limits of their permissible wall dimensions, glued with gypsum adhesive for gypsum wall building boards and connected to the adjacent components in accordance with the standards. The design must always be based on single-shell constructions. For the design of double-shell constructions, the wall shell with the lower thickness is decisive.
Tables 1 to 3 of DIN 4103-2 specify the permissible wall heights and wall lengths up to which walls made of gypsum wall building boards with standard-compliant connections may be constructed without special verification; in the vast majority of cases, Table 1 is the planning guide.
Wall connections
The walls are connected to the flanking components in accordance with DIN 4103-2 in a rigid, elastic or sliding manner. The elastic connection is the most common type of connection for gypsum wall panels. The building acoustics advantages of the elastic connection are described in more detail in DIN 4109-32 for gypsum wall building boards. If the walls have to meet fire protection requirements, DIN 4102-4 must be observed when designing the connections.
Sliding connections are installed in the event of expected major deformations of the adjacent components and increased stress on the walls. They are carried out by arranging L-shaped or circumferential U-profiles on both sides of the adjacent components, mainly on ceilings. The rigid connection is only carried out if, from a structural point of view, constraints due to adjacent components and from a building physics point of view, sound insulation play a subordinate role.
Example of an elastic ceiling connection:
Wall openings, wall slots
Large openings in the walls, e.g. for doors, are created when the walls are built. Openings < 1 m are continuously covered without lintel in the cantilevered panel structure. Additional structural measures may be required over openings > 1 m (reinforcement). To constructively reinforce the opening, the installation of a tie rod in the foot of the wall can be useful in the event of expected structural movements. Small openings, e.g. for the installation of distributors of the building installation, are considered proven if the permissible wall dimensions and the connection conditions are met. For the dimensions of these openings, an opening dimension less than 1/4 of the wall height or the wall length or an opening area less than 1/10 of the wall surface applies.
Slots and recesses must not impair the stability of the walls. The walls must also meet the requirements for the absorption of static and dynamic loads after the production of slots and recesses. On the planning side, it must be taken into account that the load-bearing effect of the wall as a whole must be used in order to absorb loads; in particular, the weakening of the wall cross-section by horizontal slots must be taken into account. However, the reduction of the permissible wall dimensions may be neglected if the boundary conditions for the dimensions of slots and recesses according to DIN 4103-2 and the rules for their design are observed. This includes, in particular, that horizontal slots must not be longer than 1 m if their depth reaches half the wall thickness (or up to 1/3 of the wall thickness in the case of longer horizontal slots) and that after the construction of the technical building installation, the slots and recesses provided for this purpose are completely closed with building plaster and that all built-in parts are sufficiently covered (at least 10 mm). Otherwise, only the residual cross-section may be taken into account as the determining wall cross-section when dimensioning the partition walls.
The
removal of light and heavy consolated bases takes place in the homogeneous walls without additional brackets or reinforcements. Light consolation buttons are defined as loads whose size does not exceed 0.4 kN/m wall length and where the vertical line of action, i.e. the lever arm of the resulting horizontal force, must not exceed 0.3 m from the wall surface. These conditions are met, for example, by wall shelves and small wall cabinets, which may be attached to the partition walls without further proof with e.g. expansion or screw dowels.
Due to their massive cross-section, the partition walls can also remove heavier conone branches. Heavy consollalists are defined as loads whose size is > 0.4 kN/m ≤ 1.0 kN/m wall length and whose vertical line of action is no more than 0.5 m from the wall surface. For example, wall units or washbasins may be attached without proof, provided that the wall thickness is ≥ 80 mm and the wall height does not exceed 2/3 of the values for the maximum wall dimensions – regardless of the type of wall connection. For fastening, fasteners adapted to the respective load must be used in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications. In the case of values for the vertical load exceeding this or in the case of a longer lever arm, a bracket torque of 0.5 kNm/m wall length must not be exceeded.
Fire protection
Depending on their design, interior walls made of solid gypsum wall panels meet the building authority requirements for fire-resistant, non-load-bearing, room-enclosing components made of non-combustible building materials in structural facilities. They are among the proven components with classified fire resistance according to DIN 4102-4 or EN 13501-2. The design and execution rules, in particular the standard-compliant design of their connections and joints, are decisive for the development of their fire protection effect. The components designed in accordance with these rules offer a high level of safety in structural fire protection:
requirements
The outstanding protective effect of gypsum wall panels in structural fire protection is based on around 20% bound crystal water, which provides considerable resistance to the temperature attack of the fire, which delays the penetration of the load temperature over a significant period of time. This special performance of gypsum wall panels has been successfully used in structural fire protection for decades. Due to their well-known and stable fire behaviour, they have been proven as classified non-combustible building materials of building material class A1 without further testing. According to the European classification, they are among the building materials that are classified in Euroclass A1 – also without further testing.
The fire resistance of classified components with openings is significantly influenced by the openings themselves. Openings in components with fire protection requirements must therefore have fire-retardant, leak-proof and self-closing closures. In conjunction with gypsum wall panels, the suitability of fire and smoke protection closures is proven by the manufacturer. In their application, the national forms of proof or the declarations of performance in conjunction with the technical documentation of the manufacturers, e.g. Hörmann, Rockwool, Rug-Semin, Schako, Schörghuber, Trox, Wildeboer, Zapp-Zimmermann
, apply.Sound insulation
Roomsthat are separated by interior walls are usually not subject to any requirements for structural sound insulation. Nevertheless, the influence of interior walls on the sound insulation of partition components must be taken into account, especially when it comes to comparatively light solid interior walls. In order to decouple partition components and flanking interior walls from each other in terms of sound technology and thus improve flank insulation, DIN 4109-32 recommends the installation of so-called elastic intermediate layers. For many years, this recommendation has been in line with the standard construction method according to DIN 4103-2 for the use of gypsum wall panels.
Interior walls made of gypsum wall panels are usually not rigidly connected to the building structure, as is usual in solid construction, but are decoupled from the adjacent components with elastic edge connection strips that are effective in terms of building acoustics. The decoupling not only leads to higher insulation of joints and thus to significantly improved flank insulation, but also to higher direct sound insulation of the walls. The walls are therefore treated by DIN 4109-32 as an independent component group and considered as a decoupled wall system separately from the usual solid construction. If acoustic proof is required, joint point correction values ∆Kij must always be used when calculating transmission paths in connection with gypsum wall construction boards.
Installation sound insulation
In the course of test bench and building measurements, it was shown that installation walls made of solid gypsum wall panels also have significantly more favourable acoustic properties than would be expected due to their comparatively small area-related mass. Here, too, the central element of this acoustic behaviour is the decoupling of the walls by means of elastic edge connection strips.
Source: MultiGips / baukobox
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