Prefabricated Panel Houses in Mining Areas

Prefabricated panel houses in mining areas have numerous issues, pose significant safety hazards, and have certain performance deficiencies.

Safety Hazards

• Long building age and structural aging: Most houses in the Dajishan mining area were built in the 1970s and 1980s, while the prefabricated panel house in Building 5 of Qiaoxing Community in the Yangquan mining area, Shanxi Province, was built in the 1990s. These houses have a long building age. As time goes by, the building structures gradually age, with their load-bearing capacity and stability declining, posing significant safety hazards. For example, after experiencing the two extremely heavy floods on June 10, 2019, and June 13, 2022, the housing safety of residents in the Dajishan mining area was affected to a certain extent, indicating that old houses have weak resistance to natural disasters.
• Vulnerable to human-induced damage: The case of Building 5 in Qiaoxing Community in the Yangquan mining area, Shanxi Province, shows that due to violent construction (using an electric drill to replace floor tiles) by the top-floor residents, multiple prefabricated panels on the ceiling of the residents' homes collapsed, and cracks appeared on the ceiling. This indicates that prefabricated panel houses are prone to structural damage when subjected to improper external forces, posing a great threat to living safety.

Performance Deficiencies

• Weak earthquake resistance: Prefabricated panel houses are built with prefabricated panels as the main components, and their overall integrity and continuity are poor. During an earthquake, the connection parts between the prefabricated panels are easily damaged, causing the building structure to become unstable and unable to effectively resist the seismic forces. This increases the risk of building collapse and poses a serious threat to the lives of the occupants.
• Poor sound and heat insulation: The structural characteristics of prefabricated panels determine their deficiencies in sound and heat insulation. The hollow-structured prefabricated panels achieve lightweighting by reducing the non-load-bearing concrete, but this also makes it easier for sound and heat to pass through the panels, resulting in poor indoor sound insulation and easy penetration of external noise into the room. At the same time, in winter, indoor heat is easily lost, and in summer, outdoor heat easily enters, affecting the comfort of living.
• Limited service life: The existing prefabricated panel houses generally have a service life of about 30 - 50 years. As time goes by, the prefabricated panels will gradually show problems such as aging and cracking, affecting the structural safety and performance of the houses. After exceeding the service life, the safety hazards of the houses will become more prominent, and timely renovation or reconstruction will be required.