# Service Life Prediction and Life Cycle Costs of Light Weight Partitions
## 4 Field Survey Results and Discussion
### Summary and Discussion  
This section presented a comprehensive analysis of alternative partition types in residential buildings, including gypsum boards, autoclaved aerated concrete blocks, and hollow concrete blocks. The field survey data consists of 133 samples taken from across different sites in Israel. This section presents several key findings:  
* Initial quality varies by partition type, with hollow concrete blocks showing the highest initial component performance (ICP) and gypsum boards the lowest. This indicates that construction quality control is critical, especially for more vulnerable materials like gypsum.
* The deterioration rate in standard conditions is highest for gypsum boards and lowest for hollow concrete blocks.
* Considering failure mechanisms, gypsum boards again show the shortest service life projections, as hollow concrete blocks the longest.
* The cumulative impact of failures further reduces service life expectancy across all partitions.  
Predicting the service life of building components is a subject that has aroused considerable interest in the fields of construction and civil engineering. Previous studies have explored different materials, environmental conditions, and maintenance strategies to estimate the longevity of building components [6; 39; 41], clearly contrasting with this research, which considers initial conditions, failure mechanisms, and cumulative impact. More  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline
**Occupancy Conditions** & **Light** & **Moderate** & **Standard** & **Intensive** \\ \cline{2-5}  & \(\mu\) **= 0** & **1**\(\leq\mu\) **\(\prec\) 2** & **2**\(\leq\mu\) **\(\prec\) 4** & **\(\mu\) \(\geq\) 4** \\ \hline
**Gypsum board** & & & & \\ \hline Crack at Partition-Ceiling Junction & 0.85 & 0.84 & 0.83 & 0.80 \\ Crack at Partition-Wall Junction & 0.89 & 0.89 & 0.88 & 0.80 \\ Crack around the Door Frame & 0.88 & 0.86 & 0.88 & 0.80 \\ Cracks on the Surface & 0.89 & 0.89 & 0.88 & 0.80 \\ Stability of Electrical Installations & 0.88 & 0.86 & 0.88 & 0.80 \\ Cumulative Impact of all failure mechanisms & 0.40 & 0.36 & 0.29 & 0.20 \\
**Autoclaved Concrete Blocks** & & & & \\ \hline Crack at Partition-Ceiling Junction & n/a & 0.87 & 0.87 & 0.88 \\ Crack at Partition-Wall Junction & n/a & 0.88 & 0.9 & 0.88 \\ Crack around the Door Frame & n/a & 0.85 & 0.87 & 0.81 \\ Cracks on the Surface & n/a & 0.87 & 0.87 & 0.88 \\ Stability of Electrical Installations & n/a & 0.91 & 0.93 & 0.94 \\ Cumulative Impact of all failure mechanisms & n/a & 0.38 & 0.33 & 0.19 \\
**Hollow Concrete Blocks** & & & & \\ \hline Crack at Partition-Ceiling Junction & 0.89 & 0.88 & 0.88 & 0.89 \\ Crack at Partition-Wall Junction & 0.92 & 0.92 & 0.91 & 0.92 \\ Crack around the Door Frame & 0.89 & 0.88 & 0.88 & 0.89 \\ Cracks on the Surface & 0.92 & 0.91 & 0.9 & 0.92 \\ Stability of Electrical Installations & 0.92 & 0.92 & 0.91 & 0.92 \\ Cumulative Impact of all failure mechanisms & 0.55 & 0.51 & 0.49 & 0.47 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 11: Summary of Life Expectancy Limiting Coefficients (ELC) of Various Failure Mechanisms: Cumulative Impact at Different Negative Occupancy Factor Levels (\(\mu\)).  
over, this research recognizes that occupant behaviors can significantly influence partition durability, and also defines and presents the impacts of various occupancy conditions.  
The comprehensive analysis provides a quantitative basis for selecting appropriate partition types on the basis of expected occupancy conditions, quality considerations, and desired life cycle performance.