Improving the structural efficiency of textured three-dimensional concrete printing wall by architectural design

Abstract

Three-dimensional concrete printing (3DCP) technology begins to be adopted into construction application worldwide. Recent studies have focused on producing a higher concrete quality and offering a user-friendly construction process. Still, the 3DCP construction cost is unlikely to be lower than that of conventional construction, which is especially important for projects where the cost is sensitive. To broaden the 3DCP construction applications, reduction of the quantity of 3DCP material usage is needed. This work aims to perform structural analysis of several patterns of geometric textured 3DCP shell wall structures. 21 different cantilevered textured patterns of 3DCP shell wall structures were architecturally designed and then subjected to structural analysis by a finite element method (FEM). The results indicated that by designing appropriate patterns, the structural performance to weight ratio could be improved up to 300%. The study therefore offers an innovative design process for constructing 3DCP housing and suggests pre-construction analysis methods for 3DCP shell wall structures.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

3D printing / concrete / architectural design / shell wall / finite element method

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