Automated Construction of Structures using 3D Printing: A Review (original) (raw)
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3D printing trends in building and construction industry: a review
Three-dimensional (3D) printing (also known as additive manufacturing) is an advanced manufacturing process that can produce complex shape geometries automatically from a 3D computer-aided design model without any tooling, dies and fixtures. This automated manufacturing process has been applied to many diverse fields of industries today due to significant advantages of creating functional prototypes in reasonable build time with less human intervention and minimum material wastage. However, a more recent application of this technology towards the built environment seems to improve our traditional building strategies while reducing the need for human resources, high capital investments and additional formworks. Research interest in employing 3D printing for building and construction has increased exponentially in the past few years. This paper reviews the latest research trends in the discipline by analysing publications from 1997 to 2016. Some recent developments for 3D concrete printing at the Singapore Centre for 3D Printing are also discussed here. Finally, this paper gives a brief description of future work that can be done to improve both the capability and printing quality of the current systems.
Recent Developments and Challenges of 3D-Printed Construction: A Review of Research Fronts
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In the last few years, scattered experiences of the application of additive manufacturing in the construction of buildings using 3D printing with robots or automated equipment have emerged around the world. These use a variety of procedures and suggest relevant advantages for the construction industry. In order to identify the different processes and features in development in this field and to guide future research and applications, this article presents a review of the literature on the main aspects involved in the use of 3D printing in the construction sector. The review includes state-of-the-art material mixtures, printing technologies, and potential uses, as well as a novel analysis of building strategies, management systems, and benefits stated about this new approach for construction. It reveals progressive experimentation regarding diverse features, with challenges related to the consolidation of procedures and this technology’s readiness to participate in the building market.
ISTeA conference 2017 - Re-shaping the construction industry, 2017
During the last years, the use of 3D printing has significantly increased across various industrial sectors. While in some areas of the manufacturing industry this technology, based on a layer-by-layer process, is already mature, in the construction sector the examples are still limited. Advocates of 3D printing technology identify its main advantages, among others, in terms of increased customisation options, more effective use of materials, reduced construction time and reduced labour on site, with the general goal of delivering tailored solutions at reduced costs, allowing a just-in-time management of the supply chain. This paper investigates the potential advantages of 3D printing in the current design and construction process, and the creative opportunities opened by components with custom forms, limited only by the mechanical and structural behaviour of the materials. A theoretical application of 3D printing with concrete is then presented, related to the production of structural elements with different complex shapes. Besides showing the digital design process leading to the geometrical definition of these components, the paper considers some of the challenges related to issues such as their off-site production, their installation process and the structural properties of the final assembly, based on literature data. Finally, some economical aspects of 3D printing are discussed and compared with standardised solutions.
3D Printing as a Construction Process for Structural Members
International Journal for Scientific Research and Development, 2016
In-situ 3d printing is an innovative technology which carries the potential to revolutionise the way construction is being done in India and the world. This paper identifies the techniques used for 3d printing and the sensitivity of the process towards the material being moulded. Few cases of 3d printing have been illustrated as example applications. The paper also explores the advantages, limitations and scope of research in the Indian context.
3D Printing in Construction: Benefits and Challenges
International Journal of Structural and Civil Engineering Research
This paper investigates briefly the different 3D printing systems in construction, their benefits and challenges associated with their use in construction projects. The use of 3D printing technology offers several advantages over the traditional methods. However, additional challenges and risks are faced due to the introduction of this new technology in construction projects. A literature review was performed to identify the benefits of 3D printing. Five key benefits were identified: faster construction, cost reduction, more geometric freedom, sustainability and safety benefits. Eleven challenges were identified and grouped into four categories: material, robot system, design and construction, and regulation and liability. 3D printing is a promising new technology with several key benefits. However, the widespread adoption of the new technology is dependent on addressing its key challenges. Index Terms-3D printing in construction, benefits, challenges
General aspects of 3D printing applied to civil construction: a review
Revista Principia - Divulgação Científica e Tecnológica do IFPB
Additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, has been gaining ground in different sectors of industry, the arts, in addition to the biomedical environment. In recent years, this has been incorporated as a research and practice niche in civil engineering. The execution of works, at the stage where the inclusion of this technology is, is crucial in understanding the variants and challenges of the process. In this sense, the present study aims to raise and discuss issues involving the 3D printing of cementitious compounds, bringing aspects of the printing system and the materials of the mixtures used, and observing the effects that these can cause on the quality and the final performance of the structure built. It is a review of the literature developed based on the search in the scientific databases ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Francis & Taylor, using selected descriptors, which resulted, after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, in a total of 295 findings. Among other characteristics, it was possible to perceive the predominance of the extrusion-based procedure, in addition to how the components of the different execution approaches, as well as constituents of the mixture, modify the characteristics of the product in its fresh and hardened state. In general, additive manufacturing proves to be suitable for use, with the improvements and discoveries brought by researchers an impulse for the technique to be a possible advance in the automation of the sector.
3d Printing Trends in Building and Construction Industry
International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, 2020
Technological changes have remarkable effect on today’s business world that triggers industriesn to re-establish the assembly systems. 3D printing has advanced with the new innovative improvements in added substance producing in the course of the most recent three decades. 3D printing innovations empower structure streamlining and have preferences over ordinary creation techniques. All industries should adopt the new era so as to survive in a very rapidly changing competitive environment. the development industry is additionally under technological developments’ pressure to vary. Therefore, 3D printing technology is under a good attention in housing industry as a replacement strategic challenge. the development industry takes 3D printing as a concept of a replacement building technology. The main aim of this paper is to review the 3D printing technology applications of other industries, to review 3D printing attempts in housing industry and to discuss possible application areas for 3D printing intentions in housing industry. This project summarizes the 3D-printing applications utilized in industries, with a spotlight on adaption strategies in housing industry. Significant writing databases are investigated about 3D printing looks into and furthermore the preliminaries of usage in lodging industry. Collected data is interpreted within the construction research jargon. The conceivable execution territories in development are proposed for future improvements. The paper leads to identifying and classifying the new developments in 3D printing technology in various industries and making projections on the possible adaptation areas in housing industry.
International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Technovation
As 3D printing emerging to be a much-matured technology, its range of uses are now seemed to be infinite. 3D printing is now beyond the stage where it was only observed as a prototyping solution. From a simple artwork and playing toys to ready to live in buildings and also transplantable organs, the technology could potentially last until our imaginations die. From automobile to consumer goods manufacturing industries, organizations across various industries are trying to observe the advantages 3D printing has got to offer for production. With such acknowledgements, organizations are now trying to find their ways to incorporate this technology in their respective industries, whose applications could potentially extend from tooling to spare/replacement parts and sometimes till a full-fledged end-use ready product. While 3D printing looks like a most exciting new normal for organizations who are planning to streamline their prototyping technology, its prospects for the non-tech consum...
Additive Manufacturing for Construction
ICE Publishing, 2023
The adoption of digital solutions in construction has been proved to increase work safety, and it supports the circular economy by reducing material waste and simplifying resource recapture. Additive manufacturing processes have the great advantage of being able to achieve flexibility in the geometry of the outcome. This characteristic makes additive manufacturing particularly suitable for constructing efficient forms that are difficult to create with conventional manufacturing techniques and results in a significant reduction in the quantity of material used. Such forms could be achieved through the use of novel algorithm-aided design (AAD) tools, which are already commonly used in other industrial sectors, such as automotive and aerospace industries. The use of computational design to create new structural forms has been limited by the traditional building production process, which does not allow for freedom of design. Hence, the application of computational design tools to freeform design has often been limited to a few explorations in pioneering architectural applications. With the advent of additive manufacturing process in construction, the use of structural optimisation could potentially enable the realisation of a new generation of optimised structures. Current research efforts aim to combine additive manufacturing with optimisation tools to solve issues related to manufacturing processes (such as overhang) or exploit anisotropy in materials to find new optimal solutions. The application of both additive manufacturing solutions and computational design tools for steel structures has always been limited to a few pioneering cases. Recent developments in additive manufacturing processes in construction have seen the application of these techniques to realise a new generation of structures in concrete, polymers and metals. Concrete is both a low-energy and versatile construction material. One of its main advantages is that it can be casted on site. The casting techniques currently in use have evolved over the years, but there has been little change in over a century. Concrete structures are created using formwork, which bears the force exerted by the lateral pressure of the material before it achieves its initial strength. Once the formwork has been removed, concrete retains its shape, and its strength slowly continues to increase for 28 days. In the conventional method of forming, the formwork used in concrete construction is rectilinear, as dictated by the ease of assembly. This often limits the shapes of the structural elements to rectangular or other regular shapes. The limits imposed by the formwork often result in inefficient structural elements, in that they are heavier than they need to be and so use excessive quantities of material. This limitation has also translated into the way concrete structural elements are conceived and designed. More efficient structural shapes and forms, which provide the same level of structural performance in terms of strength and stiffness, can be achieved using less material. These shapes, however, cannot be produced using the conventional methods currently in use. Complex shapes provide the next level of structural performance and reduced material usage, but these require the use of form-free methods of production. A paradigm shift is therefore required in the way that structural elements are conceived. To deliver shapes that provide the required performance and reduce usage of material requires technology for forming the complex shapes. Emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing and 3D printing of concrete play a vital role in this endeavour; however, they require integration with new sustainable materials, with modi fied rheology to make them amenable for 3D printing. The primary bene fit of additive manufacturing technologies is the ability to manufacture parts directly from computer-aided design (CAD) data in a single step (Vaezi and Chua, 2011). Furthermore, by eliminating the need for formwork, 3D printing, for instance, might cut the cost of concrete buildings by 35 –60% (Lloret et al., 2015). Concerning production costs, construction enterprises encounter various and signi ficant difficulties. For example, casting concrete in situ generates a lot of waste material that must be removed later, especially if formwork is not reusable material. The use of reusable moulds does, however, cause less waste, making them more cost-effective, but a lengthy moulding process must be used in their production (Delgado Camacho et al., 2018). Another concern about the environmental impact of moulds is their life cycle, especially when taking greenhouse gas emissions into account. The new technologies enable better fabrication, more accurate element production and the printing of any shapes that are challenging to manufacture for conventional applications, such as façade components (Buswell et al., 2007; Shakor et al., 2019). In general, additive manufacturing using concrete has much more stringent requirements in terms of material control than ordinary concrete construction methods. In Chapter 1, Panda and Santhanam discuss the specific material challenges and development strategies for new sustainable materials, with controlled rheology, for use in extrusion-based concrete printing. One of the salient issues is how a material’s fresh properties affect both its stability during printing and its final performance. However, concrete is not the only material to be used in construction; 3D printing of steel is another possible technology, as explained in Chapter 4. Regarding applications for steel structures, the capabilities of the most developed metal additive manufacturing technology, powder bed fusion (PBF), have often limited the maximum dimension of the printed outcomes. Thus, it has been used to fabricate ad hoc connections, parametrically designed either for structural optimisation purposes or to create freeform gridshells. However, due to the intrinsic geometrical constraints of the printer environment (enclosed in a box with, typically, 250 mm sides), the application of PBF is limited to the fabrication of small-sized connections and structural details. More recently, directed-energy deposition (DED) techniques, such as wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), have allowed the dimensions of the printed objects to be increased to several metres in span, thus increasing the potential use of digital fabrication in steel construction. The first application of this technique was MX3D’s Smart Bridge, the world’s first steel 3D-printed footbridge, located in Amsterdam’s city centre. The aim of this book is to present an overview of the 3D printing or additive manufacturing technologies most commonly applied in the construction sector, from the perspectives of both academia and industry. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular additive manufacturing process, including both concrete-based and metal-based techniques. Finally, the conclusions and remarks in the final chapter provide insights into the advantages and drawbacks related to digitalisation of the construction process.
Applications of additive manufacturing in the construction industry – A forward-looking review
Automation in Construction, 2018
Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, fabricates components in a layerwise fashion directly from a digital file. Many of the early applications of AM technologies have been in the aerospace, automotive, and healthcare industries. Building on the advances in AM in these industries, there are several experimental applications of AM in the construction sector. Early investigations suggest that use of AM technologies for construction have the potential to decrease labor costs, reduce material waste, and create customized complex geometries that are difficult to achieve using conventional construction techniques. However, these initial investigations do not cover the full range of potential applications for construction or exploit the rapidly maturing AM technologies for a variety of material types. This paper provides an up-to-date review of AM as it relates to the construction industry, identifies the trend of AM processes and materials being used, and discusses related methods of implementing AM and potential advancements in applications of AM. Examples of potential advancements include use of multi-materials (e.g., use of high-performance materials only in areas where they are needed), in-situ repair in locations that are difficult or dangerous for humans to access, disaster relief construction in areas with limited construction workforce and material resources, structural and non-structural elements with optimized topologies, and customized parts of high value. AM's future in the construction industry is promising, but interdisciplinary research is still needed to provide new materials, new processes, faster printing, quality assurance, and data on mechanical properties before AM can realize its full potential in infrastructure construction.