Within this project of the TRR 277, basic research on various Shotcrete 3D Printing (SC3DP) strategies, materials, tools and methods will be conducted with regard to enhanced material and process control, reinforcement integration, surface quality and automation. To that end, different reinforcement materials in combination with suitable reinforcement manufacturing and integration concepts will be investigated based on force-flow optimised reinforcement alignment.
Besides, design strategies, material and process control will be investigated in detail. Furthermore, tools and strategies for precise control of the surface quality and geometric resolution of SC3DP elements are subject of research.
Finally, strategies, materials and tools elaborated within the project will be synergistically combined and validated at large scale.
01/2020 - 12/2023
DFG – German Research Foundation within CRC / TRR 27 - A 04
The main objective of the research project is to reach a higher material efficiency by force optimised design.
For this optimised design we want to integrate reinforcement into the SC3DP-Process and gain control over material and process. We want to identify the right reinforcement strategy for each construction element, adapt the shape and material of reinforcement and integrate it. The adaption of the reinforcement will be based on force-flow analysis of the element and FEM-Simulations in partnership with other Focus Areas. In addition to that, when the material and process is calibrated, we will try to achieve a precise geometry as well as a high surface quality.
These goals will be connected in the end for a cooperative fabrication in an automated process at the DBFL.
The research that led to the SC3DP process and the research in optimised reinforcement strategies was the NTH Research group project which discussed generative manufacturing in construction as well as a research topic on digital reinforcement. Main topic of these projects was the robotic fabrication of complex construction elements and shapes without formwork. Additionally the shotcrete process was explored more in depth. This led to the use of shotcrete together with robotic and automated fabrication with a lot of potential for further optimisation.
Prof. Dr. Ing. Harald Kloft; Prof. Dr. Lowke; Prof. Dr. Dröder; M.Sc. R. Dörrie; M.Sc. N. Freund; M.Sc. F. Galli; Dr.-Ing. Inka Mai; A. Stümmler (technician)