research topic(s): 3D printed concrete (3DPC), gyroid structure, 3DPC gyroid, concrete additive manufacturing
material: 3D printed concrete (3DPC)
size: 500mm x 500mm x 500mm
principal investigator(s): Sasa Zivkovic of the Robotic Construction Lab (RCL) at Cornell { link } and Sriramya Duddukuri Nair of Nair's Research Group { link }
research team: Lawson Spencer, Moneeb Genedy, and James Strait
fabrication team: Dan Shen, Edie Blaze, Mark Krneta, Nikita Dolgopolov, Pulani Tremel, and John Conrad
funding provided by: Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability Academic Venture Fund and the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University
figure_01: 6-axis robotic arm extruding concrete with XtreeE end-effector
A gyroid is a triply periodic minimal surface that efficiently distributes stress under compression loading in all cartesian orientations. Using a 2-component system with an in-house developed flowable mixture and with an injection accelerator at the nozzle, the ability to print these complex geometries using a cement mortar was previously demonstrated. This project examines the influence of open versus closed tool path designs and the viability of finite element modeling is evaluated. In an open tool path design, the nozzle’s printing direction reverses with every layer thus changing the interlayer time gap along the length of the layer. On the other hand, a closed tool- path results in a similar interlayer time gap but leads to an increase in the total amount of material needed to close the tool path. The data resulting from the testing and analysis of prefabricated 3D printed concrete (3DPC) walls with two different toolpaths is presented in the associated research paper. In addition, printed samples were used to determine the anisotropic material properties of the 2-component mortar mixture.
figure_02: detail photo
figure_03: gyroid toolpaths
figure_04: open toolpath compression test
figure_05: closed toolpath compression test