Design of a 3D printed concrete bridge by testing

Theo A.M. Salet, Zeeshan Y. Ahmed, Freek P. Bos, Hans L.M. Laagland

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

334 Citations (Scopus)
3432 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The current state of research and development into the additive manufacturing of concrete is poised to become a disruptive technology in the construction industry. Although many academic and industrial institutions have successfully realised full-scale structures, the limitations in the current codes of practice to evaluate their structural integrity have resulted in most of these structures still not being certified as safe for public utilisation and thus deemed as test prototypes for display purpose only. To realise a 3D concrete printed (3DCP) structure which could be certified safe for public use, a bridge was realised using the print facility of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) based on the concept of ‘Design by Testing’. This paper holistically discusses the complications encountered while realising a reinforced 3DCP bridge in a public traffic network and decisions taken to find solutions for overcoming them.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)222-236
Number of pages15
JournalVirtual and Physical Prototyping
Volume13
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2018

Keywords

  • 3D printing
  • bridge
  • concrete
  • prestress
  • reinforcement

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Design of a 3D printed concrete bridge by testing'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this