Representational.
New Delhi: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, have developed a framework for designing earthquake-resistant 3D-printed concrete walls, PTI reported, citing officials.
As it eliminates the need for labour and materials and allows structures to be made in more complex shapes, 3D printing in construction is being adopted globally. Although there has been some significant progress in producing 3D-printed buildings around the world, they have yet to gain widespread use in earthquake-prone regions.
According to Biranchi Panda, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, one of the reasons behind this is the limited knowledge and understanding of how full-scale 3D-printed concrete walls will perform during multiple earthquake shakes.
"Currently, there are no standard procedures for adding steel reinforcement to 3D-printed walls that comply with current building codes. To bridge this gap, we constructed and tested three full-scale walls made of 3D-printed materials under seismic loading conditions," Panda told PTI.
The research has been published in the Journal of Building Engineering. While the first wall was made of plain printable mortar (3DPM), the second wall was made of strain-hardening ductile concrete (3DPC-CF), a special concrete that can bend and develop many small cracks without failing.
"This special concrete was able to support the wall's weight even after damage started. The third wall was made of modularly reinforced ductile concrete (3DPC-CFR), the same special concrete with the added feature of a modular steel reinforcement framework integrated into the wall's structure.
"We integrated this reinforcement in such a way that it can be constructed using 3D printing without hampering the printing process and meets the safety requirements of Indian and international earthquake safety standards," Panda said.