Comparative Review of the Technology and Case Studies of 3D Concrete Printing of Buildings by Several Companies

Abstract

This paper dives into the current state of 3D printing in the concrete industry. Currently, there are a number of companies that specialize in the construction of buildings using 3D-printed concrete. This paper looks at each of these companies and the processes they use to accomplish the creation of their concrete walls using 3D-printing technology. The literature review portion of the paper looks at several companies currently in the field and describes their methods based on several distinguishing factors such as printer type, print speed, wall design, reinforcement used, insulation used, wall dimensions, nozzle shape, and several other distinguishing factors. These factors allow for similarities and differences to be drawn between companies. The reader is able to see each company’s approach to the printing of walls. Additionally, this paper estimates and analyzes the structural and thermal performance of drawings mimicking each company’s wall design based on section configuration. This estimation allows the reader to see which wall design they can expect to perform the best in terms of stress generation and thermal bridging.

Keywords

• 3D printing
• concrete
• structural analysis
• thermal analysis