Abstract

The paper details the computational toolkit for print-path synthesis and execution that was used in the physical realisation of an arched, bifurcating, unreinforced masonry footbridge spanning 16 m, composed of 53 3D-printed concrete blocks. The printed concrete filaments of every block were placed in layers that are orthogonal to the expected, compressive force flow, resulting in the need for nonparallel, inclined print-path planes, thus also resulting in non-uniform print-layer heights. In addition, the bridge’s global structural logic of stereotomic masonry necessitated the precise coordination of the interface planes be- tween blocks. Approximately 58 km of print path, distributed over 7800 inclined layers, were generated and coordinated such that the resulting print paths meet printing-related criteria such as good spatial coherence, minimum and maximum layer thickness, infill patterns etc. We describe a schema based on Function Representation (FRep) for inclined-plane print-path generation, and its full implementation for practical and large-batch production. We also implement specific extensions to generate the infill print paths typically needed in 3D concrete printing.

Citation

Bhooshan, S., Bhooshan, V., Megens, J., Casucci, T., Van Mele, T. and Block, P., 2022, September. Print-path design for inclined-plane robotic 3D printing of unreinforced concrete. In Design Modelling Symposium Berlin (pp. 188-197). Cham: Springer International Publishing.