Experimental realization on stress distribution monitoring during 3D concrete printing

Abstract

Stress distribution in 3D printed concrete (3DPC) plays a crucial role in monitoring filament deformation and buildability evaluation. However, real-time detection methods for assessing stress distribution are currently lacking. This study proposes a novel stress distribution monitoring system for 3DPC, which enables the visual display of the two-dimensional visual stress distribution of printed samples. By analyzing the stress distribution map provided by the system, an uneven distribution of stress and an increase of 95%-163% in cumulative stress were observed during the printing process. In addition, a 25% reduction in filament deformation by lateral constraints was also observed, where the accuracy of the monitoring system was further verified by studying the deformation of samples with varying filament amounts per layer and lateral constraint conditions, thereby offering new insights for predicting the buildability of 3DPC.