A Structural and Thermal Comparative Review of 3D-Printed Wall Shapes

This article explores several aspects of the three-dimensional concrete printing (3DCP) industry. More specifically, it begins with a literature review discussing the background of this technology. This literature review also explores several of the challenges that the industry is currently facing. In this way, a knowledge gap is identified. More specifically, there are few studies that have explored the structural and thermal performance of typical walls printed in this industry. Therefore, we used the simulation tool in SolidWorks to examine the structural behavior of several different wall types when pressure was applied to the exterior face. In addition to this, the thermal performance of different wall types was also studied in SolidWorks by applying a temperature difference between the exterior and interior faces of each wall. For example, one wall shape in this study had minimum factor of safety of approximately 100 due when a load was applied, and the same wall lost approximately 212 W due to the temperature difference applied in this study. Finally, SolidWorks was used to calculate the moment of inertia of the cross sections of several of these walls, which helped to provide a better understanding of each wall’s structural rigidity.