Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of time-varying liquid bridge forces on rheological properties, and resulting extrudability and constructability of three-dimensional printing mortar

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Structural and Civil Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Extrudability and constructability are two important, yet contradictory issues pertaining to the construction of three-dimensional (3D) printing concrete. Extrudability is easily achieved when 3D printing cement mortar has a high water content and low cohesion, but the printed structure is easily collapsible. However, a 3D printing cement mortar with a low water content and high cohesion has a relatively stable printed structure although the cement mortar might not be extrudable. This study proposes a particle-based method to simulate 3D printing mortar extrusion and construction as an overall planning tool for building design. First, a discrete element model with time-varying liquid bridge forces is developed to investigate the microscopic effects of these forces on global rheological properties. Next, a series of numerical simulations relevant to 3D printable mortar extrudability and constructability are carried out. The study demonstrates that the effects of time-varying liquid bridge forces on rheological properties and the resulting extrudability and constructability of 3D printing mortar are considerable. Furthermore, an optimized region that satisfies both the extrusion and construction requirements is provided for 3D printing industry as a reference.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Vizotto I. Computational generation of free-form shells in architectural design and civil engineering. Automation in Construction, 2010, 19(8): 1087–1105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Khoshnevis B, Russell R, Kwon H, Bukkapatnam S. Crafting large prototypes. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 2001, 8(3): 33–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Khoshnevis B, Bukkapatnam S, Kwon H, Saito J. Experimental investigation of contour crafting using ceramics materials. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 2001, 7(1): 32–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Khoshnevis B. Automated construction by contour crafting—Related robotics and information technologies. Automation in Construction, 2004, 13(1): 5–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Khoshnevis B, Yuan X, Zahiri B, Zhang J, Xia B. Construction by contour crafting using sulfur concrete with planetary applications. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 2016, 22(5): 848–856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zareiyan B, Khoshnevis B. Interlayer adhesion and strength of structures in Contour Crafting—Effects of aggregate size, extrusion rate, and layer thickness. Automation in Construction, 2017, 81: 112–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kazemian A, Yuan X, Cochran E, Khoshnevis B. Cementitious materials for construction-scale 3D printing: Laboratory testing of fresh printing mixture. Construction & Building Materials, 2017, 145: 639–647

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lim S, Buswell R A, Le T T, Austin S A, Gibb A G F, Thorpe T. Developments in construction-scale additive manufacturing processes. Automation in Construction, 2012, 21: 262–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bosscher P, Williams R LII, Bryson L S, Castro-Lacouture D. Cable-suspended robotic contour crafting system. Automation in Construction, 2007, 17(1): 45–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Soar R, Andreen D. The role of additive manufacturing and physiomimetic computational design for digital construction. Architectural Design, 2012, 82(2): 126–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Le T T, Austin S A, Lim S, Buswell R A, Gibb A G F, Thorpe T. Mix design and fresh properties for high-performance printing concrete. Materials and Structures, 2012, 45(8): 1221–1232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ma G W, Wang L, Ju Y. State-of-the-art of 3D printing technology of cementitious material—An emerging technique for construction. Science China Technological Sciences, 2018, 61(4): 475–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Berman B. 3-D printing: The new industrial revolution. Business Horizons, 2012, 55(2): 155–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Cesaretti G, Dini E, De Kestelier X, Colla V, Pambaguian L. Building components for an outpost on the Lunar soil by means of a novel 3D printing technology. Acta Astronautica, 2014, 93: 430–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bogue R. 3D printing: The dawn of a new era in manufacturing? Assembly Automation, 2013, 33(4): 307–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Bos F, Wolfs R, Ahmed Z, Salet T. Additive manufacturing of concrete in construction: Potentials and challenges of 3D concrete printing. Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 2016, 11(3): 209–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wolfs R J M, Bos F P, Salet T A M. Early age mechanical behavior of 3D printed concrete: Numerical modeling and experimental testing. Cement and Concrete Research, 2018, 106: 103–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Costanzi C B, Ahmed Z Y, Schipper H R, Bos F P, Knaack U, Wolfs R J M. 3D printing concrete on temporary surfaces: The design and fabrication of a concrete shell structure. Automation in Construction, 2018, 94: 395–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Asprone D, Menna C, Bos F P, Salet T A M, Mata-Falcön J, Kaufmann W. Rethinking reinforcement for digital fabrication with concrete. Cement and Concrete Research, 2018, 112: 111–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Salet T A M, Ahmed Z Y, Bos F P, Laagland H L M. Design of a 3D printed concrete bridge by testing. Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 2018, 13(3): 222–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Krenzer K, Mechtcherine V, Palzer U. Simulating mixing processes of fresh concrete using the discrete element method (DEM) under consideration of water addition and changes in moisture distribution. Cement and Concrete Research, 2019, 115: 274–282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Kruger J, Zeranka S, van Zijl G. An ab initio approach for thixotropy characterisation of (nanoparticle-infused) 3D printable concrete. Construction & Building Materials, 2019, 224: 372–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kruger J, Cho S, Zeranka S, Viljoen C, van Zijl G. 3D concrete printer parameter optimisation for high rate digital construction avoiding plastic collapse. Composites. Part B, Engineering, 2020, 183: 107660

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Mechtcherine V, Grafe J, Nerella V N, Spaniol E, Hertel M, Füssel U. 3D-printed steel reinforcement for digital concrete construction—Manufacture, mechanical properties and bond behaviour. Construction & Building Materials, 2018, 179: 125–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Nematollahi B, Vijay P, Sanjayan J, Nazari A, Xia M, Naidu Nerella V, Mechtcherine V. Effect of polypropylene fibre addition on properties of geopolymers made by 3D printing for digital construction. Materials, 2018, 11(12): 2352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Tay Y W D, Panda B, Paul S C, Mhamed N A N, Tan M J, Leong K F. 3D printing trends in building and construction industry: A review. Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 2017, 12(3): 261–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Jennings H M, Bullard J W, Thomas J J, Andrade J E, Chen J J, Scherer G W. Characterization and modeling of pores and surfaces in cement paste: Correlations to processing and properties. Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology, 2008, 6(1): 5–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Gladkyy A, Schwarze R. Comparison of different capillary bridge models for application in the discrete element method. Granular Matter, 2014, 16(6): 911–920

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Clavet S, Beaudoin P, Poulin P. Particle-based viscoelastic fluid simulation. In: Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2005, 29–31

    Google Scholar 

  30. Takahashi T, Nishita T, Fujishiro I. Fast simulation of viscous fluids with elasticity and thermal conductivity using position-based dynamics. Computers & Graphics, 2014, 43: 21–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Adams B, Pauly M, Keiser R, Guibas L J. Adaptively sampled particle fluids. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2007, 26(3): 48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Akinci N, Ihmsen M, Akinci G, Solenthaler B, Teschner M. Versatile rigid-fluid coupling for incompressible SPH. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2012, 31(4): 62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Ando R, Thürey N, Wojtan C. Highly adaptive liquid simulations on tetrahedral meshes. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2013, 32(4): 103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Bargteil A W, Wojtan C, Hodgins J K, Turk G. A finite element method for animating large viscoplastic flow. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2007, 26(3): 16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Becker M, Tessendorf H, Teschner M. Direct forcing for Lagrangian rigid-fluid coupling. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2009, 15(3): 493–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Bergou M, Audoly B, Vouga E, Wardetzky M, Grinspun E. Discrete viscous threads. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2010, 29(4): 116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Clausen P, Wicke M, Shewchuk J R, O’Brien J F. Simulating liquids and solid–liquid interactions with Lagrangian meshes. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2013, 32(2): 17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Wu Y C, Xiao J Z, Zhu C M. The compaction of time-dependent viscous granular materials considering inertial forces. Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica, 2011, 24(6): 495–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Wu Y C, Yang B. An overview of numerical methods for incompressible viscous flow with moving particles. Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering, 2019, 26(4): 1255–1282

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  40. Sorelli L, Constantinides G, Ulm F J, Toutlemonde F. The nanomechanical signature of ultra high performance concrete by statistical nanoindentation techniques. Cement and Concrete Research, 2008, 38(12): 1447–1456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Smilauer V, Angelidakis V, Catalano E, Caulk R, Chareyre B, Chèvremont W, Dorofeenko S, Duriez J, Dyck N, Elias J, Er B, Eulitz A, Gladky A, Guo N, Jakob C, Kneib F, Kozicki J, Marzougui D, Maurin R, Modenese C, Pekmezi G, Scholtès L, Sibille L, Stransky J, Sweijen T, Thoeni K, Yuan C. Yade Documentation. 3rd ed. 2021

  42. Yang P, Nair S, Neithalath N. Discrete element simulations of rheological response of cementitious binders as applied to 3D printing. In: Wangler T, Flatt R J, eds. The First RILEM International Conference on Concrete and Digital Fabrication–Digital Concrete 2018. Descartes: RILEM Bookseries, 2019, 19: 102–112

  43. Mechtcherine V, Gram A, Krenzer K, Schwabe J H, Shyshko S, Roussel N. Simulation of fresh concrete flow using Discrete Element Method (DEM): Theory and applications. Materials and Structures, 2014, 47(4): 615–630

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Mechtcherine V, Shyshko S. Simulating the behaviour of fresh concrete with the Distinct Element Method-Deriving model parameters related to the yield stress. Cement and Concrete Composites, 2015, 55: 81–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Jayathilakage R, Rajeev P, Sanjayan J. Extrusion rheometer for 3D concrete printing. Cement and Concrete Composites, 2021, 121: 104075

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Momber A W. The wettability of some concrete powders. Particulate Science and Technology, 2002, 20(3): 243–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Zhi P, Wu Y C, Yang Q F, Kong X R, Xiao J Z. Effect of spiral blade geometry on 3D-printed concrete rheological properties and extrudability using discrete element modeling. Automation in Construction, 2022, 137: 104199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Suiker A S J, Wolfs R J M, Lucas S M, Salet T A M. Elastic buckling and plastic collapse during 3D concrete printing. Cement and Concrete Research, 2020, 135: 106016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Perrot A, Rangeard D, Pierre A. Structural built-up of cement-based materials used for 3D-printing extrusion techniques. Materials and Structures, 2016, 49(4): 1213–1220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Roussel N, Ovarlez G, Garrault S, Brumaud C. The origins of thixotropy of fresh cement pastes. Cement and Concrete Research, 2012, 42(1): 148–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52178299 and 51325802). The authors wish to thank Jesus Christ for listening to our prayers and to the anonymous reviewers for their thorough review of the article and for their constructive pieces of advice.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structural Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Peng Zhi & Yu-Ching Wu

  2. Institute of Structural Mechanics, Bauhaus University of Weimar, Weimar, 99423, Germany

    Timon Rabczuk

Authors
  1. Peng Zhi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yu-Ching Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Timon Rabczuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu-Ching Wu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhi, P., Wu, YC. & Rabczuk, T. Effects of time-varying liquid bridge forces on rheological properties, and resulting extrudability and constructability of three-dimensional printing mortar. Front. Struct. Civ. Eng. 17, 1295–1309 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11709-023-0999-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11709-023-0999-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation