New Calculation Approach for Selecting and Orienting the Reinforcing Material for Robotic Concrete Manufacturing (2021-08)¶

The robotic additive manufacturing technique, along with various possible reinforcing materials, demands new calculations and robotic path planning techniques. The current study proposes a calculation method regarding the layer-based robotic shotcrete 3D printing technique and different reinforcing materials’ properties. This calculation technique considers the results of finite element (FE) analysis in different steps, from linear performance, cracks in concrete to the reinforcing material’s performance. To simplify the calculation process and to regard different material types, the FE software is interfaced with a coding platform. Through the interface, each step’s results are transmitted from the FE software to the coding-platform to be interpreted. This connection enables the approach to apply various methods, such as stresses-clustering, selecting the high-stress zones and calculating the procedural changes of the trajectory lines in each step. Furthermore, specific coefficients based on the amount of the applied forces and the analysed material’s performance in each corresponding level are defined. This step-wise algorithmic approach prepares the optimum path lines for orienting the reinforcing material and adapts itself to the layer-wise robotic printing technique’s possible path planning. Nonetheless, this approach can be utilised for a variety of complex geometries. A cantilever beam over a simple support is selected to illustrate the approach, and the entire proposed approach is described step by step.