Construction of Boundary Wall for an International Cricket Stadium in India (2024-09)¶

Concrete 3D printing is currently gaining popularity as a scalable technology for construction of large-scale structures for public use. In a similar endeavor, Tvasta constructed a boundary wall of 400 m in length and 3 m in height for an international cricket stadium in Chennai, India. The wall was facing towards one of the major arterial roads of Chennai, within 500 m from the sea beach. The wall was distributed into panels and printed at a factory located about 40 km from the site. A total of 400 panels were printed, with each panel having a length of 2 m, width of 0.3 to 0.35 m, and height of 1.5 m. The criticality of the structure was governed by three factors – a. structural integrity, b. aesthetics, and c. assembly of 3D printed panels. The walls were expected to carry a higher lateral pressure due to cyclones and crowd pressure during cases of riots and vandalism. The mechanical properties were examined at elements (or mortar scale) and components. The mix’s compressive, flexural, and split tensile strength was primarily evaluated in the element scale along with the bond strength between the printed layers. In the component scale, the 2 m length and 1.5 m height panels were tested for axial compression and bending. The achieved ultimate failure axial load was more than 300 tons at an age of 28 days and 550 tons at an age of 180 days. The ultimate transverse load of more than 3 tons was achieved at the age of 28 days.