Concrete Printed Gyroid Column (2023-09)¶

The gyroid is a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) that efficiently distributes high stress under compression loading. Despite the gyroid’s geometric ability to evenly distribute load, it has yet to be more broadly introduced to concrete additive manufacturing (AM). In part, this is due to the difficulty of effectively printing the steep sinusoidal cantilevers, which are inherent to the cellular nature of the gyroid geometry, with cementitious material. Consequently, the employment of the gyroid in AM has been limited to small and nano scale AM applications. This research paper integrates a reusable support material to 3D print concrete gyroid structures on layers of sand that are continuously added. Therefore, the cantilevers produced during the 3D printing process are supported by the sand as the gyroid print increases in height. This research paper demonstrates a sand layer supported printing (LSP) method to 3D print a structurally optimized concrete gyroid column. The resulting column demonstrates a parametric method whereby complex gyroid structures can be structurally optimized and manufactured using sand as a layer-by-layer support material.