Structural Performance of Pre-Fabricated 3D Printed Concrete Walls (2025-08)¶

In recent years, there has been substantial research on the 3-dimensional printing (3DP) materials, but studies focusing on their structural behavior under lateral monotonic and cyclic loading are relatively limited. This study addresses this gap by performing comprehensive tests on unreinforced 3D-printed walls subjected to lateral loading, offering a novel perspective not previously explored in the literature. The study tested a total of five 3D printed walls, with variables including the presence of cold joints (with or without), different axial load levels (20 and 40 kN), and different loading types (cyclic and monotonic). The experiments involved measuring displacements at various points under applied loading, using digital image correlation (DIC) to capture damage distributions of the 3D-printed walls. Structural performance indices, including load-bearing capacity, rigidity, drift ratio, and energy consumption capacity, were derived from the load-displacement and moment-curvature graphs. The strain and displacement distributions obtained with the DIC method were compared with the experimental damage distributions to assess accuracy and reliability. Finally, the test elements were evaluated according to FEMA 356 standards for post-earthquake usage conditions, providing insights into their performance and safety under such scenarios. The results showed that the presence of cold joints was the most critical parameter. Test specimens without cold joints exhibited a 100% increase in load-bearing capacity and a 207% increase in energy consumption capacity compared to those with cold joints. Increasing the axial load improved the load-bearing capacity of the walls but had no significant effect on their energy dissipation capacity. For the test specimens subjected to monotonic loading, an approximately 10% increase in load-bearing capacity was observed compared to those subjected to cyclic loading.