Experimental and numerical analysis of bio-inspired infill patterns for structural applications in concrete

Researchers:

• Bo Zhang
• Roman Wan Wendner (supervisor)
• Wouter De Corte (supervisor)

Description:

This project aims to investigate the behaviour of triply periodic minimal surfaces in comparison to other established infill patterns for the use in 3D-printed concrete structures.                   

The main tasks are as following:                                                              

• Develop printing strategies and concrete mixes, optimized for printing cementitious TPMS infill patterns.                         
• Develop refined computational models for the investigation of TPMS infill patterns at the length scale of representative volumes (RVs)                                  
• Quantify the elastic behaviour of cementitious TPMS infill patterns under random load configurations, by numerical modelling based on DIC assisted testing
• Describe the failure behaviour of cementitious TPMS infill patterns under random load configurations, by numerical modelling based on DIC assisted testing                                               
• Develop simplified anisotropic material models for topological optimization of structures taking into account concrete properties, surface type, and the infill density

From design to print: (a) Rhino polysurface model, (b) Voxelprint model, (c) Cobraprint model, (d) actual realisation

Funding:

CSC number:202108410155