Concrete 3D Printing

The M.Tech students from our campus had an opportunity to attend the seminar conducted by Institution of Engineers (India) at their Kochi local Centre on 8th September 2023. 

The speaker was Dr. A.V Rahul, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, IIT Tirupati. Dr. Rahul, who is a former faculty member of our department, completed his PhD from IIT Madras and then pursued a Post Doctoral program at Ghent University, Belgium. 

The title of the talk was "Construction by Concrete 3D printing - Latest Developments, Applications and Challenges". Dr. Rahul, who has great expertise in the domain, spoke about the methods of 3D printing, advantages, reinforcement details etc. He talked in detail about the extrusion based 3D printing, where concrete is extruded through a nozzle, layer by layer to create a 3D component. 

3D printing of buildings, which is still in nascent stages in India, promises great flexibility in construction with options to create shapes which are not currently possible using conventional methods. This offers numerous advantages including fast construction, cost effective and sustainable materials, no need for formwork etc.The technology is expected to revolutionise the construction industry and meeting future infrastructure demands.