Automating Construction
ECONOMY & POLICY

Automating Construction

India's first 3D printing construction technology, developed by IIT Madras, can help faster construction by offering a completely digital construction process.Construction is going digital! The faculty and alumni of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed In...

India's first 3D printing construction technology, developed by IIT Madras, can help faster construction by offering a completely digital construction process.Construction is going digital! The faculty and alumni of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed India's first 3D printing construction technology. Start-up firm Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions and the Civil Engineering Department of IIT Madras have established a unique 3D printing laboratory to formulate technological solutions for construction and take this technology to the mass market. Manu Santhanam, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, shares more on the technology and its advantages in construction. Breaking conventional barriers 3D printing technology uses the principle of layer-by-layer manufacturing to build an object or component. Construction 3D printing is a sub domain of the larger family of 3D printing. The most commonly used technology within construction 3D printing is that of extrusion 3D printing, which is also the focus of IIT Madras and Tvasta. What makes it different from conventional construction technologies? It is a completely digital way of construction. The design is fed into the 3D printer as a 3D model, and the printer can trace out the path for printing and execute the process in an automated manner. The effort is to increase labour productivity in the construction process by automating several processes, including finishing. Compared to other technologies in the prefabrication space, 3D printing can offer mass customisation. Its applications 3D printing can be used for constructing most structural elements, but is particularly useful when a vertical build-up is required, such as in a column or wall. Several bridges and elements of roads, fences, etc, are also being 3D printed around the world. It can aid in the construction of customised elements or panels that can be used for larger infrastructure projects. 3D printing can also provide for customisation of affordable houses and making them suitable for climatic conditions. IIT Madras intends to enable this technology to be used for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.The advantagesCompared to conventional construction methods that require formwork to get the desired shape to the concrete structure, 3D printing involves the direct placement of concrete in the desired locations, and a layer-wise build-up of the structure. Thus, there are considerable savings in cost (formwork materials) and time (assembling and disassembling the formwork). Its use can lead to good quality construction over a large number of cycles of construction as it is totally mechanised. Further, complicated shapes that are difficult to construct can be done with 3D printing, thus making this technology architect-friendly. The effort being made by the IIT Madras printability lab (IMprint) is to build 3D printing technology that is economical, portable, easily deployable, and provide quality and faster construction. The aim is to come up with a 3D printing method that can be easily transported around the country and can print structures that are to be built on site with minimal difficulties. To make such a system economical, several elements such as logistics, raw materials and deployment need to be taken care of. These aspects of the technology are currently under development. Faster construction3D printing, when in a completely operationalised state, can deliver high rate of throughput in terms of material delivery and can enable faster construction by an order of magnitude. It can work as on-site or off-site construction. As an off-site construction methodology, the aim is to use 3D printing to build large-scale panels that can then be assembled on site into a larger structure. These panels need not be restricted to two-dimensional panels and can be made in a manner that the fixing is easy and carried out without errors. By printing such panels at a high rate next to the construction site and assembling them, a much faster rate of construction can be achieved. The long-term aim is to enable on-site construction using 3D printing, where the printer is placed on the ground area where the structure is to come up and the construction is then directly carried out by the printer on the location. This methodology will present several challenges that have to be overcome from the perspective of logistics and manoeuvring, which are currently being resolved by the team working on the technology. Concrete architecture 3D printing technology uses precise deposition of raw material (concrete or any other) for building large-scale structures in a layer-by-layer manner. This deposition process and the movement of the 3D printer are all controlled using a centralised controller that receives instructions based on the digital file that has been inputted into it. With this, there are no limitations based on the skillset of the person involved, which usually constrains conventional construction processes. The technology can be easily used to build complicated architectural elements and structures with curved and organic shapes that are difficult to build using conventional techniques. The development of new technologies in concrete materials, such as ultra high-performance concrete (UHPC), can aid in making the 3D printing of complex architectural shapes easier. The complete lack of requirement of formwork and moulds for building structures can also make it easier to build complex structures with less difficulty. Single-use moulds or formworks are expensive and unsustainable. As 3D printing operates with the concept of mass customisation, building unique architectural structures becomes an easier task.Material and resource-savingBeing completely automated, 3D printing can reduce material wastage. Also, during construction, project management is made easier by the data logging process that is inbuilt into the 3D printer, making optimisation of logistical planning possible. Besides, as 3D printing offers flexibility in design and the printing process, considerable material saving can be achieved by adapting the designs that are deployed for printing. Smaller and lighter elements can be built with greater use and hollow panels and sections can be built in a much easier manner compared to other construction methods. This can help avoid material wastage by using concrete (or other raw materials used for construction) only where structural strength demands it. Sustainable construction‘Green’ or ‘sustainable’ construction means the lower use of resources, coupled with long service life of the structure. As 3D printing optimises the use of concrete only in locations where it is necessary, resource consumption is low. Further, as the concrete is designed with high-performance materials to achieve a unique combination of characteristics, it has good durability and, so, longer service life. Additionally, suitable cement replacement materials are also used in the mix design to achieve printability-related properties. This reduces the carbon footprint of the structures being built. 3D printing can also play a major role in reducing the life-cycle energy costs of a built structure. It can also help build structures that have natural insulation – for example, by having hollow walls or multiple materials within the same wall – thereby reducing the structure’s energy needs during its life-cycle. Cost and availability The technology needs the availability of concrete 3D printers, which are not easily available in India. The only manufacturer in the country so far is Tvasta, the research partner of IIT Madras. The other option is to import 3D printers, which is an expensive proposition.At present, the construction cost of 3D printing would be higher than conventional construction, as IIT Madras is in the R&D process and the materials and printers are produced only in batch quantities. However, in the next few years, once the benefits of economics of scale are used, IIT Madras is looking at making this process competitive with conventional construction.Is India ready for digital construction?3D printing has the potential of being among the mainstream construction technologies in India in a decade’s time. Indian is expected to positively accept 3D printed structures, as these can have identical quality as conventionally-built buildings. The technology will start seeing viable use in three to four years, where large-scale construction can be made possible using it. The Indian construction industry already recognises 3D printing as an important technology for the future. Among other countries, the Chinese construction industry has been a frontrunner in large-scale construction using 3D printing. The Indian industry, too, with the right support from the government, can easily catch up with the rest of the world in a timeframe of one to two years. - SERAPHINA D’SOUZA

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