Optimised placement and orientation of fibers to support earth 3d printed cantilevers in the wet state

Team member(s): Dnyaneshwari Mete, huanyu.li and
Modified by Dnyaneshwari Mete on March 20, 2023

The research aims to take an advantage of the knowledge from the past and integrate with today’s technology to construct novel and complex forms. The intention is to integrate fibers during the 3d printing process to support the cantilevers in wet state as well as find the optimized method to lay the fibers. This method may include the anchor points at various levels around the structure and digital tools to locate the optimized fiber locations and orientations.

The research focuses on the design and fabrication aspect of the optimized placement of fibers, to support the earth 3d printed cantilevers through digital analysis of the geometry, to identify the orientation of the fiber placement and evaluating the most feasible method to add fibers in the wet state during 3d printing.

Additives and fibers have been a significant part of the Earthen mixes, as they provide the necessary strength, binding properties, weather resistance as well as aesthetics to the structure.

**Fiber adhesion test**
*Tested in the wet and dry state of fibers and soil*

Addition of fibers from macro to micro level observed to be bestowing necessary strength to not only the structures but also the finishes. It is observed that the addition of fibers in the earth reduces the shrinkage during the drying process and also provides required friction and resists the displacement of the structure.

To enclose a space, we considered certain curves together which form a semi open space. The 1st catalog was iterated with varying base curves and keeping the top curve constant. Evaluated with the maximum volume criteria as well as the printability of the geometry.

**Volume Comparison for geometry selection criteria**
*Selected Iterations: Geometries with higher Volume and stability*

The chosen geometries were printed to observe the behavior for their stability and the further modifications were made to improve the printability and adapt to the scaling up.

**Selected Iterations**
*Layer height – 1.8 mm*

The Geometry was modified to improve the stability and printability.

The real scale model was scaled down and added with the thickness of a double layer for stability. And infill was introduced to improve the slicing distance and printability of the geometry

**Surface modification and thickness comparison**
*Various scale comparison for the wall thicknesses*

**Surface catalog 2 _ Varying heights and base curves depth**
*Identifying the potential locations for the fiber placement*

**Fiber Placement Pattern**
*Edge stability comparison with fiber placement patterns*

**Cantilever -1, 1.5 and 3**
*Edge stability comparison with vertical fiber placement*

**Karamba fiber analysis**
*Karamba analysis of compression and tension zones during printing*

Layer displacement will Increase the width of the local cantilever to add the bending moment and giving negative effect on the displacement
**Karamba fiber analysis**
*Karamba analysis of compression and tension zones during printing*

**Printed layer analysis**
*Karamba analysis of compression and tension zones during printing*

**Surface thickness – (Scale 1:10)**
*Bounding Box300mm x 300mm*

**Scaling up infill**
*Edge stability comparison with vertical fiber placement*

**Infill Iterations and force distribution analysis**
*Infill to improve the printability of the geometry with the increasing cantilever*

**Cantilever 3.5**
*Edge stability comparison with vertical fiber placement*

**Surface thickness – (Scale 1:33)**
*Bounding Box 100mm x 100mm*

**Criteria of fiber placement**
*Weaving pattern from catalog conclusion and implementing in the optimized placement of the fiber.*

**Final design display**
*Fiber pattern display based on tension analysis*

Fiber amount: 25

Length: 95.6 mm to 1360.3 mm

Fiber placement patterns followed at various layers

Cantilever 3.5 units
*Scale – 1:12*
Machine – ABB 140

Tags: 3D Printing, Ecological Buildings, Virtual Reality, Karamba

Optimised placement and orientation of fibers to support earth 3d printed cantilevers in the wet state is a project of IAAC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed in the Postgraduate in 3D Printing Architecture - 2022-2023 by the student(s) Dnyaneshwari Mete, huanyu.li and during the course 3DPA 22/23 Research Studio with Oriol Carrasco, Alex Dubor, Edouard Cabay and Ashkan Foroughi.