Connections Between Single Elements Made by 3D Printed Concrete (2024-08)¶

The 3D concrete printing (3DCP) technology as an innovative method of making concrete structures has already found application in contemporary construction works. The wider application has shown some obstacles, such as the lack of standards for design and production, the incorporation of reinforcement into the printing process, and underdeveloped load transfer systems. The motivation for this research come from the current practice in which the size of the printer usualy defines the size of the structure. Contrary to that, 3DCP technology can be considered as a part of updated method of prefabrication construction. Properly designed connections can create a robust structural system for adequate transfer of horizontal and vertical actions to the objects fundaments. The state of the art in the field of connections of 3DCP elements will be presented in this paper as well as the future experimental testings of seismic performance of segmental walls made of post-tensioned 3DCP elements under cyclic later load.