3D Printing of Infrastructure Materials for Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Constructions: Experiments, Computations, and Future Outlook

Gianluca Cusatis
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University

Cusatis answers questions about disruptive force of 3D printing in the construction industry. He discusses recent work in this field performed at Northwestern University, including a presentation of the multiscale 3D printing facility recently established at Northwestern's CEE department. The facility features various 3D printers that are capable of the additive manufacturing of structures with a variety of materials including plastic, cement paste, concrete, and marscrete (a waterless material developed at Northwestern and being used to explore habitat construction using indigenous materials on Mars). Furthermore, Cusatis discusses a novel computational framework for the simulation of fresh concrete. He reviews the formulation, calibration, and validation of the model and demonstrates the application of the formulated model to the simulation of concrete 3D printing.

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