Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
AKGÜL Ç. (Yürütücü), DAL H., GÜRSEL DİNO İ., KALAY Y. E.
TÜBİTAK Uluslararası İkili İşbirliği Projesi, 2021 - 2023
There is an urgent need to provide low-cost and high-speed accommodation to vulnerable groups (e.g. refugees and earthquake survivors). Existing solutions such as tents and prefabricated units are generally fast and cheap to set; but for people, whose temporary housing becomes almost permanent due to ongoing wars and economic fluctuations, these solutions result in poor living conditions, resulting in undesirable outcomes including occupant discomfort, security vulnerabilities, fire hazards and diseases. Building housing units completely or partially from 3D-printed components can be a feasible alternative for these regions.
Even though the daily practice of additive manufacturing is a reality for many sectors; construction industry - a dominant sector for Turkish and UK economies - still heavily relies on easy-to-replicate low value-added geometries. The industry also faces significant challenges such as labour shortages, supply chain issues and financial pressures, even more so with Covid-19. As an ever-developing sector, 3D-printing of concrete has significant benefits when compared to traditional methods. Through digital fabrication, the entire construction process can be shortened from months to days. Resource efficiency can be enhanced by reducing construction waste. Social distancing amongst construction workers – a high risk group – can be enabled. 3D-printing also facilitates the production of high-quality complex shapes without the need of special formworks. Adding functionality to the printed products also becomes easier.
Main challenge for 3D-printed concrete is the development of a low-cost, sustainable binder with adequate rheological and stiffening properties. The requirements of a 3D-printable concrete are very different from those of traditional concrete. This project (3D-PC) aims to develop climate resilient 3D-printable building components from low-cost, sustainable materials; covering additive manufacturing and advanced material technologies areas. Locally available natural and waste materials and by-products will be converted to printable composites via an innovative activation-nucleation technique. 3D-printed components will possess high thermal performance, flexibility and functional geometries, optimised by computational mechanics and numerical analysis. Energy demand of a partially 3D-printed representative building will be calculated for different locations/changing climates. Conducted life-cycle cost and environmental impact analysis of developed composites will prove their feasibility. These products can be used in building low-cost, high-speed housing for disaster zones and refugee camps. This project will finalise with a comprehensive framework to provide guidance on the steps required to achieve the desired sustainability, cost and flexibility aspects, accessible by all users (e.g. academic beneficiaries, construction industry, policy makers and local communities).
The synergistic expertise of the 2 PIs (i.e. sustainable 3D-printable construction materials of the UK PI; low-cost construction, thermal analysis, building energy modelling of the Turkish PI) will enable the design of 3D-printed composites, paving the way for not only high-speed and sustainable construction practices; but also for remote construction practices under extreme conditions with limitations on labour, material and curing conditions (e.g. extraterrestrial 3D printing). Both teams also include experts in computational mechanics, who will focus on the modelling of the early-age and hardened behaviour of the printed concrete, allowing time-dependent behaviour and directional performance prediction of the component to be printed. The involvement of an architect in the project team will not only help on building energy, life-cycle-cost and life-cycle environmental impact analysis; but, also contribute to the organisation of an international 3D printing design completion. The scaled-down designs of the finalists will be 3D-printed with the help of a 3D-technology company; whereas the winner design will be “remotely” printed full-scale in the ISTON Istanbul Municipality Concrete Factory. This process will be live-streamed and shared through various online platforms, increasing awareness on the topic. Two knowledge sharing sessions and a capacity building workshop engaging academics, policy makers, and government and industrial partners will allow the continuous dissemination of knowledge and expansion of our network. Created expertise and technological capabilities will enable circular economy and boost the economy by providing safer housing opportunities for vulnerable groups, increased jobs for skilled labour and allowing the production of new design concepts contributing to Turkey and UK’s innovation-driven growths.