Splitting method and forming experiment of 3D printed concrete spherical shell structure considering self-supporting critical angle

doi:10.3785/j.issn.1006-754X.2025.04.162

Chinese Journal of Engineering Design

2025, Vol. 32

Issue (2): 151-158 DOI: 10.3785/j.issn.1006-754X.2025.04.162

Theory and Method of Mechanical Design

Splitting method and forming experiment of 3D printed concrete spherical shell structure considering self-supporting critical angle

Yinxian LI¹(

),Youbao JIANG²(

),Yan LIU²,Pengxiang GAO²

^1.Elite Engineering School, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, China
^2.School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, China

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Abstract

In order to achieve the unsupported construction of 3D printed concrete spherical shell structures, a structure splitting method based on self-supporting critical angle is proposed. In this method, the structure splitting problem was converted into a single-objective optimization problem, and the relatively simple and feasible spherical shell structure splitting scheme was obtained by the improved genetic algorithm and dynamically optimized splitting strategy. The spherical shell structure could be split into multiple self-supporting printable units based on the obtained splitting scheme, and the whole structure could be assembled after the splitting units were printed one by one. For the concrete spherical shell structure, the number of splitting units increased with the increase of material self-supporting critical angle. To minimize the adverse effects of the number of splitting units on the subsequent connection and overall performance of the spherical shell structure, the self-supporting critical angle of the concrete material should be limited. The results of field forming experiments show that the proposed method can effectively split the 3D printed concrete spherical shell structure and avoid structural formwork during the printing process, thereby enhancing construction efficiency.

Key words： 3D printed concrete spherical shell structure self-supporting critical angle genetic algorithm structure splitting

Received: 29 July 2024 Published: 06 May 2025

CLC:

TU 741

Fund: LI Y X, JIANG Y B, LIU Y, et al. Splitting method and forming experiment of 3D printed concrete spherical shell structure considering self-supporting critical angle[J]. Chinese Journal of Engineering Design, 2025, 32(2): 151-158

Corresponding Authors: Youbao JIANG E-mail: L505175648@163.com;jiangybseu@163.com

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Cite this article:

Yinxian LI,Youbao JIANG,Yan LIU,Pengxiang GAO. Splitting method and forming experiment of 3D printed concrete spherical shell structure considering self-supporting critical angle. Chinese Journal of Engineering Design, 2025, 32(2): 151-158.

URL:

https://www.zjujournals.com/gcsjxb/10.3785/j.issn.1006-754X.2025.04.162 OR https://www.zjujournals.com/gcsjxb/Y2025/V32/I2/151

考虑自支撑临界角的3D打印混凝土球壳结构拆分方法与成形实验

为实现3D打印混凝土球壳结构的无支撑建造，提出了一种基于自支撑临界角的结构拆分方法。该方法将结构拆分问题转化为单目标优化问题，并根据改进遗传算法和动态优化拆分策略，寻求得到较为简便、可行的球壳结构拆分方案。基于所获得的拆分方案，可将球壳结构拆分成若干个可自支撑打印的单元，对拆分单元逐一打印后完成整体结构的拼接。对于混凝土球壳结构而言，随着材料自支撑临界角的增大，拆分单元数量增加。为降低拆分单元数量过多对球壳结构后续连接及整体性能的不利影响，混凝土材料的自支撑临界角不宜过大。现场成形实验结果表明，基于所提出的方法可实现3D打印混凝土球壳结构的有效拆分，在打印过程中能够避免结构支模工作，提高了建造效率。

关键词： 3D打印混凝土, 球壳结构, 自支撑临界角, 遗传算法, 结构拆分

Fig.1 Schematic of overhanging area of structure

Fig.2 Schematic of spherical shell structure splitting

Fig.3 Splitting and printing process of spherical shell structure

Fig.4 Splitting process of spherical shell structure based on improved genetic algorithm

Fig.5 Schematic diagram of spherical shell structure

Fig.6 STL model of spherical shell structure

Fig.7 Cross-section splitting of spherical shell structure

Table 1 Splitting results of spherical shell structure under different circumferential splitting times

Fig.8 Splitting process of spherical shell structure with self-supporting critical angle of 65°

分层序号	环向拆分数N/次	环向拆分角度 $θ j$ /(°)			分割点^①坐标（ $x i, ? y i$ ）/mm	分割平面倾斜角度 $α i ?$ /(°)
分层序号	环向拆分数N/次	$θ 1$	$θ 2$	$θ 3$	分割点^①坐标（ $x i, ? y i$ ）/mm	分割平面倾斜角度 $α i ?$ /(°)
1	3	60	180	300	（225，108.97）	25.84
2		60	180	300	（155，196.15）	51.68
3		60	180	300	（55，243.875）	77.29
4		60	180	300	（0，250）	90.00

Table 2 Splitting scheme of spherical shell structure with self-supporting critical angle of 65°

Table 3 Mass fraction of each component of concrete material

Fig.9 Measuring principle of self-supporting critical angle of concrete material

Fig.10 Measuring site of self-supporting critical angle of concrete material

Fig.11 Each concrete block during printing

Fig.12 Each concrete block of K1 part

Fig.13 K1 part structure after assembly

Fig.14 Spherical shell structure and its diameter


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