Sustainable Concrete Freeforming for the New European Bauhaus

Introduction

The EIC funded SCENE-B project is developing AM concrete reinforced with aluminium fibres to benefit the New European Bauhaus initiative. The project is addressing three important pillars of the Pathfinder Challenges call: the design, the fabrication, and the material.

Background

The construction industry and built environment are the source of approximately 40% of CO2 equivalent global emissions. A radical change toward more sustainable materials and production is needed and is advocated by the New European Bauhaus initiative. Fragmented construction processes hinder the control of emissions and optimization of production, as well as limiting the impact of the initial design and its implementation’s effectiveness. SCENE-B will address these challenges in a holistic way from sustainable material design through digital twin, connecting design and production to identifying the best application and deployment.

Material Properties

Concrete is the most used construction material on earth that has several unrealized benefits such as:

• Freeforming capability
• Good acoustic and structural properties
• High durability

The ongoing Industry 4.0 revolution, followed by Industry 5.0 represented within NEB principles, is much slower in the construction industry, which is hindering labour productivity and sustainability goals. SCENE-B will pave the path for new thinking about the construction process across three pillars.

Material Development

Firstly, the material footprint will be addressed by developing a concrete mix with lower cement content and compatibility with reinforcing aluminium fibres. At the material design stage, the manufacturing process will be considered, with the concrete mix being specifically designed for additive manufacturing.

Production Integration

Secondly, the production process will be integrated with the material data and design data to predict production parameters. The digital toolkit will include a digital design tool and a digital twin of the additive manufacturing process. Architects, material scientists, structural engineers, computer scientists, and manufacturing engineers will focus on joining their activities in one pipeline, sharing data and getting coupled feedback.

Demonstrator Production

SCENE-B will produce a demonstrator to showcase the production of concrete construction elements in an integrated framework where data of all stages are unified and retained. The controlled production manner allows fast deployment of ambitious customized prefabricated designs with high quality and an advanced level of customization.

Goals

SCENE-B aims at increasing the uptake of additive manufacturing of concrete by developing AM integrated deposition of fibre reinforcement into concrete. The distributed reinforcement will increase AM concrete applicability and formability by improving strength at production and final stages.