#civilengineering

#civilengineering

World’s First 3D-Printed Steel BridgeLast week, the world’s first 3D-printed steel bridge was unveiled in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.The 40-foot-long (12 meter) bridge was created from 6 tons of stainless steel in just 6 months by four industrial 3D printing robots by Dutch company MX3D. It was created using a 3D printing technique called wire and arc additive manufacturing that combines robotics with welding.In addition to serving as a foot bridge over one of the canals in Amsterdam’s city center, it will also serve as a “living laboratory” as a network of sensors will monitor and analyze its performance as the bridge serves pedestrian traffic. The data collected will enable engineers to measure the bridge’s ‘health’ in real time and understand further how 3D printed steel structures will perform over time.Professor Leroy Gardner of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Imperial College London said in a statement, “D printing presents tremendous opportunities to the construction industry, enabling far greater freedom in terms of material properties and shapes. This freedom also brings a range of challenges and will require structural engineers to think in new ways.”To unveil the new 3D-printed steel bridge, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands pressed a button that prompted a robot to cut a ribbon hanging across the bridge.Images: MX3D#bridge #3DPrinting #MX3D #steel #civilengineering #welding

Lightweight LEGO-Like 3D-Printed Alternative to Reinforced Concrete BeamsReinforced concrete beams, a staple in civil engineering, are strong ... but they are also very, very heavy.Thanks to 3D printing, a team of researchers at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) in Spain has developed a lightweight alternative. The 3D printed plastic pieces are snapped together onsite, just like LEGO pieces. Then the structure is concreted into place, with no metal reinforcement required.The resulting beam is just as strong as reinforced concrete beam, but weighs up to 80% less.How did the researchers achieve the required rigidity from plastic? By studying human bones:"It is an alveolar structure, which makes it possible to decrease the amount of plastic used – and therefore its weight – while maintaining structural rigidity," said Jose Ramon Albiol of the Higher Technical School of Construction Engineering of the UPV, "This is what we have transferred to these revolutionary beams, specifically to their profiles. It is a very intelligent natural system and its reproduction in these beams awards them, with the low structural weight, very high mechanical capabilities."via AlphaGalileo#3DPrinting #concrete #CivilEngineering #LEGO #plastic #materialscience