FEA for Formless-Concreting*

*An 8 foot structure is erected with 30 layers of highly workable yet shape-stable mortar. The remarkable thing is that the mortar is fresh and unconfined, meaning each free-standing layer of material is gaining strength, as it cures, just fast enough to support on its own, the increasing weight of the other layers accumulating above it. The experiment was undertaken to demonstrate the feasibility 3D-priniting large structures using fresh unconfined concrete - formless concreting. An ABAQUS finite element model was used to simulate the test, and to insure structural integrity of the process.