Bioreceptive Habitats: Engineering a bioreceptivity-oriented design strategy through digital and physical experimentation.

Bioreceptivity is a natural phenomenon that has been observed on building material for many years. Bioreceptivity is when materials are being colonized by one or more species of living organisms without necessarily going under biodeterioration. (Guillitte, 1995) Based on the literature, bioreceptivity depends on three main factors: on climatic...

Additive Manufacturing and Spark Plasma Sintering of Lunar Regolith for Functionally Graded Materials

This study investigates the feasibility of in-situ manufacturing of a functionally graded metallic-regolith. To fabricate the gradient, digital light processing, an additive manufacturing technique, and spark plasma sintering were selected due to their compatibility with metallic-ceramic processing in a space environment. The chosen methods...

Learning from Nature's Failures: Mimicking Hierarchy in Natural Structures to Create Damage-Tolerant Lattice Materials

To create a more sustainable future for aviation, new, lighter-weight structures and materials will need to be engineered. It will also be critical that damage tolerance and safety are not compromised in the process. Lattice materials represents one avenue of exploration; however, two key challenges arise: limited experimental work has been...

Robotic Restoration: Restoration of stucco ornaments by means of in-situ additive manufacturing

The preservation and restoration of intricate stucco ornaments, which are part of our collect cultural Heritage, is under threat due to a diminishing number of skilled restoration plasterers. The highly physically demanding- and labour intensive nature of this work makes it unsustainable for the human body and advocates for a more sustainable...

Eggshell: Design and fabrication of non-standard, structural concrete columns, using 3D printed thin-shell formwork

Research and development in additive manufacturing with concrete has become more widespread over the last decade. The processes developed range from concrete extrusion, to digital fabrication of formworks and the unification of formwork and reinforcement. Although they enable the production of increasingly material-efficient structures, the...

The effect of nodal topology on cellular solid mechanics: A preliminary diagnostic experimental investigation

Additive manufacturing allows material structuring, supporting the fabrication of multiple-level structures or metamaterials. Through the lens of classical stress reduction, nature’s cellular solid structures feature stress-homogenizing nodal topologies. Avian long bones are an example. Research into the mechanics of open cell cellular solids...

Running Out Of Gas On The Fast Lane: Repurpose of abandoned drilling rigs in the North Sea

Eventually either the oil and gas supply will be exhausted, or society will develop methods to rely completely on eco-friendly energy sources. What will then happen to the oil industry and their factories and structures? In this hypothetical situation, offshore drilling rigs, structures made of billions of euros worth of steel and concrete, will...

The Real-time City: life in a fully adaptable environment

The Real-time City is a city on demand, shaped by customization over time. Inhabitants can shape the content of the city and their personal spaces according to their desires. As situations are continuously changing, the city has to update itself in real-time; analysing the given input, applying parameters and act upon these changing situations....

Digital manufacturing of reinforcement in a free-form concrete structure: Digital manufacturing of freeform concrete

This research paper is a TU Delft Master’s thesis for graduation track in the field of Building Technology. Its main theme, digital manufacturing of reinforced concrete structures, has already been studied/researched by many other enthusiasts; but they adopted approaches mainly based on the digital production of formworks or 3D printing of...