New Grasshopper Plugins and Methods for Finite Element Analysis of 3D Printed Concrete Structures

REU: Underground Infrastructure REU | AUTHOR: Schuyler Mangiafico – University of Arizona

MENTOR: Mehran Mazari – California State University of Los Angeles

ABSTRACT

This project explores new Grasshopper plugins and methods for finite element analysis of 3D printed concrete structures. The approach consists of creating a 3D geometry within Rhino 6 using Grasshopper, then utilizing the Concre3DLab, VoxelPrint, and CobraPrint plugins to add rheological, printing, and slicing properties to the geometry. VoxelPrint then creates an ABAQUS input file that is used to perform a finite element analysis of the printable geometry. This approach is expected to allow quick simulation of various printable geometry designs and testing of different concrete mixes and printer settings. The potential for modifying parameters to analyze the 3D printed concrete geometries in an underground setting are also discussed as an avenue for future research.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Schuyler is entering his final year at the University of Arizona and will graduate with a B.S. in Mining Engineering and a minor in Business Administration in May of 2022. His summer project is through the California State University of LA on the simulation of 3D concrete printing. The summer REU program is his first research experience, but he would love to explore research areas around advancements in underground mining, ground support, and blasting methods.