Grant: Alliance Grants

In Canada, the construction sector faces significant challenges including a skilled labour shortage, upholding the highest standards of safety, improving the quality and affordability of new residential housing, and lowering the overall carbon footprint of our built environment. Concurrently, emerging technologies in additively manufactured concrete structures are quickly gaining momentum throughout global markets and can provide a viable solution to directly address our construction sector challenges. This research project will develop new low carbon 3D-printed concrete (3DPC) mixtures, structurally efficient 3DPC columns, and provide much-needed data on how these emergent materials perform under long-term realistic climatic conditions. The objectives of the project are, 1) to develop 3DPC mixtures containing both conventional and low carbon concrete materials, 2) to evaluate through structural testing and numerical simulation the performance of 3DPC columns and, 3) to evaluate the long-term performance of 3DPC elements exposed to outdoor conditions. The anticipated outcomes resulting from this research will be critical enablers for adoption of 3DPC in new residential construction.