3D concrete printing will completely change the dynamics and offerings of the affordable and mass housing industry.

M V Satish

- Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Buildings), L&T

How do you find the potential for 3D concrete printing, especially for the governments Housing for All project?

The Centre is driving the 'Housing for All' program to meet the burgeoning urbanization requirements that will involve creating about 60 million new houses. Realizing the huge opportunity, L&T Construction added muscle and intent to its effort to seek and leverage the latest technologies and adopt innovative construction methods to build to speed and scale. During this process, 3D concrete printing was identified as a potential game changer for the construction industry. As the technology was then yet at a nascent stage, a dedicated in-house R&D team was tasked to study the feasibility of adopting 3D concrete printing by evaluating various aspects like the right concrete mix, the most effective process and work methodologies, and the like.

What do you think are the major challenges for the adoption of such technology disruptors by the building fraternity and construction companies?

3D concrete mix design requires paradoxical combination of concrete properties to print successfully. The properties of 3D printable concrete are not straightforward as it involves various mandatories like maintaining sufficient 'flowability' till the concrete reaches the printer head. Once the concrete layer is printed, the structure must immediately gain sufficient hardness to retain its intended shape. There is the requirement to maintain green concrete status to ensure bonding between the layers and yet gain sufficient hardening to take the load of subsequent layers. After various lab experiments and field trials, a perfect concrete mix design was arrived at that adequately met all the above properties. 

To optimize the cost of constructing mass housing, it was strategically decided to use regular, locally available construction materials for the mix design to produce at job sites, unlike the present industry practice of buying factory produced pre-packed mortar. Integration of horizontal and vertical reinforcement during the printing process has been another challenge for which certain ingenious methodologies have been devised to embed the reinforcement and suitably modify the print-head to accommodate the revised printing methodologies.

Could brief us on the design validation processes? Are they completed?

3D concrete printing is one of the technology disruptors, with the potential to radically redefine construction methodologies. It is a technology that has in parts had a massive impact on many industries, and in parts not taken off to its full potential. Critical sectors such as healthcare have leveraged 3D printing effectively and we at L&T wanted to implement this in a domain like construction requiring long term durability and quality. With the successful 3D printing of a G+1 building in accordance with the Indian codal provisions for such structures, L&T Construction has proved that the organization possesses the requisite expertise to leverage this futuristic technology.

However, being a new technology involving a fully automated construction methodology, there are still a few design validation processes to be completed, before taking to market that are being currently addressed through various Indian statutory bodies, research institutions, and the like. Both the 3D printed buildings will be used for such testing and validation.

What is the way forward for L&T in this space?

3D concrete printing will completely change the dynamics and offerings of the affordable and mass housing industry. It will usher in a significant upward shift in safety, speed, scale, and superior designs. Architects will begin to play a more defining role to build fluid and building structures that can take aesthetics and convenience to the next level. Made-to-order houses are not too far away!

Hits: 1220