Investigation for Developing 3D Concrete Printing Apparatus for Underwater Application

수중적층용 3D 콘크리트 프린팅 장비 개발에 대한 연구

Recently, the demand for atypical structures with functions and sculptural beauty is increasing in the construction industry. Existing mold-based structure production methods have many advantages, but building complex atypical structures represents limitations due to the cost and technical characteristics. Production methods using molding are suitable for mass production systems, but production cost, construction period, construction cost, and environmental pollution can occur in small quantity batch production. The recent trend in the construction industry calls for new construction methods of customized small quantity batch production methods that can produce various types of sophisticated structures. In addition to the economic effects of developing related technologies of 3D Concrete Printers (3DCP), it can enhance national image through the image of future technology, the international status of the construction civil engineering industry, self-reliance, and technology export. Until now, 3DCP technology has been carried out in producing and utilizing residential houses, structures, etc., on land or manufacturing on land and installing them underwater. The final purpose of this research project is to produce marine structures by directly printing various marine structures underwater with 3DCP equipment. Compared to current underwater structure construction techniques, constructing structures directly underwater using 3DCP equipment has the following advantages: 1) cost reduction effects: 2) reduction of construct time, 3) ease of manufacturing amorphous underwater structures, 4) disaster prevention effects. The core element technology of the 3DCP equipment is to extrude the transferred composite materials at a constant quantitative speed and control the printing flow of the materials smoothly while printing the output. In this study, the extruding module of the 3DCP equipment operates underwater while developing an extruding module that can control the printing flow of the material while extruding it at a constant quantitative speed and minimizing the external force that can occur during underwater printing. The research on the development of 3DCP equipment for printing concrete structures underwater and the preliminary experiment of printing concrete structures using high viscosity low-flow concrete composite materials is explained.