Aug 30, 2018 | By Thomas
A team from the US Marine Corps’ Systems Command (MCSC) and Naval Construction Battalion has used the world's largest concrete 3D printer to print a 500-square-foot barracks hut in just 40 hours.
The concrete barracks room was built earlier this month at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Champaign, Ill. Army and Navy Seabees were also involved in the project.
Building a wood barracks hut would normally take 10 Marines five days.
“This exercise had never been done before,” said Capt. Matthew Friedell, Additive Manufacturing project officer in MCSC’s Operations and Programs/G-3, in a statement. “People have printed buildings and large structures, but they haven’t done it onsite and all at once. This is the first-in-the-world, onsite continuous concrete print.”
The team designed a 3D model on a 10-year-old computer. Once they hit print, the concrete was pushed through the print head and layered repeatedly to build the barracks room walls. Friedell said the job took 40 hours because Marines had to monitor progress and continually fill the printer with concrete. However, if there was a robot to do the mixing and pumping, the building could easily be created in one day, he added.
The ability to build structures and bases could help keep U.S. military personnel safe.
“In active or simulated combat environments, we don’t want Marines out there swinging hammers and holding plywood up,” said Friedell. “Having a concrete printer that can make buildings on demand is a huge advantage for Marines operating down range.”
All images credit: US Marine Corp.
The Marine Corps also plans to use 3D concrete printers in humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions. As the first military services on site in natural disasters, the Navy and Marine Corps are great at providing food and water, but struggle to provide shelter, Friedell said. In many locations, cement is easier to acquire than wood, and marines could quickly print houses, schools and community buildings to replace those destroyed.
Team plans to conduct further testing on the new barracks-building technology and wants to get the capability into the hands of more Marines to inform future requirements for cutting-edge technology and autonomous systems.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Seriously??? Building a wood barracks hut would normally take 10 Marines five days. How the so-called 3d printed concrete structure looks. I think I could set up some plywood, a few 2 x 4s and call it a structure in a few hours. How complete is the "wood barracks"? With the concrete structure, I see no roof, no doors, no windows, etc, etc. So, is it really done in 2 days?
Richard Blade wrote at 8/30/2018 7:57:20 PM:
That's some crazy inefficiency that manual human oversight added 16 hours to the job. also I can't think of any good reason to be using a 10 year old computer or telling anyone that that's how you did it (outside of trying to pad your budget) it makes him seem like an idiot
Richard Blade wrote at 8/30/2018 7:56:19 PM:
That's some crazy inefficiency that manual human oversight added 16 hours to the job. also I can't think of any good reason to be using a 10 year old computer or telling anyone that that's how you did it (outside of trying to pad your budget) it makes him seem like an idiot
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