Concre3DLab focusses on the 3D printing of concrete structures. On this page several plug-ins will be shared to aid in the design and manufacturing of concrete prints.
The plug-ins are being developed by Gieljan Vantyghem & Ticho Ooms
Apps that are currently being developed are:
VoxelPrint: a Grasshopper plug-in that can be used to construct simulation files, designed specifically for concrete 3D printing applications. The plug-in can voxelize any three-dimensional shape into a set of identical finite elements and produce ready-to-use Input files for simulation in ABAQUS. The main contribution of this plug-in is providing an extensive, yet easy-to-use plugin to be used by both non-experts (e.g. architects and designers that are familiar with the parametric toolbox that is provided by Grasshopper) and more advanced users (that can experiment with the broad range of input parameters in an attempt to optimize their print design). The core component generates .INP files for ABAQUS; and is based on state-of-the art numerical methods for simulation of concrete printing.
License: The developed Grasshopper plug-in ‘VoxelPrint’ is freely available for educational and academic use. If the plugin is used in your research, you should acknowledge this in your publication. Please contact us for information about commercial use of ‘VoxelPrint’.
Publications: Conference paper voxelprint & cobraprint | Journal paper VoxelPrint
CobraPrint: a Grasshopper plug-in that allows for the creation of finite element models without any prior knowledge of numerical modelling being required. In contrast to VoxelPrint, a structured mesh is generated by sweeping a cross-section of the printed concrete layer along the print path. The plug-in was evaluated and validated based on experimental and numerical results from literature. The main advantage of CobraPrint is the possibility to add contact-based interactions between layers. Also, a dynamic analysis is used with numerical damping which smoothens the analysis. A user subroutine URDFIL can be added to monitor the deformations of the model and stop the analysis when a predefined threshold is reached.
License: The developed Grasshopper plug-in ‘CobraPrint’ is freely available for educational and academic use. If the plugin is used in your research, you should acknowledge this in your publication. Please contact us for information about commercial use of ‘CobraPrint’.
Publications: Journal paper CobraPrint
Concre3DCode: a grasshopper plug-in that helps with the generation of robot code (RAPID and GCode). The RAPID code component takes in 3D planes and calculates the position and quaternions for the RAPID code. Additionally, custom RAPID data can be added. The GCode component allows the user to determine the (horizontal) planar orientation angle of the toolhead (tangential control of the nozzle), and creates adjustable GCode commands. This plug-in is a WIP. Feedback is highly appreciated!
License: The developed Grasshopper plug-in ‘Concre3DCode’ is freely available for educational and academic use. Please contact us for information about commercial use of ‘Concre3DCode’.
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