Latha, GM and Venkateswarlu, H and Krishnaraj, P and Allam, SK and Anusree, KV and Krishna, A (2023) Science and Technology of Additive Manufacturing Applied to Geotechnical Engineering. In: Indian Geotechnical Journal .
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Abstract
The ability and freedom to translate complex conceptual creations into designs and prototypes using simple digital and mechanical tools make additive manufacturing (3D printing) attractive and rewarding to all fields that involve manufacturing. Though 3D printing is rapidly spreading into all fields of engineering and science, its scope in geotechnical engineering is so far confined to limited materials, which are primarily manufactured to aid small-scale modelling and research. While serious prototyping is still far, optimization of 3D printing parameters for different applications, which is a niche requirement for the spread of this technology, is not given serious consideration so far. As a first step in this direction, this study explores the methods and applications of 3D printing for geotechnical manufacturing processes and focuses on the importance of optimization of 3D printing parameters. Two vibrant manufacturing processes of geotechnical engineering, namely production of geosynthetics and manufacturing of sand, were selected for this study. Polymeric sheets of different surface texture and geogrids of different aperture sizes and shapes were printed using fused deposition modelling (FDM) printing technique. Two different raw materials, polypropylene for polymeric sheets and polylactic acid for geogrids, were used. The surface texture of the polymeric sheets was altered by choosing horizontal, diagonal, and vertical orientations of printing layers. Geogrids of square, circular, and triangular apertures were printed. The study demonstrated the clear effects of printing direction and printing material on the mechanical response of the products, which were understood through tension tests and interface shear tests. Further, granular particles of different sizes and same shape were 3D printed using two different printing techniques, namely FDM and stereolithography. Effectiveness of both these techniques in closely replicating the morphology of the natural sand particles used to create their polymeric twins using 3D printing was compared. The study provides fundamental understanding of 3D printing techniques related to geotechnical engineering along with their parametric dependency and lays out the futuristic applications and limitations of this field. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Indian Geotechnical Society.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
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| Publication: | Indian Geotechnical Journal |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| Additional Information: | The copyright for this article belongs to Springer Nature. |
| Keywords: | Additives; Geotechnical engineering; Morphology; Polypropylenes; Shear flow; Tensile testing, 3-D printing; 3D-printing; Geogrids; Geosynthetics; Manufacturing process; Mechanical response; Optimisations; Polymeric sheets; Printing techniques; Surface textures, 3D printing |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Mechanical Sciences > Civil Engineering |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Jan 2024 06:53 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2024 06:53 |
| URI: | https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/83552 |
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