Industry seminar "Concrete 3D printing and other digital concrete construction methods"

The 3rd GERMAN INDUSTRIESEMINAR on the topic of "Concrete 3D printing and other digital concrete construction methods" was also a success in 2021. Like last year, the event took place as a digital web meeting. This was due on the one hand to the corona pandemic and on the other hand to the potentials of a digital meeting. Without the additional journey to Dresden, the symposium reached a wider audience. Thus, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Mechtcherine (Institute for Building Materials), Prof. Dr. Ing. Dipl. Wirt.-Ing. Otto (Institute for Construction Management) as well as Prof. Dr. Ing. Will (Endowed Chair for Construction Machinery) were able to welcome more than 160 participants from nine countries on 3 November 2021.
Greetings from Mr Norbert Schröter, General Manager of Deutsche Bauchemie and President of the European Concrete Platform, and Mr Joachim Schmid, Managing Director of the VDMA Construction Machinery and Building Material Plants Association, set the mood for ten specialist presentations on current industry and research activities. These were spread over three sessions and started with a presentation by Prof. Mechtcherine, who gave an overview of the integration of reinforcement into the printing process.
The second block of topics was moderated by Prof. Will. He began by presenting the automation options for reinforcement integration and the current state of machine technology. Subsequently, speakers from France and Italy presented practical applications of concrete 3D printers and the possibilities of using alternative printing materials.
The third block, which was led by Prof. Otto, looked at the boundary conditions of concrete 3D printing in the construction industry. In addition to the presentation of time approaches for the production of printed reinforced concrete, the participants were given first impressions of the approval process as well as various approaches for the static verification of printed building structures.
This year's event shows how highly dynamic the developments of concrete 3D printing have been so far and how high the still untapped potential is. The highest number of participants to date and the lively discussions following the presentations also testify to a high level of interest in digital construction methods. The organisers are therefore already looking forward to the next industry seminar, which will take place on 24.11.2022. This year's conference contributions will be public on YouTube from February 2022. Until then, access is reserved for participants of the 3rd German Industry Seminar.

Report Markus Taubert

© Christof Schröfl