3-D-knitted shells save on construction materials and time

3-D-knitted shells save on construction materials and time

5 years ago
Anonymous $ZPWJA6-QD2

https://phys.org/news/2018-10-d-knitted-shells-materials.html

A 55-kilogram formwork for 5 tonnes of concrete

The technology was developed at ETH Zurich. Following a digitally generated pattern, an industrial knitting machine produced the shuttering of the formwork for the shell structure: in 36 hours, it knitted a fully shaped, double-layered 3-D textile consisting of four long strips. The lower layer forms the visible ceiling – a designed surface with a colourful pattern. The upper layer contains sleeves for the cables of the formwork system and pockets for simple balloons, which, after the entire structure is coated in concrete, become hollow spaces that help save on materials and on weight. Manufacturing a formwork for such a geometrically complex structure using conventional methods would cost substantially more in both time and material.