Bending behaviour of steel cable reinforced 3D printed concrete in the direction perpendicular to the interfaces

The performance of 3D printed concrete (3DPC) specimens subjected to bending perpendicular to the interfaces has not been effectively investigated. In this study, steel cables were placed in the direction perpendicular to the printing interfaces, and the bending behaviour of reinforced 3D printed concrete was experimentally studied in this direction using the four-point bending test. The effects of the reinforcement ratio, hook length at the ends of the steel cables and the loading direction on the failure mode, as well as the flexural capacity, post-peak behaviour, and anisotropic behaviour of the specimens were analysed in detail. The results showed that with an appropriate reinforcement ratio and hook length, the reinforcement can greatly improve the post-peak bending behaviour in the direction perpendicular to the interfaces for 3DPC specimens. Moreover, since the flexural capacity depends on the compressive strength of concrete and the tensile strength of steel cables, rather than the interfacial bond strength, no obvious anisotropy of the 3DPC specimens can be found. This research will contribute to the structural design of 3DPC and its practical application in building structures.

Automated summary

This study experimentally investigated the bending behavior of reinforced 3D printed concrete in the direction perpendicular to the printing interfaces, finding that reinforcement greatly improves post-peak bending behavior with no obvious anisotropy present in 3DPC specimens.