Design optimisation for hybrid metal additive manufacturing for sustainable construction

authored by
Mohammad Hassan Baqershahi, Can Ayas, Elyas Ghafoori
Abstract

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) enables the manufacturing of efficient and lightweight structural elements in which material can be utilised wherever needed in an optimised shape, in contrast to standard prismatic profiles used in construction. However, the specific energy consumption (SEC) of WAAM is higher than that of conventional manufacturing (CM) techniques (i.e., hot-rolling) for standard profiles. Therefore, it is an open question whether the material savings through computational design realised via WAAM is environmentally beneficial or not. This systematic study aims to provide a better understanding of the environmental impact of hybrid manufacturing, which is defined as the combination of WAAM and CM rather than using any of them alone. Topology optimisation (TO) is used to design a series of beams with an identical performance (i.e., stiffness) but with a reduced material consumption depending on the hybrid ratio. The environmental impact of the designs has been used to determine when and how hybridisation can become advantageous. The results show that although the optimal proportions of WAAM and CM are dependent on their relative SEC, the hybrid solutions have always been environmentally superior compared to that of WAAM or CM alone for the realistic SEC values, exhibiting up to a 60% reduction in environmental impact compared to that of CM.

Organisation(s)
Institute of Steel Construction
External Organisation(s)
Delft University of Technology
Type
Article
Journal
Engineering structures
Volume
301
No. of pages
12
ISSN
0141-0296
Publication date
15.02.2024
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Civil and Structural Engineering
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.117355 (Access: Closed)