3D printed gridshell

The team of Dutch students from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) are realizing
the first 3D printed gridshell in ice! Between 15-21 December the shell is built at the campus
of Harbin University of Technology.

Meat the team

From the foundation up

15 - 16 December

The first two days of preparations have started before the real printing begins. In order to keep the construction at the desired place, a timber foundation has first been made. The plates are layed at a timber beam to be able to adjust the rope net to the foundation. A walking bridge is placed over the construction to be able to print at the top side. At the second day the inflatable has already been placed correctly and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon the real printing could start !

Constructing the foundation

Sawing the right shape of the foundation

Adjusting the rope net to the foundation

The inflatable fully blown up

Sawing the foundation

Printing the gridlines

16 - 17 December

After all preparations finally the printing has started! By using piping bags the ice mixture is printed on the grid lines. This process has to be repeated several times before the shell will be strong enough. In one of the final layers red LED strips will be placed at the grid lines to create a cozy effect.

Foundation of the shell itself

The first layers of ice printing

The grid is fully printed

Adjusting the LED strips to the construction

When the lights are on..

Final printing layer over the LED strips

The shell is standing !

18 - 20 December

The inflatable has been deflated and the shell is standing! It can be concluded that the structural test of the construction has already succeeded, with which we are very glad! From now on the construction will be finished off to make it nicer. We even tested the strength of the shell in real life by standing on it! As can be seen, the structure can easily carry the weight of one person, which was surprising

NEWS

EOS Wetenschap

Nederlandse studenten printen ijskoepel (en NASA kijkt mee)

People and organizations who contributed to the 3D printed grid shell

Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands Department Built environment, unit Structural design

Teachers:

Students:

Meet Our Team

Arno Pronk
Elke Mergny (Ulg)

Irma Bouw
Tessa Ezendam
Naomi van Hierden
Daniël Jansen
Kamil Kara
Joren van Laar
Joris Vleeshouwers
Dominique van der Weijden
Hein Willems

Organisations

Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beijing
Netherlands Business Support Office Dalian
Ice research center
IASS workgroup 21