The impact of large-scale metal 3D printing in the construction sector from the academic and industrial perspectives

Metal Additive Manufacturing (or 3D printing) technologies are bringing substantial changes to the entire industrial environment, enabling rapid and cheap production of complex components which would be hardly fabricated with conventional technologies. Recent developments in the field of large-scale metal 3D printing increased the potential use for the construction sector, with applications in some pioneering case studies. The present work is intended to report a comprehensive analysis on the potential impact of metal 3D printing in construction through a survey analysis, an environmental analysis and a cost analysis. The survey is carried through students and professionals in the AEC sector (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) to assess the potential interest and current issues in applying advanced manufacturing technologies in practice. The environmental and economic analysis are based on a case study of an optimized production for the steel joints of the world’s renowned British Museum gridshell dome. The optimized nodes are considered to be produced with Wire-and-Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), a metal 3D printing technology widely used to produce large-scale components, in comparison with the conventional nodes produced with CNC. The environmental impact is assessed through a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) while the economic analysis is calculated in terms of cost comparison of the two production technologies. The results revealed a positive impact of WAAM towards greener and optimized steel structures, and the interest of the future generations on such advanced technologies could potentially increase their application on new constructions.