Cement and Concrete Research 135 (2020) 106157
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Cement and Concrete Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cemconres
CCR Digital Concrete 2020 SI: Editorial
1. Introduction
The development of digital fabrication of cement-based materials
(DFC) is taking the construction industry by storm. New horizons come
into view by the promises of geometrical freedom, high construction
speed, lack of hard physical labour, and reduced use of primary and
secondary materials. However, this comes at a price. Behind the see-
mingly easy free deposition of fresh material, complex phenomena and
fundamental questions hide. DFC engages the material in a phase that is
normally left untouched: during the transition from fluid to solid. The
(partial) absence of formwork that characterizes most DFC processes,
poses many fascinating new challenges, in fields ranging from material
design (including reinforcement) and process modelling, to quality
control and product application. The complete interaction between
design, material, process, and product needs to be rethought (Fig. 1a).
This is now attracting attention from research groups around the
world. In the slipstream, an increasing number of conferences on the
topic has been initiated as well. Two years ago, Digital Concrete 2018,
hosted by the ETH Zurich, was the first dedicated conference in this
field worldwide. In July of this year, the TU Eindhoven hosts Digital
Concrete 2020, the 2nd RILEM International Conference of Concrete and
Digital Fabrication, online. In a mere two years, the number of papers
has almost quadrupled, which illustrates the rapid expansion of the
field. The Digital Concrete conferences are sponsored by the RILEM
Technical Committee 276 Digital Fabrication with Cement-based ma-
terials, and are set to be continued under the umbrella of subsequent
RILEM Technical Committees after the termination of TC 276, with the
follow-up event expected to take place at Loughborough University in
2022.
Digital Concrete 2020 is the topic of this Special Issue of Cement and
Concrete Research. In a sense, it is the successor of issue 112, which was
dedicated to the 2018 event. The current issue collects 13 keynote and
invited papers across the scale of the conference scope: from the studies
of the crucial physico-chemical phenomena, through process modelling,
to mixture design, and finally applications.
A bird's eye view of the field is provided by Khan et al. [1]. They
present a solid historical and technological embedding of the technol-
ogies now recognized under the umbrella of DFC.
Based on their broad review, featuring a particularly worthwhile
section on numerical modelling, the authors conclude the future for 3D
printing in construction is bright and outline a path for its further de-
velopment. This paper thus provides an excellent introduction into the
subject matter.
2. Classification
Before submerging ourselves into the content matter, there is an
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0008-8846/ © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
T
issue that needs to be addressed first: the development of a common
frame of reference. The harmonized use of technical terminology fa-
cilitates academic studies, performance comparisons, and importantly
the development of technical guidelines. This may seem like a trivial
undertaking, but for a field that has moved from infancy into adoles-
cence in a matter of a few years, it is a crucial need before maturity can
be reached.
An important step in this development is provided by Buswell et al.
[2], who present a classification for DFC processes that aligns to ex-
isting ISO guidelines in manufacturing industries, but is tailored to the
DFC field. The framework for the proposed classification is summarized
Fig. 6 of the paper, after first discussing previously suggested classifi-
cations by other authors e.g. in [3,4]. A series of helpful process dia-
grams is presented for a number of examples, to aid in the identification
and distinction of DFC processes. Importantly, Section 3 introduces a
very useful set of terminology definitions, specifying e.g. the difference
between fabrication and manufacturing. The classification Buswell et al.
propose has been developed based on extensive discussions within the
RILEM TC 276, and therefore carries considerable agreement within the
community already.
As processes will develop further, we expect additional sub-
classifications and terminology definitions will be needed, but this
paper provides a solid basis therefor.
3. Chemical & physics background
DFC is characterized by a strong interaction between design, ma-
terial, (fabrication/manufacturing) process, and the resulting product.
Complex physico-chemical phenomena underly these interactions,
particularly in the triangle of material – process – product (Fig. 1b). To
develop DFC beyond the proof-of-concept stage, and obtain efficient
technologies of consistent quality, a fundamental understanding of their
background is required.
Existing in several variants, extrusion-based additive manufacturing
with cement-based materials, otherwise known as 3D concrete printing
(3DCP), is the most common DFC technology nowadays. Mechtcherine
et al. [5] identify the characteristic phases of these processes and pre-
sent a systematic discussion of their underlying physics, including as-
pects of flow and pumping, part behaviour during printing, and time-
dependent fresh material properties. They conclude that, in principle,
the underlying physics are well understood. However, to apply them to
the development of extrusion-based 3DCP and thus move away from
trial-and-error methods, is a major challenge that arises from the in-
tricacy of flow regimes in subsequent stages of the process, as well as
the time- and shear-history dependency of the complex cement-based
material mixtures that are being applied.
Reiter et al. [6] focus on a particular aspect: the physico-chemical

Fig. 1. (a, left) In the digital fabrication of cement-based materials, the design, material, process, and product are heavily interrelated. (b, right) Complex physico-
chemical phenomena underly these interactions, particularly in the triangle of material – process – product.
processes related to the time-dependent development of the yield stress
of cementitious printable mortars, also mainly concerning 3DCP. Sub-
sequently occurring phenomena over the time scale relevant to printing
are identified, from which it is concluded that a set-on-demand strategy
should be based on the balancing of retarders and accelerators in the
mixture as hydration products are the major contributors to strength
build-up after an initial short time of restructuring after shearing. The
authors advocate a continuous low-displacement rate penetration test
as a practical means to measure yield stress development over time,
which could – after calibration – obviate the need for more elaborate
destructive tests. For the purpose of obtaining a first estimate en-
gineering criterion for the yield strength and build-up rate, the analy-
tical buildability models previously proposed by Roussel [7] and Perrot
et al. [8] have been expanded to include time induced gradient material
properties. It is concluded that the material property requirements still
scale linearly for plastic collapse failure and to the power of 3 for elastic
buckling failure.
4. Process modelling
Although straightforward analytical models for simplified building
situations during manufacturing are enlightening to identify crucial
relations, they generally fall short to predict actual behaviour as most
real situations are generally much more complex. As already indicated,
Khan et al. [1], in their Section 7, present a valuable overview of the
state-of-affairs in the development of numerical methods to address
these issues, drawing attention to material models, multiscale models,
and data-driven (as opposed to physics-driven) models amongst others.
Roussel et al. [9] provide a review of available numerical methods
to model layer-extrusion 3DCP and assess their potential for systematic
process evaluation and optimization of both process and material.
While they also discuss modelling of concrete flow and part buildability
during printing, the majority of this paper is dedicated to the modelling
of filament deposition, i.e. the process of the cementitious mortar being
extruded from a moving print nozzle. Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) modelling is shown to be capable of simulating complex effects,
not only limited to the section deformation of single or multiple fila-
ments, but also including filament buckling (when the nozzle speed is
too low compared to the mortar flow) and filament breakage (when the
nozzle speed is too high). Pointing towards previous publications on
Finite Element Modelling (FEM) of part buildability during printing,
Roussel et al. conclude that in principle, the appropriate numerical
tools for informed theoretical improvement of layer-extrusion 3DCP are
available.
At the level of the print part, Suiker et al. [10] expand upon nu-
merical methods to assess the structural behaviour during the 3DCP
process, developed at TU/e in recent studies [11–13]. The two main
types of failure that can occur during printing, elastic buckling and
plastic collapse, are demonstrated in a series of experiments, including
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Cement and Concrete Research 135 (2020) 106157
the influence of geometrical imperfections on the buckling response,
and the influence of the build-up rate (the equivalent of different wall
growth velocities) on the buckling stability. The experimental results
are compared to the numerical predictions, and are found to be in very
good agreement. In line with the conclusions provided by Roussel et al.
[9], Suiker et al. conclude that the numerical modelling of the 3DCP
process thus provides a solid basis for optimization of the process
conditions, such as maximization of the printing speed or minimization
of the material required for adequate 3D printing.
5. Materials
The characteristic physico-chemical phenomena occurring in DFC-
based processes, require the use of materials with specific character-
istics. In the case of layer-extrusion 3DCP, this includes, amongst
others, the unlikely marriage between high fluidity during pumping and
high green strength (development) after deposition. As a result, many
printable mortars have a high cement content in comparison to
common concretes. Considering the CO2 footprint associated with ce-
ment usage, this largely negates gains achieved by reduced material use
made possible by the printing process. Thus, several studies have aimed
at the partial or full replacement of cement by other binders (see
[14,15], amongst others). In this context, Chen et al. [16] present a
study on the effect of the viscosity modifying admixture (VMA) content
on various printability aspects of a limestone and calcined clay-based
cementitious mixture. Calcined clay was deliberately selected because it
does not suffer from potential depletion questions associated with other
cement replacements. In line with theoretical background to structural
build-up discussed by Reiter et al. [6], the authors show through an
extensive experimental program that a suitable set of fresh and har-
dened state properties can be obtained by optimizing the VMA content
(which was 0.24 wt% of binder content in the specific mixture). Com-
peting physico-chemical effects result in inferior properties both in the
fresh and hardened state when the VMA content is either increased or
reduced.
Li et al. [17] focus on a different category of printable mortars,
namely the engineered, strain hardening cementitious composites
(ECC/SHCC). The tensile strength and ductility of this class of materials
renders them suitable candidates for structural, impact prone, and other
applications that would otherwise require different forms of re-
inforcement, which are difficult to realize in layer-extrusion 3DCP. The
authors discuss the early developments in this area and analyze the
process-specific aspects of 3DCP for ECC/SHCC, which differ from other
printable mortars mainly due to the presence of flexible, finely dis-
persed, bond-optimized fibres with a high aspect ratio. The effects of
printing parameters on fibre distribution and thus structural perfor-
mance is discussed and a potential solution to achieve ductility in the
direction across the interfaces is presented. It is concluded printable
ECC/SHCC show promising potential to address the reinforcement issue

in layer-extrusion 3DCP.
San Fratello & Rael [18] deviate from common cement-based mor-
tars much further. By showing structures can be 3D printed with an
abundance of different locally sourced materials ranging from salt to
soil and even grape skins, they underline the versatility and potential of
these technologies.
6. Other DFC technologies
Whereas the majority of DFC operators both in industry and in
academia build on the pioneering work of Khoshnevis [19] and use
(different forms of) layer-extrusion 3DCP, other processes are also on
the rise, as illustrated by contributions from Kloft et al. [20], Lowke
et al. [21], and Lloret et al. [22] to this special issue.
Shotcrete 3D Printing (SC3DP) is a material-jetting DFC process
developed at the TU Braunschweig by fixing well-known shotcreting
equipment to a robotic, rather than human, applicator [23]. This results
in a highly versatile additive manufacturing method that can build on a
considerable amount of research and development work available. Kloft
et al. [20] have now studied a well-recognized issue in many additive
manufacturing technologies: the interlayer bond strength, and its de-
pendence on process parameters, most notably the interval (or delay)
time. In a comparative experimental study with material-extrusion
3DCP, they found SC3DP yields a lower air void content and thus a
higher bulk density, and the interlayer surface is much more pro-
nounced. This results in higher compressive and flexural strengths. The
effect of the interval or delay time on the interlayer strength was found
to differ for both DFC methods. For SC3DP a consistent decline was
observed that was nevertheless not excessive.
More or less simultaneously with the invention of Contour Crafting,
the D-shape process was developed by Enrico Dini [24], a particle-bed
bending technology that uses a liquid phase to obtain solidification.
Although it has not grown as impetuously as material-extrusion 3DCP,
the technology is enjoying an increasing interest owing mainly to its
superior geometrical possibilities. Like other DFC processes, particle-
bed binding shows a strong interaction between material, process, and
product properties. Lowke et al. [21] present an extensive study in this
area, investigating the product geometrical accuracy and mechanical
properties of parts printed in two different particle-bed printers with
various different layer heights, w/c ratios, aggregate particle size, and
water application method. To support their analyses, the authors also
recorded the homogeneity and porosity through micro computed to-
mography (μCT). They found an increase in w/c ratio and aggregate
size results in increased strength (through improved water penetration),
but reduced dimensional accuracy, while the water jet pressure had
little influence on the results.
Lloret et al. [22] present a family of DFC methods developed at ETH
Zurich. Named Digital Casting Systems (DCS), these methods are based
on non-conventional and non-permanent formworks to support and
dynamically shape the concrete. They build upon the set-on-demand
strategy discussed by Reiter et al. [6], and thus, allow for extremely
minimal (and recyclable or reusable) formworks. The authors show
how DCS accommodate conventional and well-established reinforce-
ment solutions, and highlight the need to revise current processes for
preparing reinforcement, to enable geometric flexibility and low tol-
erances at low cost. The geometrical possibilities provided by these
methods are illustrated in numerous projects, indicating the growth of
DCS since the initiation of its first family member in 2012, Smart Dy-
namic Casting [25], and contributing significantly to the rapidly ex-
panding field of digital fabrication with concrete.
In their case-studies, San Fratello & Rael [18] have used both par-
ticle-bed binding and material-extrusion technologies. Besides showing
the variety of materials that could be used, they illustrate the potential
scope of DFC technologies: on-site or off-site, continuous print or
multiple parts, single machine or print farm – the latter presenting a
particularly interesting concept from a production point of view. The
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Cement and Concrete Research 135 (2020) 106157
geometrical versatility suits contemporary and vernacular architecture
equally well.
7. Applications and outlook
The contributions discussed above present a formidable develop-
ment in the understanding of fundamental principles, material design,
modelling, and processing. It has to be understood, however, that the
application of parts manufactured through DFC technologies requires
specific attention too. As DFC parts are often used as load bearing
elements, Menna et al. [26] present a highly relevant discussion on the
implications of these technologies (focusing on material extrusion
3DCP) for structural engineering of buildings and infrastructure. Sev-
eral realized examples are discussed from this perspective, including
the prospect of structural optimization strategies for 3D printing, and
supplemented with the experiences from practicing structural engineers
(Section 2.2. of that paper). Building permits are either not required
due to the limited consequence of the structure, or obtained through
exception clauses that generally require extensive experimental testing.
First steps towards protocols intended to reduce case-specific testing are
presented.
If the papers presented in this Special Issue have one thing in
common, it is a shared optimism regarding the potential of DFC tech-
nologies. The complexities regarding material design and behaviour, its
interaction with design and process, and the influence of all three of
these aspects on the final product, are well recognized. However,
considering the base knowledge previously available and the rapid
advances recently made in these areas, it is not difficult to see the path
forward. The future of digital fabrication with cement-based materials
indeed looks bright.
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⁎
Freek Bos , Rob Wolfs, Theo Salet
Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
E-mail address: f.p.bos@tue.nl (F. Bos).
⁎
Corresponding author.