Investigation of modelling approaches to study the structural performance of 3D printed plain wall under uniform axial compression

This study reports an experimental and numerical examination performed on a 3D printed (3DP) wall subjected to vertical axial compression. A detailed investigation of material property and full-scale testing of the 3DP plain wall was performed to explore the structural performance of the 3D printed wall. To obtain the mechanical properties of mortar, test prisms obtained by printing mortar as layers resulted in undesirable failure modes. Hence, this study proposes a unique methodology to obtain the mechanical property of mortar with an assumption of mortar material as isotropic. However, to consider the effect of the interface within the printed layers, interface strength tests in terms of normal and shear strength were performed. Likewise, the behavior of 3DP wall being anisotropic, a unique analysis concept was adopted in a current study comprising of modelling the printed layers as in actual thickness and cross-section and providing material property obtained from an assumption of mortar material as isotropic. Moreover, orthotropic material properties of the printed material were provided to FE models via testing of the 3D printed specimens parallel and normal to the interface. The full-scale test specimen was modeled as layers in a numerical tool and results from the test and simulation were compared in terms of load-displacement behavior, distribution of strain on the wall surface, and damage pattern of the wall. Moreover, recommendation on the selection of the suitable material model and contact algorithm is provided in the current study for simulating the behavior of 3DP structures.