Professional Documents
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Smart Materials
HOw buILdIng COmPOnEnTS ARE CHAngIng/ PAgE 28
SELf-ASSEmbLY buILdIngS / PAgE 32
gRAPHEnE: STROngER THAn STEEL / PAgE 36
buILdIng fOR THE CIRCuLAR ECOnOmY / PAgE38
HOw 3d PRInTIng CAn REvOLuTIOnISE COnSTRuCTIOn / PAgE 42
No HaNds
smart materials could spark major
cHaNges iN tHe coNstructioN iNdustry
BY RoBeRt Henson
A
WAtCH Is it a modern obsession to
look ahead to further technology
s the worlds advancement? Or is it from ancient
raw and dumb 4D printing times that we have tried to do more
materials decline, p32 with less?
manufacturing If we look back far enough for
and technological inspiration, we might find the
innovations are Graphene Romans, who, probably more
allowing humans to push for p36 intentionally than not, used lime
continued production and progress. mortar and volcanic ash in their
An ever-rising population has concrete, which researchers have
created demand for ever more farms, Circular found gave self-healing properties.
fisheries and mines. Research has One smart way to do more in a
pushed deeper and wider on our
buildings world with depleted materials is to
planet, but still, natural resources are p38 use less. And its certainly requiring
in decline. less money and manpower to 3D
This large-scale exploitation print concrete structures (see page
extends from the last half of the 18th 3D printing 42). University of Southern California
century and the start of the industrial p42 professor of civil and environmental
revolution. engineering Berokh Khoshnevis has
Interestingly, it was around the developed the mechanical technique,
same time that scientists discovered
materials with smart properties.
They were capable of producing
what is known as piezoelectricity
which is generated as a result of the
one smart way
application of mechanical stress.
But why did we hold off on
to do more in
developing further? Why does it seem a world with depleted
that only now we are getting serious
about materials with awe-inspiring materials is to use less
28 new civil engineer | JAnUArY 2017
smart
materials
development is
happening inside
Adidas and Boeing;
it is sparked by
manufacturing
Finally, to continue on an upward
trajectory, of population, progress
and growth, being smart in a
resource-poor world requires circular
thinking (see page 40).
Brexit came at a
bad time for me
We can hold on to
Unsustainable levels of waste
from the construction industry are
after three years
of hard work, our
our practical ap-
spurring on precast manufacturing
and recycling in the circular
manufacturing team
had finally gained
proach, based on world
economy which aims to perpetuate formal accreditation leading technical and safety
recycling and reuse. This changes steve to BS EN1090 allowing
value-equations in the supply chain Hesketh us to CE mark our knowledge and experience.
and for materials themselves. structural steelwork
A circular economy challenges to Execution Class 2. Go team GB!
traditional ideas of ownership, In addition, our design
says Arup associate Simon Anson. teams were able to offer our customers Eurocode Standards Committee for Trench Support Systems
We need legal innovation as well compliant designs. It appeared that we might have and the sensible view from BSI is that we will
as innovations in materials and wasted our time and certainly questions were being maintain membership of Cen and Cenelec and
construction, to allow the easy asked at board level. continue to contribute to the development of
movement of materials through a The decision to CE mark had been a no-brainer European and international standards.
circular economy. even though technically, temporary works In terms of temporary works however, I believe
Wherever the smart road takes products fall outside the requirements of the we can now look forward to developing our
us, shared vision and mindset are a Construction Products Regulations. existing British Standard BS 5975. In this way we
must. N Our customers must have thought it odd that a can hold on to our practical approach, based on
small steel lintel needed it whereas one of our 250t world leading technical and safety knowledge and
capacity, 45m long hydraulic props holding up the experience. Go team GB!
Thames did not. Perhaps we can have the best of both worlds
Our talented team of welders and fabricators the ability to comply with the highest technical
based in the North West had always maintained an and quality standards worldwide coupled with a
enviable reputation for manufacturing the highest reputation for safety and practicality.
quality modular shoring products. However, with As far as MGF is concerned, I do not think
exports booming it was essential that we proved that we have wasted our efforts. Our worldwide
our credentials to a worldwide market. reputation for quality can only have been
In terms of temporary works design, there is enhanced and the process has led to several
always a vigorous debate about the applicability improvements in productivity and quality.
of the more theoretical Eurocodes approach as Steve Hesketh is MGF engineering director
compared to the more practical, experience-based
permissible stress approach adopted by the UK
construction industry. However, again being able
to offer both approaches was an easy decision
given the widespread adoption of Eurocodes
within the industry.
So, what now? I am a member of the British
Smart materials: Can repond to changes
I
the active
n a research laboratory at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), futuristic
materials are taking shape. The
Self-Assembly Lab conducts
research into how we can make
materials assemble themselves, or
how we can use 4D printing to create
ingredients
pre-programmed materials that
behave in predictable ways.
For example, the lab which
employs scientists and designers
across multiple industries, like
computer science and mechanical
engineering is involved in creating
pre-programmed shoes. Material
with a specific pattern is printed
onto a stretched fabric, and released.
can Buildings soon Be made from The material then folds itself into
the shape of a shoe, with no human
intervention.
Products which assemBle themselves? The lab has also created a self-
assembling replica of the polio virus
(not to scale), which forms itself
By FIONA MCINTyRE correctly from separate parts when
its container is randomly shaken.
It is pretty mind-bending stuff. But
what are the implications for the civil
engineering sector?
At the head of the lab sits Skylar
Tibbits, its co-director and founder.
He is an architect, designer and
big thinker about how these smart
materials can change the way we live.
used where it is currently difficult swells, and wood transforms on its with the potential to self-repair,
to get machinery in to build in own anyway.
dense urban areas, for example, or By printing, or through any other
environments which are difficult for
people to reach.
industrial process like bonding or
weaving, researchers can create The ones who
It could even be used in outer
space. The idea of having separate
a material with a particular shape
which can then be transformed when
are innovating
component parts which can come
together and assemble themselves
activated by the energy.
So the material is smart; it has the
and funding research
without assistance from people or capability to have logic, and to sense are not coming from
plant is incredibly exciting. things.
Use of self assembly technology in Its basically like printing robots, infrastructure and
construction is still years away. What but no wires, no motors, no traditional
is much closer to reality, is the use of means of robotics, he says. construction
says. Instead of trying to incentivise Its not like, if we dont work on
or even be interested in innovating water pipes were totally depressed,
on new forms of infrastructure that he says.
could be more resilient and highly
adaptive, transformative, we have you can So without a drive from the
industry itself, it is likely that smart
fixed, static, outdated infrastructure
that we replace with fixed, static, new
make smart components for better buildings, self-
regulating pipes and self-assembly in
infrastructure.
Without an appetite for new ways of
components without outer space remain in the future.
Tibbets response when questioned
working, it appears that nothing will
change. Tibbits paints a grim picture
robotics, without extra on how far we are from making
4D-printed skyscrapers a reality sums
of an industry unwilling to break its cost, without extra up the issue.
habits. I dont know, he says. Were not
It seems to be that its sort of a assembly time working on it. N
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ripe for
Smart
Materials
A
nd according to
those at the heart
of graphenes
development in
the UK, it is poised
innovation
to revolutionise
almost every industry, including
construction.
Graphene was first identified
12 years ago by Andre Geim and
Konstantin Novoselov at the
University of Manchester, during
what they dubbed Friday night
experiments. Though graphene had
been theorised about since 1947, it
was not until a piece of sticky-tape
was applied to graphite and then
ripped off, leaving flakes only a few
atoms thick that the material was Graphene could revolutionise efforts to
develop stronGer construction materials
physically identified.
The part-genius, part-serendipitous
discovery is indicative of the
approach Geim applies to the
By Gianlucca dE Paoli
scientific process. Human progress
has always been driven by a sense
of adventure and unconventional
thinking, he said on receiving the
Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010.
The truly extraordinary nature of
what the two scientists discovered
is still being investigated. The
two-dimensional, atomic-scale
honeycomb lattice has a variety of
seemingly conflicting properties. It
is the thinnest material on earth, but
stronger than steel. It is ultra-light
yet immensely tough and, though
permeable to water, it acts as a
barrier to the lightest of gasses.
Such an array of different qualities
offers myriad possibilities for use
in the construction industry. At the
moment, however, it is a struggle to
find anything that uses graphene on
the market. You can currently buy a racket to reach world number one money. By 2018, Manchester will
light bulb made 10% more efficient by this year. also be home to the Graphene
a graphene coated filament, and Andy KEy STaTS Graphene as a material is still Engineering Innovation Centre
Murray used a part-graphene tennis relatively young, says National (Geic), also partly funded by the
Graphene Institute (NGI) business UK government.
61M director James Baker. Twelve The hope is that investment
cost of
There is a
years is not a lot of time in the life in the research of graphene and
of a material. If you look at other other 2D materials will allow the
setting up
huge amount the national
materials, like carbon fibre or silicon,
typically it takes 25 to 30 years before
University of Manchester to create
a knowledge-based economy in
of work being done Graphene they can be widely commercialised.
Though not yet a teenager, the
the materials birthplace. Baker
believes that the Geic and the
on how graphene can institute excitement around the material has
attracted massive investment from
NGI can help move graphene
from the research stage into
be used as a reinforcer the UK government and Europe. The commercialisation quicker than
NGI at Manchester cost 61M to set would otherwise be the case.
for concrete up and was funded by a mixture of A prime aim of the institute
government and European Union is still to fundamentally support
W
were told, abandons the current
take-make-dispose model. Materials, Those who visited the Building
aste is a major products and components would Centre during the London Design
problem for the ideally be used over and over again Festival last autumn expecting to see
construction and maintain their highest possible a cylindrical building erected outside
industry value. Disposal should be avoided or were set for a disappointment.
worldwide. In the postponed, assets shared, resource
UK, the industry use optimised. The Circular Building they found there
produces three times more waste Buildings would seem to be was a more mundane creation at first
than households and only half is obvious beneficiaries from adopting sight. Resolutely rectangular in plan,
recycled. This is unsustainable even circular economy principles its circularity lay in its embodiment of
in the medium term. Lessons should and practice. Rapid developing key principles of the circular economy.
be learned from the manufacturing technologies such as structural Its design, its procurement and its
sector because a considerable insulated panel systems and the construction differed markedly from
structural change in the entire built the traditional, yet the end result was
environment industry is urgently functional and effective.
needed. Arup associate and lead architect
So said Arup chairman Gregory
Hodkinson, addressing a conference a considerable Simon Anson says design began with
a 3D building information modelling
on the Circular Economy held at
Londons Building Centre on 21 structural (BIM) model and the suppliers were
involved from Day 1.
September. More than 200 delegates
heard presentations from the likes
change in the entire A shared vision was the secret. But
we did find there were more suppliers
of Hodkinson, and Bam Construct
UK sustainability director Nitesh
built environment already engaged in the circular
economy than we had first thought.
Magdani on how construction can industry is urgently Virtually all the components
adopt the basic principles of the were either recycled/recyclable,
circular economy and move away needed
38 new civil engineer | J a n u a r y 20 1 7
Lease
materials and
products wherever
possible, rather than
purchasing. Maximise
off site manufacture.
avoid wet trades.
Select materials that
can be re-used
This is about
more than N O O R D I N A R y D E M O U N TA B L E
minimising waste
and maximising Build time can be as little as
recycling. We need
to develop a business
five weeks, so this can be done in the
case for circular school holidays
building as well.
Located on Swansea universitys Bay campus,
the full size active classroom which opened last
October was originally planned to demonstrate a
with the supply chain. range of new low carbon building technologies.
The key technologies may be
mature, and any developments These had been developed by the universitys
that promise dramatic reductions Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for
in resource depletion and disposal Innovative Functional Industrial Coatings
to landfill are to be welcomed. But (Specific), as part of its long-term buildings
there were other, more pragmatic as power stations project. The new buildings
considerations raised at the main function was to trial this concept on a full
conference. scale building and collect priceless data on the
This is about more than technologies performance in service.
minimising waste and maximising But we only have planning permission for five Swansea universitys active classroom
recycling, Hodkinson warned. We years, after which the building has to disappear
need to develop a business case for to make room for other developments, explains since Tata is one of Swansea Universitys strategic
circular building as well. Specific project architect Jo Morgan. partners in Specific, along with industrial chemicals
But Bam Construct UKs Magdani So we had to design it for deconstruction. In giant BASF and glass producer NSG Pilkington.
raised the question of how clients the process it also became an example of circular From a distance the only difference between
would react to proposals to re- construction. individual elevations is colour.
use second-hand materials and Deconstructability starts with the foundations. Much closer viewing is needed to spot the
components in their new build Steel screwpiles 2.5m long were chosen, not just microperforations in the cladding to the southern
projects. for their minimally disruptive installation but also elevation, nor is the 100mm plenum behind the
How would the residual value their ease of ultimate removal. In five years time, cladding obvious.
of such materials be calculated? all being well, the used screwpiles will be back in Together these form a transpired solar collector.
he asked. Would clients demand the supply chain and ready for use on subsequent Some 95% of the solar energy falling on the
warranties? projects. cladding is absorbed: the air behind the cladding is
A circular economy challenges Sitting on the piles is a grid of eminently heated, rises, and is drawn off into the buildings
traditional ideas of ownership, recyclable 254mm deep steel universal beams. heating system via small fans. Cool air flows in
added Arup associate Simon Anson. Above this level the new technology takes centre through the hot microperforations to replace it,
We need legal innovation as well stage. and is heated in its turn.
as innovations in materials and Floor, walls and roof are constructed of Electricity is generated by an even newer
construction, to allow the easy innovative interlocking AcerMetric steel framed technology. Thin film solar cells are bonded onto
movement of materials through a structural panels. Faced in fire resistant magnesium steel roof panels to create a Building Integrated
circular economy. oxide (MgO) boards, insulated with expanded Photovoltaic (BIPV) roof.
Despite these caveats, the reaction polystyrene (EPS), the panels were manufactured Electricity from the 17kWp BIPV array is stored
of delegates was almost universally offsite and erected in just two weeks by a small in two massive saltwater batteries combined
positive. One factor that all agreed team from Matrix Structures. storage capacity is enough to power the classroom
on was that for circular construction Apart from speed of erection, advantages for at least two days.
to become an everyday option, the claimed for the AcerMetric panels and its patented She adds: Because this building is so easy
entire supply chain had to work 3D interlocking elements include low noise to deconstruct and then rebuild elsewhere, this
together. And no one disagreed installation using only hand tools, and ease of circular construction approach is ideal for schools.
with one central message circular deconstruction. Build time can be as little as five weeks, so this can
construction requires a changed mind Rainscreen cladding comes from Tata Steels long be done in the holidays. Its a real alternative to
set for all parties, and all parties must established range of coated steel hardly surprising conventional temporary classrooms.
share the vision. N
INGENUITY AND
CREATIVITY
(POWERING
FEATS OF
ENGINEERING)
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3D printing has
the potential to
aid interplanetary
colonisation
out of W
Smart
Materials
hether it is
developing
this world
technology for 3D
printing houses
on earth, or
sintering landing
pads on Mars, an optimistic Behrokh
Khoshnevis has only the good of
humanity in mind.
It was 22 years ago that
Khoshnevis idea for large scale 3D
printing emerged.
Typically sub-millimetre layers
were used [in 3D printing], to
and take buildings to other Planets thickness low. I knew the only way to
speed up this process was to increase
layer thickness, says Khoshnevis,
By RoBeRt Henson who, among other academic duties
holds the post of professor of civil
and environmental engineering at the
Khoshnevis says an entire 250m2 changes in the economy to provide close to my heart because I really
developing house shell has been done within think the future of humanity is in
24 hours. space. This planet is too small and
3D printing And in terms of strength or
maintenance, Khoshnevis says the
I knew the vulnerable, and humanity deserves
more than just one planet. A galactic
difference is negligible.
The main strength in a building
only way to civilisation and finally a universal
civilisation I think thats what
comes from the joints and the speed up this process humanity should have in mind.
engineering design -- the process has Compared to generations before
a smaller impact. was to increase layer us weve made amazing strides,
Three-dimensional printing occurs huge progress, but this is just the
in one of two ways: via extrusion or thickness beginning. N