TY - JOUR

T1 - Design optimisation for hybrid metal additive manufacturing for sustainable construction

AU - Baqershahi, Mohammad Hassan

AU - Ayas, Can

AU - Ghafoori, Elyas

N1 - Funding information: We gratefully thank Prof. van Keulen (Delft University of Technology) for providing invaluable guidance and insights that were critical in shaping this work.

PY - 2024/2/15

Y1 - 2024/2/15

N2 - Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) enables the manufacturing of efficient and lightweight structural elements in which material can be utilised wherever needed in an optimised shape, in contrast to standard prismatic profiles used in construction. However, the specific energy consumption (SEC) of WAAM is higher than that of conventional manufacturing (CM) techniques (i.e., hot-rolling) for standard profiles. Therefore, it is an open question whether the material savings through computational design realised via WAAM is environmentally beneficial or not. This systematic study aims to provide a better understanding of the environmental impact of hybrid manufacturing, which is defined as the combination of WAAM and CM rather than using any of them alone. Topology optimisation (TO) is used to design a series of beams with an identical performance (i.e., stiffness) but with a reduced material consumption depending on the hybrid ratio. The environmental impact of the designs has been used to determine when and how hybridisation can become advantageous. The results show that although the optimal proportions of WAAM and CM are dependent on their relative SEC, the hybrid solutions have always been environmentally superior compared to that of WAAM or CM alone for the realistic SEC values, exhibiting up to a 60% reduction in environmental impact compared to that of CM.

AB - Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) enables the manufacturing of efficient and lightweight structural elements in which material can be utilised wherever needed in an optimised shape, in contrast to standard prismatic profiles used in construction. However, the specific energy consumption (SEC) of WAAM is higher than that of conventional manufacturing (CM) techniques (i.e., hot-rolling) for standard profiles. Therefore, it is an open question whether the material savings through computational design realised via WAAM is environmentally beneficial or not. This systematic study aims to provide a better understanding of the environmental impact of hybrid manufacturing, which is defined as the combination of WAAM and CM rather than using any of them alone. Topology optimisation (TO) is used to design a series of beams with an identical performance (i.e., stiffness) but with a reduced material consumption depending on the hybrid ratio. The environmental impact of the designs has been used to determine when and how hybridisation can become advantageous. The results show that although the optimal proportions of WAAM and CM are dependent on their relative SEC, the hybrid solutions have always been environmentally superior compared to that of WAAM or CM alone for the realistic SEC values, exhibiting up to a 60% reduction in environmental impact compared to that of CM.

KW - Design for sustainability

KW - Environmental assessment

KW - Hybrid manufacturing

KW - Metal additive manufacturing

KW - Topology optimisation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180771800&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.117355

DO - 10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.117355

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85180771800

VL - 301

JO - Engineering structures

JF - Engineering structures

SN - 0141-0296

M1 - 117355

ER -