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US military engineers are preparing to erect temporary barracks using construction 3D printers and using local building materials, according to the Pentagon.
A three-year program called ACES, which stands for Automatic Erection of Expeditionary Structures, should simplify logistics. Combat units, which often change their place of deployment, will no longer have to huddle in tents or transport panel houses from place to place. A fairly compact field laboratory equipped with a construction 3D printer for printing with cement mixtures from locally available materials will be enough.
“ACES makes it possible to print customized structures as needed right on the front line using local materials. Army units will be able to print buildings and other required infrastructure, such as safety barriers, fences or drains, right on site, ”explains project manager Michael Keyes.
One of the first examples was a 3D printed barrack labeled "B-Hut". The residential block is approximately fifty square meters manufactured by the Research and Development Construction Laboratory (CERL), part of the Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. NASA also participates in the work: specialists from the space agent help CERL create an efficient and unpretentious construction 3D printer of a new, third generation. According to the developers, the productivity of construction crews using the new technology instead of the traditional assembly of barracks from wooden panels is increased by about 62 percent, not to mention a significant reduction in the volume of transported building materials.
“The ACES team has designed, built and tested concrete 3D printing technology that could revolutionize. Unlike other projects, this 3D printer is capable of applying aggregate concrete up to ten millimeters in size. In addition, the project focuses on concrete reinforcement methods both horizontally and vertically, ”Kees says.
3D-printed army buildings can find use not only during armed conflicts, as engineering troops are often called upon to help in the aftermath of floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters, and mobile additive construction laboratories can be useful in the construction of temporary housing for civilians.
