Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

3D concrete printing offers high geometric freedom, allowing the creation of structures with curved shapes, as well as the creation of topologically optimized thin-walled struc- tures. However, the use of conventional steel rebars, which are not flexible and require a relatively thick concrete cover, makes it nearly impossible to utilize these advantages of the new technology. Additionally, the rigidity of steel rods significantly complicates the process of their automated integration. For these reasons, fiber reinforcement, which is devoid of these disadvantages, is a more suitable alternative. Furthermore, non-metallic fibers are resistant to corrosion, and in the case of continuous fibers, a specially developed mineral impregnation allows them to remain flexible for several hours, making it much easier to automate the reinforcement integration during 3D concrete printing. This publication presents various approaches to the integration of short and сontinuous fibers as developed at TU Dresden and discusses the suitable applications for these types of reinforcement.