Additive Manufacturing and Its Application in Civil Engineering, Industrial Automation and Sustainability

Additive manufacturing, involving the design of 3D model and layer-by-layer fabrication, is considered a revolutionary technology with extensive application from titanium aircraft to artificial organs. In the construction industry, the benefits of using additive manufacturing have been recognized by academics and practitioners as it allows the construction products to have more complex shapes with optimized structural properties, thus facilitating the manufacturing of products with the requirement of specific design and customizationCustomization. However, the application of additive manufacturing in civil engineering is still limited, constrained by the immaturities of materials and machinery. Therefore, this chapter aims to investigate the key technologies and applications of construction additive manufacturing with both theoreticalTheoretical mechanisms and industrial cases. Five types of additive manufacturing were introduced and discussed for their uses in the construction industry together with the applied materials and machinery. Three cases of technological application of construction additive manufacturing were provided with the comparison of project backgrounds and characteristics. By reading this chapter, people will have a straightforward understanding of the technical principle and practical application of construction additive manufacturing through vivid graphical illustrations and complementary case information.