A 3-D printed waffle slab assembly and method thereof

Technology: 3D printed waffle slab assembly;

Industry & Application: Infrastructure, Civil, Construction buildings;

Market: The global waffle market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.3% during 2024-2032.

Conventional 3D printing elements are having challenges like costlier process, installation difficulties, unable to use for bigger structure printing such as roof slabs.
Moreover, the construction of waffles slabs requires using a formwork, which has multiples components like waffle pods, horizontal supports, vertical supports, moulds, steel bars, etc. The usage of the formwork results in extra expenditure of time, money & resources, which makes the process very difficult, slow & inconvenient.
Hence, there is a need to address the issues.

Present invention describes a 3D-printed waffle slab assembly and construction method. (Refer Figures 1 & 2)
The assembly is made up of 3D-printed components such as waffle bases, waffle cups, and shear locks.
The waffle base has a first plate, outer and inner vertical projections.
The waffle cup has a second plate and vertical walls, wherein said waffle cup is placed in an inverted position over the waffle base.
The shear lock is inserted into the cavities of the formed waffle slab to connect the top and bottom flanges of the slab and transmit shear stresses.
Further, claimed invention describes a method for constructing a 3D-printed waffle slab assembly, wherein method involves 3D-printing, the required number of waffle slabs, waffle cups, & shear locks.
The waffle bases are laid side-by-side on a flat surface, & a fixing material such as grout is poured into the cavities.
Thereby, the waffle cups are placed in an inverted position over the grout-layered waffle bases to form the waffle slab assembly.
Reinforcement bars are placed in the gaps between the waffle cups, & the fixing material such as grout is poured to fill all the cavities of the waffle slab assembly up to half the depth.
The 3D-printed shear locks are then inserted, & distributer bars are placed on top, finally a fixing material is poured into the space above the flat surface of waffle cup.

Technical Perspective:

Claimed constructional method, for waffle slab assembly using 3D-printing, does not require formwork.
Facilitates an efficient load carrying structural slab.
The construction method uses 3D-printing to facilitate the construction of a large span waffle slab assembly.
Provides effectively & accurately 3D-printing small pieces & assembling for efficient load transmission in the waffle slab assembly.
The formed waffle slab assembly can be lifted and placed at required positions for building construction. (Refer Fig. 2 & 3)
Claimed invention provides a method for constructing the shear lock, wherein said shear lock is to resist shear forces within sections of the waffle slab assembly.

Industrial Perspective:

The claimed waffle slab assembly allows for an efficient and faster construction buildings.
The constructional method comprises constructing a waffle slab using 3D printed components, which can be built in cost-effective manner & thereafter transported to building construction sites.
Advantageously, in 3D-printing the components of the waffle slab assembly allows to efficiently optimize shapes of waffle slab.
Allows to design waffle slab components with more flexibility, of any size and in any geometric shape.

Prof. Benny Raphael

Department of Civil Engineering

TRL-4

Proof of Concept ready, tested in lab.

Technology Transfer