Investigation of the Interlayer Strength of 3D Printed Concrete Shear Walls

3D printing of concrete (3DPC) is a promising technique for the automated fabrication of architectural and building components. In this paper, the attention is focused on the extrusion process and it is of paramount importance to investigate the properties of the hardened extruded concrete since they influence the structural behaviour of the 3DPC elements. A testing campaign was conducted at the University of Brescia to investigate the shear strength of extruded concrete and the cohesion between the layers. The shear strength between layers resulted greater than 6 MPa, and it increases with the intensity of the vertical load applied on a wall.