GENERAL NEWS ‘ World ’ s first ’ 3D-printed steel footbridge unveiled in Amsterdam
‘ The world ’ s first ’ 3D-printed steel structure , a ‘ living laboratory ’ bridge co-developed by Imperial College London , has been unveiled by Queen Máxima in Amsterdam , The Netherlands . The bridge was installed over the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal in Amsterdam ’ s Red Light District .
The bridge , which is over four years in the making and was built by Dutch company MX3D ( and designed by Joris Laarman Lab ), will be a ‘ living laboratory ’ in Amsterdam ’ s city centre . It was unveiled in July 2021 by Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands .
“ A 3D-printed metal structure large and strong enough to handle pedestrian traffic has never been constructed before ,” said Professor Leroy Gardner , Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , Imperial College London .
Using its vast network of installed sensors , Imperial College London researchers will measure , monitor and analyse the performance of the novel 12-metre-long structure as it handles pedestrian traffic . The data collected will enable researchers and engineers to measure the bridge ’ s ‘ health ’ in real-time , monitor how it changes over its lifespan and understand how the public interacts with 3D-printed infrastructure .
The data from the sensors will be put into a ‘ digital twin ’ of the bridge – a computerised version which will imitate the physical bridge with growing accuracy in real-time as sensor data comes in . The performance and behaviour of the physical bridge will be tested against the twin , which will help answer questions about the long-term behaviour of 3D-printed steel , as well as its use in real world settings and in future novel construction projects .
To get from the conceptual stage to the installed footbridge , the Steel Structures Research Group at Imperial conducted the underpinning research and validation ,
The 3D-printed footbridge in Amsterdam was unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Máxima of The Netherlands . ( image credit : Adriaan de Groot ). including testing destructive forces on printed elements , advanced digital twin computer simulations , non-destructive real world testing on the footbridge and the development of an advanced sensor network to monitor the bridge ’ s behaviour over its life .
Imperial co-contributor , Dr Craig Buchanan , of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial , said : “ We look forward to continuing this work as the project transitions from underpinning research to investigating the long-term behaviour of metal printed structures . Research into this new technology for the construction industry has huge potential for the future , in terms of aesthetics and highly optimised and efficient design , with reduced material usage . It has been fascinating and we are delighted that the structure is now ready to be used .” In the absence of structural design provisions for 3D-printed steel , physical testing and computer simulation is important for ensuring the safety of new 3D-printed structures . Imperial ’ s Steel Structures Research Group therefore undertook an ambitious research programme using smallscale destructive material and cross-section testing , computer modelling and large-scale non-destructive real-world testing on the footbridge .
Professor Gardner commented : “ 3Dprinting presents tremendous opportunities to the construction industry , enabling far greater freedom in terms of material properties and shapes . This freedom also brings a range of challenges and will require structural engineers to think in new ways .”
The Imperial researchers are part of a wider team of structural engineers , mathematicians , computer scientists and statisticians working on The Alan Turing Institute-Lloyd ’ s Register Foundation programme in data-centric engineering . The programme is led by Professor Mark Girolami at The Alan Turing Institute . n
Sheet metal fabrication market
According to a new research report from Industry Research Biz , the global sheet metal fabrication services market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of over 3 % during the forecast period 2021-2023 .
“ In 2018 , the automotive industry segment had a significant market share . However , the industrial machinery segment is expected to be the largest end-user to the market in 2023 . Factors such as rising demand for products from the oil and gas , construction , mining and chemical and petrochemical industries will play a significant role in the industrial machinery segment to maintain its market position ,” said the analyst .
“ Our market report also looks at factors such as increasing demand for fabricated metal parts in major end-user industries , increasing adoption of automation to leverage profitability and the shift to contract manufacturing . However , the lack of a skilled workforce , increasing price competition due to volatile input costs and increasing consolidation activities in the market may hamper the growth of the sheet metal fabrication services industry over the forecast period ,” it added .
The report also highlights trends such as the increasing adoption of cobots in the metal fabrication process , the advent of additive manufacturing and increasing demand for fabricated metal parts from major end-user industries .
“ With the current focus on lean manufacturing and increasing operational efficiency , including cost-cutting , sheet metal forming processes will be a valuable service for OEMs . Since automotive and aerospace and defence industries are the major endusers in the global sheet metal fabrication services market , increasing investments in these industries will drive the market ,” added the analyst .
The report also covers
the impact of COVID-19 on the market size , including consumer behaviour , recovery and forecast analysis . n
REPORT
8 | sheetmetalplus . com | ISMR October 2021