Manu Santhanam
IIT Madras, India
Title:
Rational method of materials selection to improve sustainability of 3D concrete printing
Abstract:
3D concrete printing is carbon intensive because of the use of high cementitious contents and specially selected and graded aggregate. While there have been numerous attempts to reduce the carbon footprint through the use of supplementary cementitious materials, their effective utilization has been hampered because of lack of systematic approaches for designing the material for its unique rheological characteristics. Further, there is a lack of clarity on LCA of the full process of 3D printing, going beyond just the material-related parameters. This study provides some insights into how the use of a suite of tests on fresh and hardened properties at early age of 3D printed concrete mixtures led to the definition of key rheological properties of the material to enable printing. This approach was applied to mixtures with different binder systems successfully, and also enabled the use of recycled concrete waste (as aggregate and extender) without much trials. Finally, the study addresses the critical issue of LCA for 3D concrete printing, with the case studies of the construction of a simple ground storey post office structure and a bespoke G+1 guest house building within the campus of IIT Madras.
Bio:
Manu Santhanam, a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, is Surendra and Dorothie Shah Chair Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, and currently, the Dean of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (IC&SR) at IIT Madras.
He obtained his B Tech degree in Civil Engineering from IIT Madras in 1994, followed by MS from Purdue University in 1996. After more than 2 years with Sika Corporation as a R&D Chemist, he went back to Purdue University for his PhD, which was completed in 2001, on the topic of sulphate attack of concrete. He joined IIT Madras soon after the completion of his PhD.
Prof. Manu Santhanam specializes in research on cementitious materials from an interdisciplinary approach, wherein sophisticated analytical techniques from chemistry and materials science are used to explore the link between microstructure and performance of cement based materials. The primary focus of Prof. Santhanam’s research has been the performance of concrete prepared with supplementary cementing materials. Prof. Santhanam currently leads the research on 3D printing of concrete at IIT Madras.
Prof. Santhanam has successfully guided 20 PhD and 9 MS (by research) students, and published more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is on the Editorial Board of Cement and Concrete Composites, ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, and Indian Concrete Journal. Externally funded projects to the tune of Rs 40 crores (USD 5 Million) have been carried out with Prof. Santhanam as the Principal Investigator for several agencies and industries.
Prof. Santhanam has been an active participant in the activities of the Indian Concrete Institute, fib and RILEM. He is currently also a Fellow of RILEM.