DEM modeling of advanced manufacturing technologies: from SLS to 3D concrete printing

This paper addresses the computational modeling of selective laser sintering (SLS) and 3D concrete printing (3DCP) processes in advanced manufacturing. We focus on the phenomena experienced by their feedstock materials at the level of their mesoscale (the sintering powder grain and concrete aggregate scales) during the manufacturing process. Our approach is based on the discrete element method (DEM) for representing the material’s mechanical behavior. In SLS, the DEM is then combined with a lumped heat transfer model for describing the powder particles’ thermal states when scanned by the laser beam. In 3DCP, in turn, the DEM is combined with the so-called discrete fresh concrete (DFC) model for representing the fresh concrete paste rheology. We then present a simple numerical solution scheme followed by numerical simulations on two model-problems, with which we illustrate the applicability of such modeling approach.