Workshop 07: Tensile Clay: 3D Printing of Fiber-Reinforced Domes/Vaults
Workshop provider:
Deena EL-Mahdy, The British University in Egypt, Egypt, deena.elmahdy@bue.edu.eg
Julian Jauk, Graz University of Technology, Austria, julian.jauk@tugraz.at
Registration under:
Please register under the following link: registration link
Description:
Clay 3D printing presents a sustainable frontier for low-carbon architectural structures. However, unreinforced clay relies purely on compression, severely limiting geometric boundaries, spanning capabilities, and seismic resilience in vaulted structures. This intensive 2-day workshop explores integrating continuous tensile fibers directly into the clay extrusion process. Focusing on domes and vaults, participants will design, simulate, and 3D print structural modules to evaluate how strategically embedded tension lines can expand the geometric thresholds of raw clay. This would overcome the design limitation of the vaults’ spans, showcasing extended overhangs, dramatic cantilevers, and thin-shell spans made possible exclusively by fiber integration. This workshop aligns with eCAADe’s focus on informed fabrication and material-driven design by integrating computational workflows, material behavior, and robotic fabrication into a single process. It investigates how tensile reinforcement can extend the structural and geometric capabilities of 3D printed clay construction, enabling participants to directly translate performance-informed design decisions into physical fabrication outcomes.
Detailed schedule
Day 1:
Session 1: Theoretical Foundations and Material Preparation (09:30 – 10:30)
- The structure of Clay Vaults: Understanding why traditional unreinforced masonry arches fail due to the “thrust line” escaping the geometry. Study the structural mechanics of domes/vaults, and historical vs. digital fiber reinforcement. Material preparation demonstration.
- Technical parameters of clay printing: differences between planar and non-planar slicing and their printing limitations.
- The Role of Fiber: Analyzing how tensile fibers shift the structural logic of clay from pure compression to hybrid tension-compression, preventing catastrophic structural failure.
- Material Mix Design: Live mixing session showing how to integrate natural fibers (jute, hemp) without clogging the mechanical extruder nozzle. Test the fiber cutting and Short fibers.
Session 2: Computational Design & Toolpath Generation (10:30 – 13:30)
- Structural Slicing: Introducing Termite plugin for slicing process to optimize structural strength and Karamba3D for detecting the structure tension zones, which will help defining the location of the fibers.
- Fiber Mapping: Utilizing Grasshopper template files to identify structural vectors where bending stresses occur, intentionally routing denser toolpaths (and fiber inputs) through those fragile coordinates.
- Demo on clay printing
Day 2:
Session 3: Digital Fabrication (9:30 – 12:30)
- Prototyping: Participants turn their digital design into machine code.
- Variables in Play: The session highlights real-time physical calibration—balancing speed against extruder pressure to ensure the fiber smoothly encapsulates within the clay ribbon without snagging.
- Pushing the specific fabrication limitations of these methods in terms of maximum bridging capabilities and minimum printing path radii of fibre-reinforced clay.
- Pumping clay, calibrating the 3D printer, and printing the participants-designed vault/dome prototypes. Group-led execution.
Session 4: Structural Review & Testing (13:30 – 16:30)
- Assessing tolerances: Measuring the structural deformation or slump of the wet clay prototypes right after printing.
- Critique: Discussing how the tensile fibers allowed for thinner wall geometries or steeper, more aggressive cantilever angles in the domes than raw clay could ever support on its own.
- Gaining insight into shrinkage behavior by 3D scanning the fresh prints and the dried prints at the end of the conference. (Optional)
Prerequisites
- We will bring a custom 3D printer based on the WASP 40100 Clay, a WASP Continuous Feeding System, a custom extruder for continuous fibre reinforcement, printing beds, nozzles, and base clay material supplied by Graz University of Technology.
- Participants should bring their own laptops with the following software pre-installed and ready-to-go before the workshop: Rhinoceros 7 or 8, Grasshopper, and the plugins: Karamba3D, Kangaroo2, and Termite.
Workshop type:
2 day workshop on site
Number of participants
10–15 participants and 2–3 tutors
Learning outcomes
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
- Understand Toolpath Mechanics: Generate continuous toolpaths customized for non-planar, un-supported clay geometries (domes/vaults).
- Master Material Rheology: Formulate clay-fiber composites, extrusion pressure, and drying shrinkage.
- Analyze Tensile Reinforcement: Identify critical structural zones in vaults where fibers actively mitigate bending and tensile stresses.
- Execute 3D printing Fabrication: Safely operate a 3-axis delta printer equipped with a liquid clay paste extruder and a custom filament reinforcement guiding nozzle.
- Documentation datasets including 3D scans (optional) and fabrication parameters
