Shaking 3D homes experiment a ‘world first’

Scientists using a shaking table to test the safety of 3D-printed homes in earthquakes have called it a “world first experiment”. University of Bristol professors have built a specialist simulator which shakes 3D structures to see if they can withstand different levels of seismic activity. It is hoped their results will be used to make housing in natural disaster zones safer and affordable for everyone.

Anastasios Sextos, professor of earthquake engineering, said: “Testing a real-scale structure is a dramatic leap forward to see if it can be used in earthquake prone countries.”

The work is being carried out at the university’s Soil Foundation Structure Interaction Laboratory (SoFSI), with an aim to “provide a means to reduce the cost of safety worldwide”. Homes are buildings constructed using 3D printing technology, where a robotic arm attached to a crane builds the walls layer-by-layer from a digital blueprint.

“It is deemed to be a very sustainable technology because there is less wasted material and also it is deemed to be flexible and fast,” said Raffaele De Risi, associate professor of civil engineering.

“Being fast it is also affordable.”

The table, which is believed to be largest of its kind in the UK, can mimic any earthquake by shaking structures horizontally and applying a range of ground motions.