Digital design, 3D printing and prefabricated modular assembly of large-scale concrete structures

This study validates a closed-loop digital–physical workflow for large-scale 3D-printed concrete (3DPC) structure through the full-scale realisation of a 9-metre-high shell building in the Gobi Desert. The workflow integrates: (1) buildability-constrained, multi-objective form-finding, in which fresh-state stability limits are enforced during geometry generation; (2) reinforcement- and joint-integrated modular assembly, where segmentation is guided by fabrication and logistical constraints while maintaining reinforcement continuity across modules; and (3) full-scale field validation of end-to-end feasibility from design to fabrication and assembly. Finite element analyses evaluated under extreme environmental loads reveal distinct global and local structural responses. Global stability is effectively maintained by the overall geometry of the shell, which limits non-thermal displacements to 0.25 mm. Conversely, local safety is governed by interface stress concentrations, where peak tensile stresses are safely capped at 0.84 MPa. The full-scale implementation reduced labour intensity by 46% and 37%, and overall costs by 15.6% and 14.4%, compared with cast-in-place and precast methods, respectively.