Comparative economic, environmental and productivity assessment of a concrete bathroom unit fabricated through 3D printing and a precast approach

摘要

The purpose of this study is to perform a comparative study of economic cost, environmental impacts, and productivity associated with manufacturing a prefabricated bathroom unit (PBU, L: 1620 mm; W: 1500 mm; H: 2800 mm) via extrusion-based 3D concrete printing (3DCP) and a precast approach, respectively. The scope of this study includes material consumption, electricity expenditure, labor cost/ productivity, and installation cycle. The results reveal that a PBU fabricated by 3DCP achieves a reduction of 25.4% in overall cost, 85.9% in CO2 emission, and 87.1% in energy consumption compared to the precast one. 3DCP also realizes a PBU with reduced self-weight (i.e., 26.2% lighter) and higher productivity (i.e., 48.1% improved) compared to the precast one. The above enhancements were found to be ascribed to the formwork-free fabrication in 3DCP. Finally, sensitivity analysis reveals the significance of formwork reusage to the outcomes and demonstrates the potentials of 3DCP for small batches or customized manufacturing of PBUs. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.