Physical Modeling of Reinforced Concrete Structures with 3D-Printed Steel Cages at Centrifuge Scale
Physical Modeling of Reinforced Concrete Structures with 3D-Printed Steel Cages at Centrifuge Scale
Small-scale physical modeling of reinforced concrete (RC) structures offers a promising alternative to full-scale experimental testing for applications such as centrifuge modeling and the validation of numerical modeling assumptions. However, the credibility of such approaches depends on their ability to reproduce key aspects of prototype structural behavior. This paper presents a unified synthesis of two experimental campaigns on 1:30-scale RC beamcolumn joints and columns incorporating additively manufactured reinforcement cages and gypsum-based microconcrete. The small-scale test results are systematically compared with databases of full-scale quasi-static cyclic tests that exhibited comparable flexural failure modes. The comparison focuses on global response measures relevant to physical modeling, including normalized strength, stiffness, and ductility. The results show that the small-scale additively manufactured models follow the same response trends observed in full-scale tests for both joints and columns, despite unavoidable scale effects. These findings support the use of additively manufactured small-scale RC models as reliable tools for physical modeling applications and for providing experimental support to component- and system-level numerical model validation.
Medhat Elmorsy; Christian Leinenbach; F. Michalis Vassiliou
11th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ICPMG2026)
Special Session 1: Physical modelling – from Practice/Industry to Academia
https://doi.org/10.53243/ICPMG2026-435