Papers
Robotic Fabrication Process Of Glued Laminated Bamboo For Material Efficient Construction
Chung-Chieh Cheng Feng Chia University
Yu-Ting Sheng Feng Chia University
Shih-Yuan Wang National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
In recent years, many studies have established theory-based models and experiments to explore the mechanical properties of glued laminate bamboo (GLB). However, most current GLB is applied to furniture and rarely used in architecture. This can be attributed to the difficulty in processing the raw materials of existing GLB (i.e. drying raw bamboo, cutting, scraping the bamboo green and making square strips). Additionally, its manufacturing process is quite complicated, making it difficult to produce large components. Therefore, this research proposes using the existing easy-to-obtain industrial product bamboo veneer as the experimental material. The primary process includes cutting the bamboo veneer into small units, using the finite element method (FEM) to analyse its structure and superimposing the units into a large construction. This approach integrates a six-axis industrial robot arm into the production process, forming a novel digital manufacturing process for GLB. As a natural fibre, bamboo has good elastic properties and load strength. Therefore, this study will focus on whether the elastic properties of the force direction, the load and the fibre direction are related to the arrangement of bamboo in different fibre directions. Using the numerical analysis of the FEM, the force flow lines are generated from the model of the customised force condition. Next, the bamboo veneer is cut into small pieces that are 4 cm * 20 cm. By setting the force conditions, the arrangement principle of the fibre direction and the force flow line are established in a discrete structure, and the robot arm is controlled to accurately distribute them. At the same time, the automatic adhesive spray system is used to quickly glue the bamboo pieces during the reaction time of the glue to form a customised bamboo laminated board. To compress the heterogeneous thickness of the irregular shape, this paper utilises vacuum lamination technology to establish a set of procedures. The overall 1.2m * 1.2m GLB board is produced by digital manufacturing to achieve rapid customisation and the maximum structural benefit. The structure’s performance is verified with suspended homogeneous weights, and the deformation is measured to understand the similarities and differences between the FEM calculation simulation and the experimental results. Different from the performance of bamboo materials in the past, the GLB used in this study made it possible to verify that the mechanical properties of the GLB can be controlled by the arrangement of the fibre direction, thereby presenting the possibility of creating board structures with special stress requirements. This research utilises the rapid customised manufacturing process of robotic GLB production. A robotic arm is also used to arrange the bamboo pieces, assisted by an automated adhesive spray system and a vacuum lamination system to form a novel GLB forming mode. A visualisation system for verifying the material data is also proposed. The contributions of this research are as follows: 1) it verifies that, with assisted digital tools, such as robotic arms and vacuum lamination, it is possible to develop a customised discrete structural bamboo laminated board to meet various structural requirements; 2) it establishes a numerical visualisation verification system to discuss the difference between expected results and finished products while also clarifying the influence of essential parameters, which can be used as a reference for future research; and 3) it inspires new possibilities for the manufacture of laminated bamboo, which provide more opportunities for GLB to enter the field of architecture.
Keywords: ‘Digital Fabrication’ ‘Robotic Assembly’ ‘Glued Laminate Bamboo’ ‘Sdg11-Sustainable Cities And Communities’ ‘Sdg12-Responsible Consumption And Production’ ‘Sdg15: Life On Land’