CIVS & MCE Host Distinguished Speaker Seminar – Sumedh Sharma
CIVS had the pleasure of co-sponsoring a Distinguished Speaker Seminar with the PNW MCE department on October 17. Sumedh Sharma, Ph.D. PNW Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, presented “Printing the Future: Structural Design and Visualization in Additive Construction” to CIVS and PNW students, staff, and faculty. His talk was very well received and provided an overview of additive construction, recent advancements in structural design methodologies, and how innovative visualization techniques could accelerate the adoption of this revolutionary technology.
The emergence of 3D extrusion-based concrete printing—a form of additive construction—represents a paradigm shift in both the construction industry and structural engineering practice. It holds tremendous potential to address pressing challenges such as the shortage of affordable housing and skilled construction labor. However, compared to conventional construction methods, design and analysis approaches for 3D-printed concrete (3DPC) structures remain underdeveloped. Consequently, 3DPC elements are often treated as non-load-bearing components. To bridge this gap, recent research has developed holistic design methodologies specifically tailored to 3DPC buildings under various configurations and loading conditions. Large-scale testing of 3DPC shear walls—the primary lateral load-resisting elements against wind and earthquakes—has demonstrated performance comparable or superior to that of conventionally constructed systems. Furthermore, significant progress has been made in developing sustainable and environmentally friendly materials suitable for additive construction.
Despite these advances, both the general public and the conventional construction workforce remain largely unfamiliar with the potential of construction-scale 3D printing. Innovative visualization technologies can play a transformative role in this regard—by facilitating workforce training, optimizing robotic printer placement and print path planning, enabling real-time construction monitoring, and empowering homeowners to explore architectural designs within structural constraints. Integrating such visualization tools with structural design workflows can help bridge the gap between research and real-world implementation, bringing additive construction closer to widespread acceptance and practical application.
About Sumedh Sharma, Ph.D.
Sumedh Sharma is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Purdue University Northwest. His research focuses on construction 3D printing, structural behavior under extreme loading, and innovative retrofit solutions. Prior to joining PNW, Sharma completed his postdoctoral research at Texas A&M University, focusing on additive construction, particularly the development of structural design methodologies for 3D printed concrete and hempcrete structures. He played a key role in establishing the additive construction laboratory at Texas A&M that houses an industrial-scale robotic printer.
Sharma earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama in 2022, where he researched seismic retrofit techniques for non-ductile reinforced concrete shear walls and seismic-resistant design of precast rocking shear walls. His research aims to promote sustainable, affordable construction through additive techniques and enhance the resiliency of built environments with innovative retrofit and design concepts. Dr. Sharma is actively involved in ACI Committee 564 on 3D printing with cementitious materials and serves as a reviewer for leading structural engineering journals.