NSF Convergence Accelerator Track I: OpenMatFlo: A Platform for Designing, Producing, and Supplying Greener Inks for Additive Construction under Uncertainties

这一融合加速器项目旨在解决建筑业的二氧化碳(CO2)排放问题，混凝土行业是全球二氧化碳排放的主要来源。新兴的添加建筑或三维建筑打印(3DCP)技术可能会加剧这种情况。由于与传统混凝土相比，3DCP中使用的混凝土(油墨)含有更多的粘结剂(主要是波特兰水泥)，因此越来越多地采用3DCP现在加快了建筑部门对水泥的消耗。需要加快3DCP油墨的创新，以改变这种情况-需要更快地设计、生产更环保的油墨，并更快地供应市场。碳的体现和其他方面，包括能源消耗、供应链效率、更广泛的经济和环境影响，在大多数通用混凝土的生命周期设计中很少被整体考虑，更不用说3DCP混凝土了。与这些方面相关的不确定性使其更具挑战性。在材料科学、打印机制造、混凝土生产、供应网络、政府立法和政策以及3DCP最终用户之间存在着巨大的差距。因此，这个融合加速器项目将开发一个新的框架OpenMatFlo，用于加速混凝土行业和3DCP节点的融合。这项研究可以对3DCP行业的新材料创新做出贡献，从而产生根本的社会经济影响。虽然项目背景集中在3DCP部门，但新的能力可以移植到其他领域。该项目可以为3DCP社区提供变革性的见解、尖端的模拟和数据访问工具包，以及为不同的学生、博士后和职业生涯早期科学家提供STEM教育和研究机会。在应对碳排放和气候变化方面，社会将受益于更环保的3DCP的加速采用。该平台将可在全球范围内扩展，并可扩展到其他行业。该项目将汇集机械与建筑、材料研究与生产、打印机制造、生命周期与环境管理、不确定性量化、计算机科学与区块链、灾害科学与社区复原力以及城市/社会科学的知识，为3DCP设计、生产和提供更环保的油墨提供一个融合的平台，以实现建筑环境的可持续发展。研究人员将采用开放和众包的模式来激励社区数据驱动的材料创新；将采用基于市场的战略，以促进混凝土和建筑行业采用生命周期感知的低碳解决方案(重点是3DCP行业)；将开发区块链技术，以提高不确定情况下生态系统的透明度；将创建基于情景和性能的项目规划工具，考虑社区在自然和建筑环境的慢性/急性压力下的社会经济效益。通过严格的数据收集和分析，第一阶段团队将确定3DCP关系中的利益相关者，并共同设计一个整体平台，通过数据共享和对碳排放的整体跟踪和持续的物质流动分析，促进其可持续发展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This convergence accelerator project is intended to address the issue of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission of the construction industry, where the concrete sector is a top source of global CO2 emissions. The burgeoning technology of additive construction, or three-dimensional construction printing (3DCP), might exacerbate the situation. Because concrete (inks) used in 3DCP consists of much more binders (mostly Portland cement) compared to conventional concrete, the increasing adoption of 3DCP is now speeding-up the consumption of cement in the construction sector. The innovation in the 3DCP inks needs to be accelerated to change the situation - greener inks need to be designed, produced, and supplied to the market more quickly. The carbon embodiment and other aspects, including energy consumption, the supply chain efficiency, the broader economic and environmental impacts, are seldom considered holistically in the life cycle design of most general-purpose concrete, not to mention the 3DCP concrete. The uncertainties associated with these aspects make it more challenging. Significant gaps exist between the material science, printer manufacturing, concrete producing, supply networks, governmental legislation and policies, and the 3DCP end users. Therefore, this convergence accelerator project will develop a novel framework, OpenMatFlo, for accelerating the convergence at the concrete industry and 3DCP nexus. The research can have fundamental socioeconomic impact by contributing to the innovation of new materials for the 3DCP industry. While the project context is focused on the 3DCP sector, the new capabilities can be ported to other areas. The project can provide transformational insights, cutting-edge simulation and data accessibility toolkits for the 3DCP community, as well as STEM education and research opportunities for a diverse cohort of students, postdocs, and early-career scientists. The society will benefit from the accelerated adoption of greener 3DCP, in terms of fighting against carbon emission and climate change. The platform will be scalable to the globe and extendable for other industries. This project will bring together knowledge from mechanics and construction, material research and production, printer manufacturing, life cycle and environment management, uncertainty quantification, computer science and blockchain, disaster science and community resilience, and urban/social science to build a convergent platform for designing, producing, and supplying greener inks for 3DCP towards built environment sustainability. The researchers will employ an open and crowdsourcing paradigm for incentivizing community data-driven material innovation; a market-based strategy will be employed to promote the adoption of life cycle-aware and lower carbon solutions in the concrete and construction industry (with an emphasis on the 3DCP sector); a blockchain technology will be developed to enhance the transparency of the ecosystem under uncertainties; tools will be created for scenario- and performance-based project planning, accounting for socioeconomic benefits of communities under chronic/acute stressors of the natural and built environment. Through rigorous data collection and analysis, the Phase 1 team will identify stakeholders in the nexus of 3DCP and co-design a holistic platform that facilitates its growth in a sustainable way, by data sharing and holistic tracking of carbon emissions and continuous material flow analysis.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.