SBIR Phase I: CAS: Biomimetic 3D Printed Metal Mold to Mass Produce Dry-Pressed, Modular, Biophilic Concrete Reef Substrate

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的重点是开发一种创新的3D打印金属模具，该模具与行业标准的混凝土块生产机械配合使用，以大规模生产干铸，基于自然的混凝土珊瑚礁修复基底单元。这些模块单元将适用于沿着河口、河流和脆弱海岸线的海岸线保护和生态系统恢复。在海上，这些装置将为美国海上风电行业提供恢复海底的手段，同时保护电缆，创造保护区珊瑚礁，增加生物多样性和改善水质。由现有的混凝土砌块制造商在沿海地区或现场使用新型金属模具生产，位于潮间带的基材吸引并保护胚胎贝类，包括牡蛎、贻贝和蛤蜊，以及多种其他水生生物，包括螃蟹、鱼和水下水生植被。在深水中，同样的基质单位吸引了大量的冷水珊瑚和海绵。与自然合作，这些单位可以帮助保护沿海社区免受气候变化，风暴潮，水位上升和侵蚀的影响-创造混凝土制造，恢复湿地，恢复渔业和商业水产养殖业的就业机会，并增加旅游业的收入-珊瑚礁充满了生命。SBIR第1阶段项目包括设计和制造复杂的3D打印钢模具，适用于生产干压、亲生物混凝土、模块化海岸线保护和水生生态系统恢复单元。该项目涉及对生态影响、混凝土行业的技术限制以及近海和沿海基础设施建设做法的考虑。增材金属制造将用于制造模具。仿生学从牡蛎、珊瑚和其他钙化生物的造礁能力中学习，将为模具生产的干铸、富含碳酸钙的模块化单元的几何复杂表面提供信息。 铸件将类似于珊瑚礁的底栖地形，为幼虫提供稳定的基质，支持它们从幼体到成熟的生长，提供保护免受捕食者的侵害。计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟将用于检查幼虫沉降表面内和周围的水流。该单元将包括裂缝、空腔、裂缝和缝隙、凹坑、线性通道以及大小孔洞，以在多个尺度（微观和宏观）上提供各种间隙空间，从而在多样化的水生生态系统中维持多物种合作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is focused on the development of an innovative 3D printed metal mold that works with industry standard concrete block production machinery to mass produce dry-cast, nature-based, concrete reef restoration substrate units. These modular units will be suitable for use for shoreline protection and ecosystem restoration along estuaries, rivers and vulnerable coastlines. Offshore, these units will provide the US offshore wind industry with the means to restore the seabed, while protecting cables, creating sanctuary reefs, increasing biodiversity, and improving water quality. Produced by existing concrete block manufacturers in coastal locations, or on-site, using the novel metal molds, the substrates, located in the inter-tidal zone attract and protect embryonic shellfish including oysters, mussels and clams, and a multitude of other aquatic organisms including crabs, fish, and submerged aquatic vegetation. In deep water, the same substrate units attract abundant cold-water corals and sponges. Working with nature, these units can help protect coastal communities from the impact of climate change, storm surge, rising water levels, and erosion — creating jobs in concrete fabrication, restoring wetlands, reviving fisheries and commercial aquaculture, and increasing revenues from tourism — with reefs teeming with life. This SBIR Phase 1 project encompasses the design and fabrication of an intricate 3-D printed steel mold suitable for the production of dry pressed, biophilic concrete, modular shoreline protection and aquatic ecosystem restoration units. This project addresses considerations of ecological impacts, technical constraints in the concrete industry and both offshore and coastal infrastructure construction practices. Additive metal manufacturing will be used to fabricate the mold. Biomimetics, learning from the reef-building capacities of oysters, corals and other calcitic organisms, will inform the geometrically complex surfaces of the dry-cast, calcium carbonate rich, modular unit produced by the mold. The cast will resemble the benthic topography of a reef, providing a stable substrate for larvae that supports their growth from spat to maturity, providing protection from predators. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations will be used to examine water flow within and around the larval settlement surfaces. The unit will include fissures, cavities, cracks and crevices, dimples, linear channels, and large and small holes to provide a variety of interstitial spaces at multiple scales (micro and macro) that sustain multi-species cooperation in a diverse aquatic ecosystem.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.