Robot supported Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of Steel Columns

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is a robot‐controlled welding process used to build up three‐dimensional structures in steel. Like other Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies, WAAM allows for geometrically‐complex structures to be manufactured which may be unfeasible using conventional methods. Over recent years, WAAM has also gained prominence in the fields of architecture and civil engineering, with applications ranging from fully‐printed steel bridges to individualized steel components. This paper presents the additive manufacturing process of large‐scale applications, focusing on steel columns with circular hollow cross‐sections (CHS). The paper highlights the specific features of the necessary welding and process parameters before the manufacturing process is described in detail. Digital models and welding trajectories are generated with Parametric Robot Programming (PRP) and serve the robot‐controlled printing process. The AM itself is monitored by multiple process‐control checks giving information about resulting weld thicknesses, heights and welding errors influencing the manufacturing strategy of the CHS columns. To be able to make a closing statement about the load‐bearing capacity of the WAAM‐manufactured CHS, final load tests on (stub) columns are carried out.