The construction industry is now entering a new and exciting phase with the development of 3D printing. Concrete materials and structures can now be easily printed into much more complex shapes than before. Another interesting change that construction materials suffered over the last decade concern their functionality. A better understanding of its microstructure and the rapid expansion of research in nanomaterials opened the door for a new generation of building materials, with tailored functionalities, that were not available before. Examples of these are self-healing concrete, graphene-cement composites, and self-cleaning concrete. This project proposes to address the challenge of merging both worlds, the 3D printing building components and producing functional construction materials. Within this project, you will work on adding new functions to 3D printed structures, but you will also be part of the team that is developing a 100% automated solution for printing concrete with a pre-defined property or shape. To create structures that contain and fully utilize new functional compositions it is necessary to rethink how to design materials, additive manufacturing systems, and structural components.

This is a project funded by NWO, led by TU/e, in collaboration with a consortium of industrial partners.

You will work within the 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) research group that operates and develops its own 3D Concrete Printer at the Department of the Built Environment. The group is currently running several projects, including Project Milestone, the world's first commercial housing project based on 3D-concrete printing - http://www.tue.nl/3Dconcreteprinting

Description of the position available
We are looking for a EngD student to join our project. Currently, three PhD students are developing new materials and an additive manufacturing system. You will focus on the design aspects of structures with these new functional materials.The main aim is to design structures to enhance the circularity of the 3D concrete printed structures by making use of the new functional materials smartly and efficiently through local composition control. We would like to challenge you in making sustainable designs that take advantage of the designed materials and the possibilities that additive manufacturing offers by completely rethinking the design of concrete structures. You will work closely with the other researcher in our group to further develop our own 3D concrete printer into a fully automated printing system that collects real-time data, provides feedback to the system, and prints on-demand different functional materials.

Professional Doctorate in Engineering (EngD)
During the traineeship you follow an individual program, consisting of courses, workshops, assessments and industrial projects, deepening the theoretical knowledge gained during your university studies. You will apply all knowledge gained in a large-scale in-company multidisciplinary design project. The project for this traineeship is conducted in collaboration with a consortium of companies that are part of the NWO project. Your training scheme is customized to your personal and professional skills and the demands of the industrial project.

Specific mandatory requirements

• MSc degree in Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, or equivalent,
• Knowledge about the structural design of concrete structures,

Desired skills

• Experience with computational design (e.g. Grasshopper)
• Non-visual programming experience (e.g., MATLAB, Python or C#),
• Experience with additive manufacturing and robotics,
• Basic understanding of material science.

General requirements

• Good communication and organization skills,
• Strong cooperation skills and the ability to work in a team,
• Excellent command of the English language, both in speaking and writing.

• A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university with a close relationship to industry.
• A full-time employment for two years.
• To support you during your PDEng and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will have free access to a personal development program for PDEng trainees.
• A gross monthly salary and benefits in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• Additionally, an annual holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary, plus a year-end allowance of 8.3% of the annual salary.
• A broad package of fringe benefits, including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, and savings schemes.
• Family-friendly initiatives are in place, such as an international spouse program, and excellent on-campus children day care and sports facilities.