Analytical and Experimental Study on Fluid–Solid Coupling of Variable-Caliber Nozzles for Concrete 3D Printing

Concrete 3D printing technology is emerging as a new way to transform the construction industry in the future. However, the existing concrete 3D printing technology still has different degrees of defects in the print molding process. The existing concrete 3D nozzles need to undergo a long motion trajectory when printing complex curved components, which leads to lower geometric accuracy of curved structures, as well as poorer overall molding quality of the printed components. The aim of this study is to design a reducer nozzle to effectively shorten the printing stroke and thus improve the printing accuracy. A reducing nozzle is proposed with multi-gear internal meshing and a rotating blade structure nozzle with an adjustable outlet caliber. The mechanical strength of the rotating blade of the nozzle and the distribution characteristics of the flow field inside the nozzle are verified through fluid-solid coupling analysis. Experimental comparison shows that compared with the existing concrete 3D printing nozzle, the variable-caliber nozzle significantly improves the surface quality of the specimen, which strongly promotes the practical application and development of concrete 3D printing technology in the engineering field.