Selection of Digital Fabrication Technique in the Construction Industry – A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach

Newswise — In recent decades, digital fabrication techniques have driven a sustainable revolution in the construction industry, enabling the creation of complex, structurally efficient structures with minimal environmental impact. However, selecting the appropriate digital fabrication method based on manufacturability and functionality requirements is a complex task. Existing research lacks effective application of multi-criteria decision-making approaches to systematically evaluate and rank various digital fabrication techniques, considering key factors like reinforcement incorporation, geometrical complexity, and build area, which limits the rational selection and optimization of these techniques in practical engineering.

Therefore, researchers from the Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology in India have conducted a research entitled “Selection of digital fabrication technique in the construction industry – A multi-criteria decision-making approach”.

This study adopts a multi-criteria decision-making technique to present alternatives and criteria for selecting digital fabrication techniques. The evaluated alternatives include concrete three-dimensional printing, shotcrete, smart dynamic casting, material intrusion, mesh molding, injection concrete three-dimensional printing, and thin forming techniques. The assessment criteria cover formwork utilization, reinforcement incorporation, geometrical complexity, material enhancement, assembly complexity, surface finish, and build area. The study applies multiple multi-criteria decision-making techniques, combining both subjective (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and objective (Entropy) weighting methods, to rank the digital fabrication techniques based on the current state of the construction industry. The research results show that in the selection process, criteria such as reinforcement incorporation, build area, and geometrical complexity play a crucial role, collectively accounting for nearly 70% of the overall weighting. Among the evaluated techniques, concrete three-dimensional printing performs the best, followed by shotcrete and mesh molding in second and third places respectively. These findings provide a scientific and systematic decision-making framework for the rational selection of digital fabrication techniques in the construction industry, helping to reduce environmental impact while improving economic efficiency and construction effectiveness.

The paper “Selection of digital fabrication technique in the construction industry – A multi-criteria decision-making approach” is authored by M. P. SALAIMANIMAGUDAM and J. JAYAPRAKASH. Full text of the paper: