{"id":18378,"date":"2023-09-22T15:14:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T20:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/?post_type=research-projects&#038;p=18378"},"modified":"2026-04-27T13:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:27:23","slug":"removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"research-projects","link":"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/research\/project\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing \u201cArtificial\u201d from Artificial Habitats: 3D Printing Natural Materials to Unlock Complex Nature-Inspired Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Infrastructure design focusing solely on engineering functionality misses opportunities to realize natural resource enhancements to achieve additional economic, ecological, and social benefits. Traditional manufacturing generates geometrically simple structures that do not mimic natural geometries.\u00a0 The design freedom unlocked by 3D Printing (3DP) diverse synthetic and natural materials is ideal for mimicking natural aesthetics and rapidly testing design prototypes through iterative hydrodynamic modeling.\u00a0 3DP habitat and erosion control structures using natural materials promote EWN and USACE goals for broadening social, ecological, and economic benefits.\u00a0 Applications of 3DP include nutrient sequestration, habitat restoration, erosion control and energy dissipation (Figure 1).\u00a0 The unique principles and synergistic collaborations available in the EWN community provide the right conditions for a 3DP Nature Inspired (3DP-NII) community of practice (CoP) to emerge.\u00a0\u00a0 The objectives are to establish interagency partnerships to brainstorm and unlock the full benefit of 3DP-NII for a feasible technology roadmap for scale up and cross agency benefit, establish process controls and demonstrate use of natural material feedstocks (e.g., beneficial use of dredged material) and to iteratively improve geometrically complex habitat design through hydrodynamic simulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/publication\/issues\/71642\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"776\" src=\"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/FromWasteToResource.jpg\" alt=\"DVIDs Power of R&amp;D vol 3 no 3 page 6-7 spread: From Waste to Resource. Project uses dredged material to 3D-print infrastructure. Dr. Al Kennedy, Research Biologist, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. Dr. Andrew McQueen, Research Biologist, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. USACE needs innovative strategies to reach its ambitious go al to beneficially use 70 percent of its dredged material by the year 2030. A new Engineering With Nature\u00ae project is helping meet this target by exploring how 3D pr inters can transform what was once viewed as a waste material into a building block for ecosystem restoration. The idea is to use sediment dredged in USACE projects as pr inter feedstock to 3D-print coastal infrastructure. Doing so will not only help meet beneficial usage goals, but it will also enable better infrastructure design. That is because advancements in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, have made it easier to create the geometrically complex structures needed to mimic nature. There are a wide variety of ways these 3D-printed structures can be deployed, including habitat restoration, coastal protection and wave energy dissipation. And the research team, which has experts from multiple ERDC laboratories, continues to explore new ideas, such as the possibility of large-format prints using dredged material directly in the field. Quote: \u201c\u2026 IT BECAME CLEAR TO US THAT WE COULD START USING SEDIMENT AS A RESOURCE TO CREATE A PARADIGM SHIFT FROM BEING A WASTE MATERIAL THAT NEEDS TO BE DISPOSED OF TO A CLEAN ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE \u2026\u201d DR. AL KENNEDY. CONNECTING THE DOTS EWN project transforms dredged material into geometrically complex COASTAL INFRASTRUCTURE. To read the full story, visit: https:\/\/www.erdc.usace.army.mil\/Media\/News-Stories\/Article\/3854461\/from-waste-to-resource\/\" class=\"wp-image-19874\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/FromWasteToResource.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/FromWasteToResource-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/FromWasteToResource-1024x662.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/FromWasteToResource-768x497.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Drs. Alan Kennedy and Andrew McQueen are featured in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/publication\/issues\/71642\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DVIDS <i>Power of R&amp;D<\/i> vol 3 no 3 issue<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":18380,"template":"","tags":[],"project-categories":[],"project-status-type":[79],"class_list":["post-18378","research-projects","type-research-projects","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project-status-type-complete"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Removing \u201cArtificial\u201d from Artificial Habitats: 3D Printing Natural Materials to Unlock Complex Nature-Inspired Infrastructure - Engineering With Nature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/research\/project\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Removing \u201cArtificial\u201d from Artificial Habitats: 3D Printing Natural Materials to Unlock Complex Nature-Inspired Infrastructure - Engineering With Nature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Infrastructure design focusing solely on engineering functionality misses opportunities to realize natural resource enhancements to achieve additional economic, ecological, and social benefits. Traditional manufacturing generates geometrically simple structures that do not mimic natural geometries.\u00a0 The design freedom unlocked by 3D Printing (3DP) diverse synthetic and natural materials is ideal for mimicking natural aesthetics and rapidly [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/research\/project\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Engineering With Nature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T18:27:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Kennedy-3d-02-opt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"721\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"546\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/research\\\/project\\\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/research\\\/project\\\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\\\/\",\"name\":\"Removing \u201cArtificial\u201d from Artificial Habitats: 3D Printing Natural Materials to Unlock Complex Nature-Inspired Infrastructure - Engineering With Nature\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/research\\\/project\\\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/research\\\/project\\\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Kennedy-3d-02-opt.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-22T20:14:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-27T18:27:23+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/research\\\/project\\\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/research\\\/project\\\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/research\\\/project\\\/removing-artificial-from-artificial-habitats-3d-printing-natural-materials-to-unlock-complex-nature-inspired-infrastructure\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Kennedy-3d-02-opt.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ewn.erdc.dren.mil\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Kennedy-3d-02-opt.jpg\",\"width\":721,\"height\":546,\"caption\":\"Example of our ERDC-EL workflow for producing complex 3D Printed Nature-Inspired Infrastructure (3DP-NII) by CAD modeling, layer-by-layer slicing for 3D printing . 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