Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a promising direct energy deposition (DED) process that enables high deposition rates and produces large components of moderate complexity [1] with comparable or better material properties than conventionally manufactured parts [2]. However, the residual stresses generated during the process can cause thin and slender parts to buckle under compressive loads, a well-known issue in DED [3] and other additive manufacturing processes [4,5]. In this study, an oscillation in the displacement was observed in a thin-walled cylindrical specimen, which was assumed to be buckling due to the similarity to buckling of higher eigenvalues for hierarchical beam structures [6].

In this study, an inherent strain simulation, specifically adapted to the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) process [7], was utilized to create a predeformed structure that compensates for displacements induced by additional structures on a cylinder. The simulation-based predeformation successfully eliminated buckling, confirmed by the absence of buckling in the printed predeformed specimen. The results suggest that an inherent strain simulation, without further buckling analysis, could potentially be sufficient to stabilize the AM process of thin-walled structures, making it an effective method to improve structural stability in additive manufacturing.