Formwork

Modular steel frame formwork for a foundation

Timber formwork for a concrete column

Sketch of the side view of traditional timber formwork used to form a flight of stairs

Placing a formwork component

Formwork is the term given to either temporary or permanent moulds into which concrete or similar materials are poured. In the context of concrete construction, the falsework supports the shuttering moulds. FORMWORK AND CONCRETE FORM TYPES Formwork comes in three main types: Traditional timber formwork The formwork is built on site out of timber and plywood or moisture-resistant particleboard. It is easy to produce but time-consuming for larger structures, and the plywood facing has a relatively short lifespan. It is still used extensively where the labour costs are lower than the costs for procuring re -usable formwork. It is also the most flexible type of formwork, so even where other systems are in use, complicated sections may use it. Engineered Formwork Systems This formwork is built out of prefabricated modules with a metal frame (usually steel or aluminium) and covered on the application (concrete) side with material having the wanted surface structure (steel, aluminium, timber, etc.). The two major advantages of formwork systems, compared to traditional timber formwork, are speed of construction (modular systems pin, clip, or screw together quickly) and lower life-cycle costs (barring major force, the frame is almost indestructible, while the covering if made of wood; may have to be replaced after a few - or a few dozen - uses, but if the covering is made with steel or aluminium the form can achieve up to two thousand uses depending on care and the applications). Re-usable plastic formwork These interlocking and modular systems are used to build widely variable, but relatively simple, concrete structures. The panels are lightweight and very robust. They are especially suited for low-cost, mass housing schemes. Permanent Insulated Formwork This formwork is assembled on site, usually out of insulating concrete forms (ICF). The formwork stays in place after the concrete has cured, and may provide advantages in terms of speed, strength, superior thermal and acoustic insulation, space to run utilities within the EPS layer, and integrated furring strip for cladding finishes. Stay-In-Place structural formwork systems This formwork is assembled on site, usually out of prefabricated fibre-reinforced plastic forms. These are in the shape of hollow tubes, and are usually used for columns and piers. The formwork stays in place after the concrete has cured and acts as axial and shear reinforcement, as well as serving to confine the concrete and prevent against environmental effects, such ascorrosion and freeze-thaw cycles.

Timber beam slab formwork

Similar to the traditional method, but stringers and joist are replaced with engineered wood beams and supports are replaced with metal props. This makes this method more systematic and reusable.

Traditional slab formwork

Traditional timber formwork on a jetty inBangkok

On the dawn of the rival of concrete in slab structures, building techniques for the temporary structures were derived again from masonry and carpentry. The traditional slab formwork technique consists of supports out of lumber or young tree trunks, that support rows of stringers assembled roughly 3 to 6 feet or 1 to 2 meters apart, depending on thickness of slab. Between these stringers, joists are positioned roughly 12 inches, 30 centimetres apart upon which boards or plywood are placed. The stringers and joists are usually 4 by 4 inch or 4 by 6 inch lumber. The most common imperial plywood thickness is inch and the most common metric thickness is 21 millimetres.