Lecture Plan Class Subject Session Duration Civil Engg.

Construction Management (Jan-June) 1 hour 2014 Date Unit No Sem/Year 8th ( Fourth Year)

No 2 24/01/2014 One

Planning Name & of Topic Form Work and Centering Faculty Name Institution J.K. Verma JIT Borawan

INTRODUCTION The form work or shuttering is a temporary ancillary construction used as a mould for the structure, in which concrete is placed and in which it hardens and matures. of formwork may be up to and even The construction of formwork involves considerable amount of time and material. The cost 20 to 25 % of the cost of the structure in building work , higher in bridges. In order to reduce this expenditure it is necessary to

design economical types of form work and to mechanize its construction. A form work design is supported to achieve the basic objectives of the quality, which means to build a form accurately, so that the shape , size and finish of the concrete is attained. He should ensure safety so that the form is capable of supporting dead load, live load and other lateral loads on the casting, and also make sure that economy, in time, money and labour are achieved.
MATERIALS USED FOR FORM WORK

Forms are classified as wooden, plywood, steel, combined wood steel, reinforced concrete and plain concrete. Timber is the most common material used for form work. The disadvantage of wooden form work is the possibility of warping, swelling and shrinkage of the timber. However, these defects can be overcome by applying to the shuttering water impermeable coatings. This coating also prevents the shuttering from adhering to concrete and hence makes the stripping easier. Steel shuttering is used for major

work where everything is mechanized. Steel from work has many advantages, such as (a) it can be put to repeated number of uses, stripping, (c) it ensures an even and smooth concrete surface, rigidity, (i) Timber: Timber is the most common material for shuttering and is available almost everywhere. It is comparatively cheaper and could be easily shaped. Good quality timber and skilled carpenters are difficult to get. (ii) Plywood: Plywood has got a better surface and gives a smoother finish. This is useful and economical for larger panels with repetitive uses. The top coating of plywood resists abrasion and reduces absorption of moisture. Plywood bonded with phenol formaldehyde has better resistance against layered separation due to the effect of heat and moisture. (iii) Hard Boards: Hard board is manufactured from wood fiber under controlled combination of pressure, heat and moisture. These are tempered with the impregnation of drying oils which are stabilized by heating. Tempered hard boards have improved strength, low water absorption, and better abrasion resistance and are used as formwork. (iv) Fiber Forms: Fiber forms are used as lost forms for concrete walls, roofs and slabs. These are left in place on the exposed face of the concrete where it gives architectural look and also improves acoustical and insulation properties. (v) Gypsum boards: Gypsum moulds are generally used to provide artistic design or ornamental pattern for the exposed concrete face. It is reinforced with an organic fiber or coir to make it tougher. Concrete quality may improve due to the absorption of extra water present in concrete by these boards. (vi) Asbestos tiles: If a corrugated face is required, asbestos tiles like corrugated sheets are used. Sometimes these tiles get attached to concrete due to bond. (vii) Plastic forms: PVC, neoprene, and polyester strengthened with glass fiber are some of the plastic forms in, use. They are manufactured as per required (d) it possesses greater (b) it provides ease of

shapes, do not assembling and

rust and are easy to clean. They do not deform and dismantling are rather easy. Polypropylene moulds are

nowadays very popular for waffle slabs. These moulds have got another advantage, since, they are weldable. (viii) Lost forms: Forms, which are not removed after casting, form a part

and parcel of the structure that behave as composites. These are known as lost forms. Precast concrete planks, pressed fiber planks, card board tubes, precast reinforced concrete joists, clay filler blocks and ferrocement planks are examples. In India, the structural Engineering Research Centre has produced some of these forms and these are in use. (ix) Wire mesh: Ferrocement structures are constructed with wire mesh as the lost forms. Sometimes plastics are applied over the wire meshes to form structure of known shape. (x) Inflated membrane: These membranes are sometimes used to serve as a form work. After inflating the membrane to the required shape, it is coated with a layer of plaster, which is reinforced with steel mesh for rigidity. Plaster may be spread by short-creating. These forms reduce the time of construction and the stripping time, as they could easily be dismantled by deflation. Such membranes are also used for cavities in inaccessible places. (xi) Steel form work: Steel forms consisting of angles, tubes, joists, flat plates, are very much in use as shores, bracings, runners, slab shutters, etc. steel forms are also in use in combination with timber. These are very strong, could be used repetitively without much damage done to these forms. Because of the known characteristics of steel, design calculations are easily done in a systematic manner. The line, level, dimension and surface finish are air nicely attained with steel forms. The entire system assembled very quickly and is so designed that it can be in proper sequence. For smaller panels, these are a

manually operated while for larger panels, mechanical handling could be done. Accessories suitable for different dimensions of the members are available and the forms are adjustable in order to have different dimensions.

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS When designing formwork, consider the following: 1. Strength: Forms and shutters have to be designed to support dead weight, live load and hydrostatic pressure. Sheathing must be rigid enough to resist bulging. Formwork for vertical concrete elements i.e. columns and walls are subject to pressures on the form face. This is caused by the fluid action of the fresh concrete. The pressure of the fluid concrete on the vertical faces increases proportionately with the depth of concrete. The maximum pressure being at the bottom of the form. 2. Speedy erection and dismantling: The formwork design and the methods of assembly must be as simple as possible to reduce time spent in erection and dismantling. The formwork should be simple to remove without causing damage to the concrete. 3. Tightness of joints: The liquid retaining properties of the formwork must be adequate to prevent leakage of cement and fine aggregate from the concrete. 4. Rigidity: Brace formwork and support to ensure no movement may take place under wind pressure, or when the concrete is being placed and vibrated. The shutters must be rigid enough to keep the concrete member within the allowable tolerances. 5. Reuse: Design for unit construction, if possible, so that you can strike and reuse as soon as possible. Use clamps, wedges, and similar devices to hold sections of formwork in place. Avoid nailing as much as possible, nail holes and bruising of the timber will spoil formwork for further use. The formwork material must be durable and capable of producing a good surface finish. 6. Ease of handling: Forms and shutters must be of a size and weight that can be handled by the labour and plant

available on site. Adjustment: Arrange all props, shores, and struts so that they can be properly adjusted. They must bear on sole plates, so that the load is safely distributed on to the structure below. Removal of debris: Provide all formwork with special cleanout holes to allow for the removal of sawdust, shavings, and other debris from the bottom of the formwork before the pour begins.

ECONOMY IN FORM WORK

It should be noted that the total cost of concrete construction also includes the cost of the form work used. The form work, which does not form the part of the finished concrete structure, sometimes exceeds the cost of concrete itself. Therefore, every possible effort should be made to bring down the cost of the form consistent with the safety of form work while in use. The main items, which constitute the cost of form work, are materials and labour required for fabrication, erection and removal of forms. The following measures or steps should be taken to reduce the cost of form work and hence to achieve economy. (i) The use of irregular shapes of forms should be avoided as far as possible. (ii) It should be fabricated into modular sizes in larger numbers so as to allow re-use of forms, if possible. (iii) The structural components should be so designed as to permit the use of commercially available forms. (iv) The working drawings of the form work should be prepared and checked before fabricating it. (v) The components of the forms should be prefabricated on ground, using power equipment, in order to reduce labor costs and delays on the work. Labour can work more efficiently on the ground than on the scaffold. (vi) The removal and re-use of forms should be permitted, if it is safe to do so.

(vii) The forms should be designed to provide adequate but not excessive strength and rigidity i.e., forms should have a balanced design. (viii) When possible adopt assembly line methods in fabricating forms to increase the efficiency of the workers. (ix) If possible, use double-headed nails to facilitate their removal and to reduce the damage to timber. (x) The forms should be cleaned and oiled after each use. (xi) The use of construction joints should be made to improve the quality of forms and to make re-use of forms. (xii) If mechanical vibrators are to be used, then bolts must be used in place of wire ties or nails to ensure safety. FORMS FOR FOOTINGS There are various types of forms used for footings depending upon the types of construction. Some of them are described below: (i) Wall footing forms: These are the simplest to be built and consist merely of a heavy plank put in position to the required line. One initially and held with stakes spaced at of the footing. side is set to the line about 2 m apart and the other side is

set from this with the aid of spreaders at a correct distance equal to the width

(ii) Column footing forms: They are of the following types:

(a) Square or rectangular: The ends are built to the exact dimensions of sides are built about 30 cm longer than the dimension

the

footing with a cleat at each end of the footing from the outside. The other two the footing. The side and end panels are made on the carpenters bench with holes bored for the wires, if they are to be used. Fours panels are assembled by butting the end panels against the end cleats of the sides and are nailed. The corner should be braced back to stakes or to the sides of the excavation. The intermediate bracing should be done in similar manner or cleat wired as shown in fig. 41.2

(b) Stepped footing forms (Fig.4l.3): These are of similar construction as described above, the largest and the lowest forms are placed first and the concrete is allowed to set a little before placing the next form. The upper form can then be held by placing a 5 cm x 10 cm wooden piece nailed to the top ends of the lower form. (c) Sloping side footing form: The two ends are cut to the exact dimensions of the footing, first laying out boards of approximately equal lengths, putting on the cleats, marking the sloping lines then sawing off through the slopping line. The two sides should not be cut to the slopes but the board can be left of

different lengths. Sloping box is always set on a very shallow vertical box of the same bottom dimensions. The vertical box is set on the ground and braced. The reinforcing steel is then placed and the sloping box set on the top of the first one. It is essential to prevent the lifting of the sloping sides due to concrete pressure.

COLUMN FORMS A column form consists of two sides and two sides each built as a unit or panel, the dimension for the column plus the height of the panel being the storey height less the slab thickness and the floor sheeting. The two ends are built in width equal to twice the thickness of the sheeting, the ends of the yokes and sheeting being in flush. The two side panels are similarly made but the width of the sheeting will be the same as the dimensions of the column and the yokes will project 20 to 25 cm beyond the sheeting at each end. The spacing of yokes will be similar on both ends 3 mm larger than the size and sides. Bolt holes are bored in the side yokes about allowing about 4 cm for wedging. in the case of L-shaped column, a similar arrangement is followed except that a rectangular block of wooden sheeting is made inside the square column. This corner piece is made by nailing timber sheeting on the yokes. This arrangement is suitable

of the bolt" Their spacing is calculated from the size of the column and timber used

for only small columns. For bigger columns, the formwork itself is made into L-shape and bolts are fixed at the corner. SHUTTERING FOR BEAM AND SLAB FLOOR The slab is continuous over a number of beams. The slab is supported on 2.5 cm thick sheathing laid parallel to the main beams. The sheathing is supported on wooden battens which are laid between the beams at some suitable spacing. In order to reduce the deflection, the battens may be propped at the middle of the span through joists. The side forms of the beam consist of 3 cm thick sheathing. The bottom sheathing of the beam form may be 5 to 7 cm thick. The ends of the battens are supported on the ledger which is fixed to the cleats throughout the length. Cleats 10 cm x 2 cm to 3 cm are fixed to the side forms at the same spacing as that of battens, so that battens may be fixed to them. The beam form is supported on a head tree. The shore or post is connected to the head tree through cleats. At the bottom of the shore, two wedges of hard wood are provided over a sole piece. FORM FOR STAIRS , WALLS SLIP FORMS ETC.

CAUSES OF FAILURE OF FORM WORK 1. 2. 3. Inadequate lateral and diagonal bracing of shores, lack of bracing at joints Locking devices on metal-shoring not locked, in-operative or missing on floor

in shores, poor, splicing of timber shores out of plumb shoring. inadequately tightened form tiles or wedges, insufficient nailing. The use of prop on prop, failure to recheck tightness of reshores below: 4. The following points also need to be addressed to prevent failure (a) To inspect form work during and after concreting to detect abnormal deflection if any and adopt corrective measures.

(b) To provide adequately against lateral pressures on forms, to control the vertical rate or placement of concrete and therefore lateral pressure on forms with regard to slump, type of vibration, effect of unbalanced loading on form work. 5. Premature removal of design. supports, vibrations and shocks arising from the movement and the rack of field inspection to ascertain that the form work conforms to the admixtures, low concrete temperatures and also to regulate properly the horizontal rate and sequence of placing concrete to avoid

SCAFFOLDING / CENTERING
These are temporary erection constructed to support a number platforms of at of workers so as to enable them to work

different heights raised for convenience

easily and raise the needed materials. Generally, scaffolds are classified into two types, namely, bricklayers and masons. They are constructed of timber either sawn or in circular sections. In India Sal "Ballies" (round poles of 10 to 15 cm diameter) are abundantly used. For important and large works steel tubular scaffolds are used. The bricklayer's scaffolds consists of a number of uprights called standards and usually placed at not more than 2.5 m centres. They may be circular in section of about 12 to 15 cm average diameter. These rests on hardwood planks with wedges, on stone slabs laid on rammed ground, or in a drum containing rammed earth. For adequate stability, they may be driven a few metres into the ground. Horizontally at a vertical placed poles called ledgers are lashed to these standards and spaced distance of 1.5 to 2 m apart. (such frames of standards and ledgers are placed at about 1.5 m away from the building face). They are connected to the building with putlogs, which bear on the wall, and are laid as the latter is built at one end and the ledgers at the other end. They may be of square or round sections. The planks of about 4 cm thickness are used as a platform for workmen. At the edges of the staging guard boards are fixed duly nailed to the standards.

While

building the scaffolds, special care has to be taken for connecting the various

units with each other with the aid of suitable ropes. To give additional strength, a pair of diagonal braces are fixed with the standards. Mason's scaffolds are to be made stronger in construction. Placing of putlogs in to the wall is not possible in the case of ashlar work. Hence a double set of standards and ledgers is erected one being near the wall and the other at a distance of about 1.5 m from it. The putlogs rest both end on these sets. The remaining construction is similar to a bricklayer's scaffold.

Steel Centering and Scaffolding

Tubular steel scaffolding is being extensively used in place of timber scaffolding for temporary staging and also for posts and bracings as centering loads. The advantages are, to support heavier

1. Adaptability: Tubes of one size and three or four standard fittings can be used to
support vertical loads of all types.

2. Availability: Large stocks of steel centering can be obtained while it may be

difficult to procure timber in large stocks. have to be dealt with. formwork.

3. Simplicity: This type of centering is very simple as only a few shapes and sizes 4. Interchangeability: Scaffold tubes can be used for both making scaffolding and 5. Ease of erection: The methods of erection are standardized and easier erection is
possible as no tedious cutting or lengthening necessary are is the case with timber. dismantling. etc.

5. Scrap Value: Their scrap value is high as they do not get damaged while fixing or 7. Strength: Their strength is constant while that of timber varies on account of flaws, 8. Resistance to fire: These are not liable to damage by fire.
Disadvantages of Centering are:

1. Initial cost: These need a lot of investment.

2. Fittings: The fittings may get lost as they are small in size and they are difficult to
be replaced later on.

3. Connections with timber: It is difficult to attach timber members with steel tubes
connection'

economically and hence they are left supported on the centering without any rigid

4. Skilled labor: To fix a tubular centering, it is essential to employ very skilled

labour which is always not possible' corrosion.

5. Painting: These tubes should be painted periodically to keep them free from
The usual methods of constructing timber forms should be modified when tubular, support, are to be used since the loads must be carried near the couplers to avoid bending and deflection in the horizontal tubes as the uprights are at greater distances apart and do not take load concentrically. There are several other arrangements possible. Some methods of adjusting form heights are always required as it is not easy to wedge up the timber formwork resting on the tubular centering. Suitable screwed adjusting couplings are used and these work on the Principle of jacks' Questions for review: Q1. Q2. Discuss the advantages & disadvantages of What is the requirement of a good formwork? the different materials used for

formwork. Q3. Write a note on: Formwork for footings. Q4. What are the causes of failure of formwork? Q5. What is scaffolding? Explain with sketches the elements of a bricklayers scaffold. what is the difference between this type and the one used by the masons?