What is Formwork?

The Temporary structure erected to support the concrete in its required shape (as the concrete will be in Plastic state when laid), till it hardens and becomes self supporting is known as Formwork or centering or Shuttering.

Components of Formwork
Cost of Formwork Material Cost of erecting, placing and removal of formwork Cost of joining material such as nails, wires, etc

Cost of labour for fabrication of formwork

Objective of Formwork Planning:

To Plan for Materials / Methodology to be used adopted for execution

Safe and Economical Utilization of the Resources by

way of proper Formwork Design and Drawing.

Importance of Formwork Planning

Plays vital role in Construction Industry both technically and financially as it costs about 8% of total building cost. Leads Management to take decision for investment in Materials purchase depending upon
Currents Projects available

Future expected Projects Financial aspects for the requirement given by the Formwork planning division
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Planning of Formwork will have important role in overall project Planning. Proper Formwork Planning will ensure that
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Timely availability of right materials with acceptable quality standards. Formwork is executed with the optimum cost. Avoids delay of subsequent activities / Project thereby saving in the Variable overheads / Project Overrun.
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Since Failure of Formwork results in Financial Loss, loss of life and loss of time. Guides Tendering team to take decisions while quoting new tenders from the past experiences.

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What to plan for?

Safe and Economical Formwork Construction
o Plan for Materials to suit the height / design of Formwork o Arrangement methodology.

Planning for available resources

oTo arrange locally or oTo invest in new materials (Which results in additional cost implication and additional time to mobilize)

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Plan for Maximum Reuse (ie., Maximum no. of Repetitions).

Type of Shuttering as the labor requirement depends upon the type of shuttering. For example, MAIWAN shuttering is a type of shuttering in which the readymade shutters are available for a floor where there is no beams and the floor height remains unchanged and around there is RCC wall. In this case, the labor work will not be much more.
Efficient method of Erection and stripping of Formwork so as to avoid the damage of Materials.

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How to Plan for and Points to keep in Mind

To obtain and Study all the necessary Structural drawings including all plans sections and elevations. To obtain and Study other related informations from Bill of Quantities such as Floor height, type of structure and structural details such as Depth / thickness etc. To examine the best method of formwork for the contract.

To study the amount of time available (to execute the project) to determine the material requirement. .

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Quantum of Materials to be provided to site depends upon

oDeshuttering

time (Since if the Deshuttering time is

more, we have to provide additional set of materials)

oDeshuttering

scheme

Working constraints (To plan for suitable shuttering methodology)

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To analyze for Type of Concrete Light weight concrete / Heavy weight Concrete o Heavy weight concrete Concrete with Hematite (Iron ore) mainly for structures controlling radiation. To study the type of Vibration ie., Internal or External o Internal Vibration Vibrating the concrete after concreting from inside the member . o External Vibration Vibrating the structure from outside (ie. Vibrating the shutter to level the concrete)

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To plan for Construction Joints for stoppage of Shuttering for Structural point of view. To Design the formwork after considering the Live Load for which the structure has been designed since the Structure below the formwork should be able to take the Load of the Formwork + Wet concrete of immediate floor above. To plan the Deshuttering period depends upon the type of cement (For example, PPC cement will take more time for Setting and hence Deshuttering will take more time).

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Rate of pour of concrete, temperature of concrete, Surrounding climate temperature shall also be taken into account while designing Type of Laying of concrete such as o By Manual o By Mechanical ie., by Pumping shall also be noted.

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What to Achieve?
The Formwork should be Waterproofed, so as prevent the absorption of water from the concrete The Form work must be strong enough to bear the load of concrete, workmen, the liquid pressure of the fresh concrete and the impact effect of concrete pump and vibration. All joints in the Form work should be true and the surface be plane to minimize the cost of finishing.

The Form work should be easily removable

Types of Formwork
Plywood Shuttering

Steel Shuttering

Plywood Shuttering:
What? Shuttering done with Plywood, Timber connected with nails. Where? In Columns In Beam Bottom and Beam sides In Slabs also (Depending on the Customer Requirement) Advantages: To Achieve the smoother and better looking finish. Initial Cost is Low Can avoid joints and grinding at a later stage if we are planning for exposed ceiling. Less time consumption for erection. Precautions to be Taken: More care to be taken for Deshuttering since more wastage will lead to more cost..

Steel Shuttering
What? Shuttering with Steel Plates Where? Mainly in Slabs Advantages: More Repetitions / Less Cost because of steel member Easy Handling because of smaller in size Lesser cost of consumables like nails and oil Disadvantages: Needs Plastering if planned for exposed ceiling Initial Cost is High Needs treatment of joints Time consuming for erection

Deshuttering:
Deshuttering is the process in which the shuttering made is being stripped after the concrete gains its full strength.

Assumptions in formwork design

All the Loads are uniformly distributed. All the members are simply supported. Even though some members like Beam are continuous in nature, the end will become simply supported and moreover we should design for worst case. Density of Concrete 2500 kg / m3 Bending Stress of Plywood 140 kg / cm2 Bending Stress of Timber 90 kg / cm2 Bending Stress of ISMC 100 1650 kg / cm2

Things to Note
S.No Types of Formwork Minimum Period before striking Formwork 1 Vertical Formwork to Columns, walls, beam 16-24 h

Soffit Formwork to slabs (Props to be refixed immediately after removal of Formwork)

3 days

Soffit Formwork to beams (Props to be refixed immediately after removal of Formwork)

7 days

Props to Slabs: Spanning up to 4.5m Spanning over 4.5m 7 days 14 days

Props to beams and arches: Spanning up to 6m Spanning over 6m 14 days 21 days

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The formwork should be rigid enough so as to retain the shape without any appreciable deformation. For visible surface in the completed work, the deflection is limited to 1/300 of span For hidden surface, it is limited to 1/150 of span

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Dos and Donts:

Dos:

Formwork for all structures shall be designed as individual member

I.e., for The Load applied on every member should be well within permissible limit. All formwork supports should be placed on hard strata. The formwork materials should be used for the purpose it meant for. I.e., Props should only be used for supports and not for bracing purpose. Formwork materials should be properly stacked. The floor forms shall be well cleaned and oiled before concreting. The channels / beams should be vertically placed unless otherwise mentioned to place horizontally in shuttering design.

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Donts: The formwork supports should not be placed on loose soil. Load carrying capacity of member should not be calculated as Total weight of concrete divided by total no. of members supported. Ie., care should be

taken that no individual member is overloaded than its rated capacity.

Prop over prop support as supports should be avoided. While deshuttering, the materials should not be thrown away. The materials should be lowered slowly by Labours through staging. Materials should not be stacked in such a way that the materials lying below get damaged. The Hat section should not be used without runner inside.

Components of materials should not be split up ie. Inner and outer

parts of Acrow span and props.

OTHER POINTS TO CONSIDER: BEST FORM FORMWORK IS ONE WHO PLANS FOR STRIP BEFORE THEY BUILD. ITS BETTER TO HAVE TEN TOO MANY PROPS THAN ONE SHORT Edge protection should be taken care of. Access and Platforms for workers Protection from falling objects Dont cut timber to exact length unless it is necessary. You might need that extra length next time. The Deshuttering shall start from point of maximum deflection and shall

proceed towards the point of minimum deflection.

SHUTTERING MATERIAL PROJECTION STATEMENT

SHUTTERING PROJECTION STATEMENT

FLOORWISE MATERIAL ABSTARCT

MATERIAL REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS

From the figure seen above,

The plywood should be used with the Face veneer perpendicular to the grain so that the bending strength of Ply will increase.
If the plywood is placed with face veneer parallely to the grain, the bending strength will be low.

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