Design considerations for formwork in multistorey concrete buildings

Abstract In a multistorey reinforced concrete ( rc ) building construction, the formwork system and the partially completed structure support all construction loads occurring during the construction process. Field investigations and recent analytical studies have shown that construction loads on a supporting system including slabs, shores and reshores may appreciably exceed their load-carrying capacity and contribute to a significant portion of the disasters of rc buildings during construction. This paper will examine many factors relating to the analysis of multistorey reinforced concrete buildings during construction. In particular, we shall examine causes of falsework failures, review existing codes and national standards as they affect safety in construction, discuss factors to be considered in the analysis, and summarize several construction procedures used in practice. This paper also describes an analytical method using the current load and resistance factor design ( lrfd ) approach to check the slab adequacy during construction.