Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SGBPGEarly Striking PDF
SGBPGEarly Striking PDF
Introduction
The European Concrete Building
Project is a joint initiative aimed at
improving the performance of the
concrete frame industry.
The programme involves the This Guide provides new and improved recommendations
construction of a series of full-sized for striking formwork and gives new procedures
concrete structures in the Large
Building Test Facility at Cardington, for backpropping reinforced in-situ concrete flat slabs
where they are being subjected to (less than 350 mm thick).
comprehensive testing of the building
process and of their performance.
Key messages
With support from the DETR and the Early* striking of formwork and improved backpropping procedures increase
Engineering and Physical Sciences construction efficiency by:
Research Council, the first of these
buildings, a seven-storey in-situ flat • Allowing early access to the supporting floors by following trades.
slab concrete frame, was completed • Enabling greater re-use of formwork.
in 1998. The results of investigations
into all aspects of the frame • Reducing the quantity of formwork and falsework required.
construction process are summarised *Early in this context is defined as concrete less than three days old.
in this series of Best Practice Guides.
CONSTRUCT
concrete structures group
www.bca.org.uk www.bre.co.uk www.construct.org.uk www.rcc-info.org.uk www.detr.gov.uk 1
Introduction Table 2: Sequence of striking flat slabs
*Backpropping is defined as
propping installed at levels below
the slab supporting the falsework. One level Two levels
of propping Load of propping
It is done to distribute the load
applied to the uppermost slab
to suitable supports, such as Slab to be cast
lower slabs or foundations Falsework wp
Supporting slab (1)
The PWD’s role is to provide design On slab On slab In props On slab In props
information so that the construction New slab being cast total 100% 100% 100%
methods do not adversely affect the Falsework/formwork wp 100% 100% 100%
performance of the structure. On supporting slab (1) 100% wp 70% wp 65% wp
All technical and managerial staff
must be fully aware of the implications In backprops wb1 30% wp 35% wp
of the methods and procedures adopted. On lower slab (2) 30% wp 23% wp
Flow charts for striking and back- In backprops wb2 12% wp
propping procedures are given in Ref. 1. On lower slab (3) 12% wp
2
supporting but often when it is called Before striking However, the nature of the structure
upon to support the weight of a freshly The TWC will have assessed construction may dictate the procedure adopted
cast slab above. imposed loads when determining the (see Table 2). The TWD, in co-
required strength for striking but this operation with the PWD, should
Before concreting operations must be checked, by site inspection, stipulate the method and procedure
To cast the new slab, the supporting against actual loading. Consideration for the removal of the formwork.
slab immediately below should have must be given to the timing of the
sufficient capacity to carry the loads loading of the struck slab, especially After striking
imposed on it during construction. where flying or tableform systems As the concrete gains strength with
The loads on the supporting slab are: are quickly moved onto it. maturity and approaches design
strength, the construction load can
• Self-weight of supporting slab
(at 24 kN/m3). be increased. Early striking will allow
Determining the required maximum re-use of formwork
• Any construction load on the concrete strength for striking and falsework, and clearance of the
supporting slab. supporting floor and any lower levels
The recommended method is based
• Total construction load of the new of backpropping. The procedure should
on serviceability considerations, as in
slab, i.e. make allowance for loading regimes
practice these are critical. The basis
after early striking. It is good practice
◊ weight of concrete in new slab plus of this determination is fully detailed
once a floor is struck to install
◊ the self-weight of the temporary in ECBP research report BR394
backpropping beneath it at the earliest
works plus (Ref. 2)
opportunity; this will then help
◊ construction live load on new slab. The required strength of a concrete slab distribution of subsequent loads.
for striking depends on:
If the supporting slab has sufficient
capacity to carry the loads imposed, • Characteristic design service load. Deflection of slabs
backpropping is not required. If it does
not then backpropping is required (see
• Construction load. subjected to early striking
‘Design of backpropping’ on page 3). • Characteristic concrete design Deflection of concrete sections is
strength. closely linked to the extent of cracking
Before they are loaded, the concrete • Actual concrete characteristic and the degree to which the cracking
strength required in backpropped strength at the time of striking. capacity of the section is exceeded.
supporting slabs should be calculated Research at ECBP has shown that,
using the determinations in Table 1. The formula for calculating the required
provided the strength of the concrete
It should be noted that w will be much early striking strength is given by
at time of striking meets Determination 2
higher than for the new slab Determination 2 in Table 1. This gives
in Table 1, there is no significant effect
(see Table 3.) Determination 1 might the characteristic strength of concrete
on the total deflection.
be critical and this temporary condition fc required for early striking. It is
recommended that a minimum live Ongoing research on long-term
might need to become a design load
construction load of 0.75 kN/m2 be (3000 days) deflection indicates that,
case agreed with the PWD.
used for the slab. This load should compared with striking at 7 days,
be added to the slab self-weight to striking at 24 hours increases long-term
Table 1: Determination of strength
calculate w. An alternative graphical deflection by 25% and, at 3 days, by
required for early striking of flat slabs
method of obtaining fc is given in Ref. 1. 15%. ECBP slabs struck at 19 hours
remain within design limits.
These formulae apply for flat slabs Measurement of early age Traditionally, UK design codes have
300 mm thick or less
concrete strength placed limits on the ratio of span to
effective depth. These have led to an
Determination 1 For early striking, the in-situ strength
acceptable serviceability condition for
of the concrete should be determined.
most flat slab structures without
w The Best Practice Guide Early age
≤ 1.0 necessarily addressing current needs
wser assessment of concrete on site
for early-age loading. However, it can
recommends the Lok test or similar
be generally assumed that early striking
as it tests the actual cast concrete. The
Determination 2 will not significantly affect total
area to be struck should be determined
deflection This is considered further
w 1.67 in advance and the location of the most
( in Section 6.3 of Ref. 1.
fc ≥ fcu ( wser
critical concrete (usually the least
mature) should be established
and tested. The average result of four Design of backpropping
where or more tests is used to estimate the The requirement for backpropping
wser is the total unfactored design existing characteristic strength (fc) and its installation is not strictly part
service load, kN/m2 in Determination 2 for the area to of striking formwork. It has been
w is the total unfactored be struck. included in this Guide as the recent
construction load on the slab research at Cardington (Ref. 2) has
considered, kN/m2
Striking sequence changed previous understanding
fc is the required characteristic and re-emphasised the importance
concrete strength to be able The order of striking soffit formwork
of backpropping in efficient flat
to strike the flat slab, N/mm2 is important. For early striking, the
slab construction.
sequence should follow the order
fcu is the characteristic strength
in which the concrete was poured.
of the concrete,N/mm2
3
BEST PRACTICE GUIDES FOR IN-SITU CONCRETE FRAME BUILDINGS