Study on Current Formwork Practices and Trends In Ethiopian Building Construction Industries: Case of Selected Contractors in Addis Ababa

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Date

2019-06

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Formwork has been used since the introduction of Portland cement and construction of concrete structures. It has remained a labor intensive activity where most of the carpenters start off as daily laborers and finish up as formwork carpenters without any formal training especially in the Ethiopian construction industry. But nowadays due to globalization across the world, the construction industry has started focusing on new innovative ways of formwork construction and approaches to increase overall efficiency of the project. Formwork not only holds the concrete during its wet stage but has many other important functions in the activity of concreting. It becomes integral part in construction and the foremost important trade in the reinforced concrete construction works which leads and determines the smooth flow of all subsequent construction activities. Formwork types and the way they are erected and handled affect the quality of the concrete finish and also the economy. Good quality of formwork can contribute to good quality of concrete. On the other hand, bad formwork has often produced failures of minor as well as major magnitude leading to additional treatments. Questionnaires results from 36 respondents and observations in 3 projects sites for this research conducted in Addis Ababa, indicated that bad form joints, offsets, verticality problems and poor facing material are some of the evident that bad forms can potentially have on the surface of concrete and leads to additional treatments. Financial capacity of contractors is found the main factor that affect formwork selection which contributes to bad concrete surface finishing; and improper selection of form release agents together with poor workmanships have highly affected the reusability of plywood in the building construction sites in Addis Ababa. One of the root causes for poor formwork practices by some of the local contractors in Addis Ababa is, striving to compensate the low bid amount by low cost materials, for example, used oil which highly affects the formwork. Based on results, this research contributes on improving future formwork constructions in Ethiopia by creating awareness from current practices in Addis Ababa.

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Keywords

Formwork, Current practice, reuse of formwork, form release agent, lifecycle

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