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