Isn’t a structural engineer does the structural design and analysis of certain structures including the sign and seal for permit purposes. I understand Civil engineers can also. What is the difference between the two in terms of limits, capability and liability?

Technorati Tags: design, structural

Read more on KOB 4 Albuquerque

Technorati Tags: buildings, FROM, metal, recycles, torndown

Technorati Tags: contractor, Leads., More

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is just around the corner with the first match kicking off in less than two years. During the event, all eyes will literally be on South Africa when the immense influx of football fans, tourists, world leaders and news reporters will paint a picture of South Africa’s capabilities to the rest of the world.

Major cities such as Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth are already showing the signs that the world’s most popular sports tournament is coming. This is without doubt the biggest event to be hosted by South Africa, and the incredible transformations taking place in these cities are a testament as to how important a successful execution of the tournament is for South Africa.

South Africa is rising to the challenge admirably by using construction and formwork for building state-of-the-art sports complexes and stadiums, upgrading major airports, revamping major cities, overhauling the transport system through the creation of the Gautrain and extending freeway sizes along with fixing roads and existing public transport systems. With the incredible formwork and construction happening in South Africa right now, by 2010, the country will be able to host a highly successful World Cup tournament and illustrate to millions of people around the world what a capable and incredible country South Africa is.

Sports Stadiums
Five brand new stadiums are under construction for the FIFA 2010 World Cup including Green Point Stadium (the previous Green Point Stadium was demolished in 2007), the Peter Mokaba Sports Complex, the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth (which, when complete, will be the fastest constructed sports stadium in the world) and the King Senzangakhona Stadium in Durban.

Other stadiums include the Soccer City Stadium and Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria and the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg. These stadiums each require huge construction processes and would not be able to be completed without formwork. With the use of formwork, construction companies are able to create magnificent and world-class stadiums, for example, the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga has been designed to mix modern architecture with trusted formwork and construction techniques.

18 concrete and steel giraffe structures provide supports for the steel roof to the stadium which will have used 50000 cubic meters of poured concrete, 6000 tons of steel, 90000 cubic meters of formwork concrete slabs used to create retaining walls and sheer walls to raise the Mbombela Stadium from the ground.
The Green Point Stadium in Cape Town will have made use of 130000 cubic meters of concrete, 390000 square meters of formwork, 12000 tons of reinforcing steel, six million bricks and a steel cable tensioned glazed roof.

The Gautrain
The Gautrain is an underground railway system under construction in Johannesburg to help ease the pressure on public transport during the tournament and to help traffic flow in the city. The planned route of the train is run between four main stations – Johannesburg, Sandton, Tshwane and OR Tambo Airport and also to additional stations – Rosebank, Marlboro, Midrand, Centurion, Hatfield and Rhodesfield.

Formwork is a major part of the Gautrain construction as the entire railway runs underground and requires underground boring and high strength supporting walls. There are already 783 precast segments manufactured for lining the tunnel. In Midrand there is a precast yard which is capable of pouring 120 cubic meters of concrete per hour. Various bridges along the railway are under construction, requiring the use of M-Beam Formwork which is transported via trucks to the sites where the bridges are under construction.

Roads and Infrastructure
Because of the influx of people expected for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the need for reliable infrastructure and transportation has increased greatly. With so many tourists expected to flock to South Africa during the tournament, the road system in the country is receiving a major upgrade. For example, the eThekwini (Durban) municipality is upgrading the Western Freeway. As it is one of the country’s busiest roads and would have been unable to cope with the heavy traffic expected during the World Cup tournament in terms of traffic flow and the road strength.

To ease congestion, both directions of the freeway are being extended to house additional lanes, making the freeway a four or five lane structure. Formwork is especially important when freeway bridges are under construction due to the difficult nature of constructing such heavy structures at a height. Formwork can be pre-cast and driven in or completed by scaffolding formwork.

City and Buildings
Many city centres in South Africa have suffered tremendous neglect as crime levels in the CBDs have kept the areas unpopular and unmaintained. With the forthcoming FIFA World Cup, major overhauls of the cities in South Africa are underway to create an attractive and memorable experience for everyone involved in the World Cup tournament.

In Johannesburg, the NASREC Expo Centre is currently being renovated for use as the media centre during the tournament with the outside areas already becoming more aesthetic with paved pathways. The CBD in Cape Town is seeing many benefits from the renovations happening in the centre – many old buildings are being returned into their former glory with careful renovations whilst the V&A Waterfront has just been extended.

The construction on the Waterfront has included a major emphasis on parking but also on increasing the size of the extremely popular building to include more shops, restaurants and activities for the influx of tourists. All of the major cities in South Africa are experiencing such renovations, increasing the attractiveness of South Africa to the foreigners who will visit the country during the famous tournament.

Formwork has been a major contributor to the construction efforts underway in South Africa. Using formwork, the country is producing first-rate sports stadiums, superior infrastructure, renovated, new and stylish buildings, better transport systems and generally, a modern, world-class destination. Through formwork, South Africa has the potential to prove to the world just how capable the country is of hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup successfully.

Technorati Tags: 2010, build, Fifa, formwork, World

Technorati Tags: construction, work;

Product Description
Based upon the 1971 Building Code. 49 pages…. More >>

Two Way Slab Design: Supplement to the CRSI Handbook

Technorati Tags: CRSI, design, Handbook, slab, Supplement

Technorati Tags: Bipalium, concrete, driveway, kewense, Land, planarian, snake, This

Technorati Tags: Bridge, Brougham, rebar, Royal

Concrete formwork is the use of support structures and moulds to create structures out of concrete which is poured into the moulds.

There are many different types of formwork used in construction, usually differing according to what the building requirements and challenges are. Formwork is used by creating moulds out of wood, steel, aluminium or prefabricated forms into which the concrete is poured. This is then allowed to harden and set after which it is stripped, or in the case of stay-in-place formwork it is left as part of the structure.

Formwork allows contractors to cast and construct the main parts of a building which are required to be strong and support the structure such as floors and walls, as well as smaller parts of a building such as stairs relatively quickly.

Types of Formwork
There are many different types of concrete formwork used in construction. Traditional timber formwork uses timber and plywood to form the moulds for pouring. This method is cheaper than other methods, yet not as effective because wood is not as strong as metal or steel. However, on complicated sections of buildings which need great attention to detail, timber formwork is still widely used.

Engineered formwork systems use prefabricated moulds made from a metal frame, usually either steel or aluminium. Engineered formwork is much cheaper and quicker to use than traditional formwork. The frames are extremely strong and rarely need replacing, reducing costs. Due to the formwork systems being engineered, their construction is faster and requires less manpower, again saving money. Simple structures can be built with re-usable plastic formwork systems (a type of engineered formwork), which consist of strong, lightweight, interlocking systems.

Stay–in-place formwork is used generally for the supporting parts of a structure. This type of formwork consists of insulating concrete forms which are filled with reinforced concrete and once set, are left in place.

About Concrete
In construction formwork, concrete is used to pour into the formwork systems to create structures or parts thereof. Concrete is made of cement mixed with other substances such as limestone, granite, gavel and sand and mixed with water to form a mixture. After water has been added, the mixture undergoes hydration which is the reaction between the cement and water that leads to the hard substance of concrete which is then used for construction.

When concrete is mixed, the success and quality of the concrete in structures is known as workability. Concrete can be made to different qualities depending on the amount of water, the type of water, the shape of the mould, how long the cement has been hydrating for and amount and type of cement contained in the mixture. The quality of the cement is reduced if too much water is included, causing the cement to separate from the other substances which make up the concrete mixture.

Concrete can crack, which was problematic for constructions throughout history as they ran the risk of collapse. Today reinforced concrete is used which is a much stronger substance and rarely cracks. When concrete is reinforced, it is filled with metal rods and reinforcing bars with other materials such as glass and plastic fibre.

Concrete formwork is widely used in present day construction. With the many different types of formwork available, any building project is more easily achievable because different methods can be used to achieve the desired result. When reinforced, concrete is a virtually indestructible material, perfect for major construction work, as well as small, detailed and complex structures.

Technorati Tags: concrete, construction, formwork, Uses

Technorati Tags: construction