Rational design of shoring-tower-based formwork

Although formwork based on high shoring towers is a very common solution for forming elevated slabs and other concrete elements over high spaces, the trade literature furnishes neither detailed guidelines nor basic cost data for the design of such formwork. The present paper presents a method for the design of elevated-slab formwork using scaffold-type towers as the vertical shoring element. The method includes the definition of a basic tower layout and its properties, an algorithm for determining the distances between the various elements of the formwork, and key information as a basis for economic evaluation of alternate design solutions. Whereas the algorithm directly solves a general case of a flat, nonconstrained slab, the method as a whole readily applies to elevated slabs and other high-rise concrete elements of any kind. The method has been found particularly useful when computerized. It may become even more important when incorporated into an intelligent design system that will take into account shape and load constraints exerted by particular cases.