Formwork Design

Formwork Design

An essential feature in the latest release of ProtaStructure is the design of formworks. 

Refer to this article for the design guide and the scope of implementation :   Design of Formworks and Formwork Scaffolds (Turkey Code)

Timber Material for Formworks

Timber materials are introduced in ProtaStructure to be used in joist, stringer, and shoring calculations. Timber materials and sections are currently limited to formwork members only. We plan to enable them for other structural members in the future. Timber material strengths are compatible with EN 12369-1, EN-12369-2, and EN-12369-3

Alternatively, steel sections also are used for joists, stringers, and shores.


Column and Shear wall Formworks

Formwork members can be inserted for columns, walls, beams, and slabs. You can insert formworks one-by-one to individual members or in batches. 
Below is a typical formwork for a shear wall. The order of operations is as follows:
  1. Define section properties for plywood sheathing, joist, stringer, tie-rod, and brace.
  2. Enter the layout options, such as edge margins for joists and stringers.
  3. Enter tie-rod capacity. Tie-rods are installed across the opposite faces of the scaffold to hold the faces intact. The number of tie rods will be calculated based on the capacity and the lateral concrete pressure.
  4. Enter concrete pouring temperature and speed. Concrete pressure will be automatically calculated. Joists and stringer spacings are calculated based on the concrete pressure on the sides and the bottom.
  5. Enter the parameters for wind load calculation. Braces will be designed against wind action.


Define the brace parameters:
  1. Specify the surfaces on which the braces will be installed. You can add as many braces as you like on the formwork surfaces or remove them.
  2. Stringer Level: Specify the stringer level for brace connection. The height from the bottom will be calculated using this parameter.
  3. L1: The horizontal distance on the ground from the face of the formwork to the ground connection of the brace.
  4. Angle: This is the angle of the brace. You can change L1 and Angle parameters interchangeably. The default value for the angle is 45 degrees.
  5. Horizontal Quantity: Number of braces on the stringer. You can insert as many braces as you want on a single stringer.
  6. Horizontal Spacing: This is automatically calculated from horizontal quantity. Braces are spaced equally on the surface.
  7. Axial Load Capacity: This is the horizontal component of the axial capacity of a brace. It is automatically calculated using the angle and the brace’s capacity. It is then multiplied by the number of braces on a stringer and compared with horizontal wind load.
  8. Total Wind Load: Total horizontal wind load calculated for the formwork.
  9. Brace Axial Load Capacity: The axial load capacity of the brace member. You are expected to enter this considering axial compression capacity and buckling. Usually, this is given in catalogs depending on the section and length of the brace.


As you change parameters on the dialog, the design will be automatically carried out and summarized in the table at the bottom of the window.

The design outputs are Joist Quantity, Stringer Quantity, Stringer Spacing, and Tie-Rod Quantity. You can edit these values on the summary table, and the design status will update accordingly if the entered values are insufficient.

The summary table is organized with respect to formwork surfaces. Depending on the structural configuration, you can uncheck the “Is Used” parameter to remove a surface from the formwork assembly. This option may be helpful if another member is a natural boundary for the designed member.
Column formworks are precisely the same as shear walls. 

Slab Formworks

Slab formworks are different from columns and shearwalls because lateral concrete pressure is not used in the design. The total weight of the concrete and preliminary approximate weight of scaffolds are used in Joist Quantity, Joist Spacing, Stringer Quantity, Stringer Spacing, Shore Quantity, and Shore Spacing calculations.


To design a slab formwork:
  1. Define section properties for plywood sheathing, joist, stringer, tie-rod, and brace.
  2. Enter the layout options, such as edge margins for joists and stringers.
  3. To calculate the load on the formwork, specify the unit weight of concrete (with rebars) and approximate weight of scaffold (which is not designed yet).
  4. Enter the live load on the formwork, which is the weight of workers, equipment, etc.
  5. Specify the shore capacity. The shore spacing and quantity will be calculated based on the flexural strength of stringers and the axial capacity of shores.
  6. If shores are left in place for multiple stories, you can specify the ‘Successive Shore Number (n)’. In this way, the total load will increase, and you may need more shores.

Beam Formworks

Beam formworks are a combination of column/wall and slab formworks. Side joists and stringers are designed similar to columns, whereas the bottom components are similar to slabs.
You can specify the bottom joist direction parallel or perpendicular to the beam axis.



Batch Formwork Design

You can design all formworks for the members in batch mode. For this purpose:
  1. Click the “Design > Formwork Design” button on the ribbon. The “Formwork Batch Design” window will be opened.
  2. You can filter and narrow down the list by the storey, member type, or member label for convenience on this window.
  3. Click “Design All” to design all formworks on the list. ProtaStructure will automatically group the formworks by checking their geometry. In this way, you don’t need to provide reports for all members.
  4. After the design is finished, each member is assigned a formwork type.
  5. You can generate a detailed step-by-step report once you are done.


3D Formwork View

You can visualize the formworks on the physical model on a storey basis. To open a new formwork view, click the “3D Formwork Model” button under the “View” ribbon tab.


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