Paschal circular steel formwork ...
used for the concrete pillars.
Paschal speeds up work on Baghdad tanks
01 December 2009
PASCHAL formwork systems from Germany have recently been used in the construction of three large water reservoirs at Rassafa near Baghdad in Iraq.
The three large tanks, each with a capacity of one million litres of freshly-treated water, will serve six million people and were built at a cost of more than $200 million.
The structures – 230 m long, 125 m wide and 5.7 m high – were constructed in reinforced concrete using modern wall formwork. After examining a number of different products, the contractor decided on the Raster/GE Modular universal formwork by Paschal.
Construction of the shell of the structures started in early 2008.
“The work with the Paschal Modular system proved to be faster and simpler than with using other products and the results were also substantially more impressive and matched the expectations of the client,” says Amir Delghandi, general director of Bahrain-based Paschal Concrete Forms, the regional office for Paschal. “Furthermore, Modular can be used as a manual portable formwork independent of cranes, another feature welcomed on the site.”
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The corners of the tanks were first formed with a set of 27-m by 28-m formwork elements, which were then set to one formwork cycle of 45 m length by 6 m height and filled with two concrete pumps within one day, he says.
This formwork produces a surprisingly good concrete surface, Delghandi points out. Inside each of the tanks are 600 concrete pillars, 0.5 m in diameter, formed by eight sets of the Paschal circular steel column formwork. Each one was topped with a mushroom-head formwork cap to ensure better load distribution.
“According to local building supervisors, traditional shuttering methods would have taken at least five times as long. A modern supporting formwork would have demanded many more workers to complete the work in a similarly short period,” he comments.
The project, which was completed earlier this year for Baghdad Municipal Services, had been planned as far back as 1979 but could only be implemented now. The contractor on the development was Al Mabrouk and Al Essam and the formwork systems and design was supplied by Paschal Werk in Jordan. The costs for the complete water-treatment and conditioning programme for the millions of inhabitants in Baghdad will amount to more than $800 million.
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Paschal formwork ... shaping the reservoirs in Iraq. |
“The Raster/GE Modular universal formwork has justifiably earned its name, as it has proved its versatility and flexibility on building sites of every description in more than 60 countries, whether in foundation work, on walls, shafts, polygonal structures, piers or beams,” Delghandi says.
Paschal offers a diverse range of formwork systems to suit a variety of site requirements. These systems have helped speed up as well as ease work on a number of major projects worldwide.
For instance, the company’s robust Athlete formwork was used to shape the flood control hydraulic structure – 35 m high and 100 m long, with 1.75-m-thick walls – which forms the core of the largest dam currently being built in Central Europe.
The 110-m-wide, 460-m-long and up to 18-m-high earthfill dam is being constructed straight across the narrow Bregtal valley in Germany, which will be able to hold 4.7 million cu m of water along a length of four km, and on an area of 70 hectares.
“Athlete, the large-sized and steel-framed formwork, is suitable for use in industrial and civil engineering,” says Delghandi. “It offers outstanding value with regard to concrete pressure absorption and tolerances of deflection, as well as very low numbers of formwork ties within the concrete. The sophisticated formwork system also opens up a variety of applications for structural and underground construction.”
“Athlete offers an efficient and coherent formworks concept, which minimises effort and expenditure as well as wear and tear, while significantly improving work speed and safety,” he adds.
Ceiling works for the decks at a height of 18.6 m of the flood control structure were facilitated with Gass towers.
Gass system is an advancement on the already-available aluminium shoring system. With its certified load-carrying capacity of 140 kN per support, it is the most powerful support system, which surpasses even many steel-based systems, says
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The flood control structure ... shaped with Paschal systems. |
“In comparison with other systems, Gass requires fewer supports and other system components. That means that the system will provide more than just time savings in regards to assembly and disassembly. Due to its quick and easy manageability and its low intrinsic weight and the user-friendly assembly, Gass is far superior to similar systems,” he concludes.
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