Gulf Construction Online - Insulated building system is promoted

Insulation

The Jodran system ... fast construction and reduced costs.

Insulated building system is promoted

01 December 2001

A Bahrain firm is promoting a total building system that offers benefits of inbuilt insulation, structural strength, fast construction, design freedom and reduced costs.

The system, from Jodran Company of Saudi Arabia, has already made its debut on a part of a new three-star hotel in Bahrain, according to Al Namal Group's trading division, its sole distributor in the country.

The technology can be used to build residential and multi-storey buildings, schools, and hospitals, Al Namal adds.

"Jodran's system is a multi-discipline concept based on a three-dimensional module made with 2.2-mm-diameter galvanised steel wires," explains a company spokesman. "These modules or lattices are produced by computer-controlled automated machines in various shapes and dimensions."

He continues: ""Inserted within the lattice are 4-cm-thick insulation layers of flame-retardant polystyrene with a density of 22 kg/cu m. For walls, these layers are inserted on both sides of the elements leaving a cavity in between for concrete to be cast in-situ. When these elements are erected on site and the reinforcement steel is fixed, the cavity is then filled with concrete. Finally, all electrical conduits and water supply pipes are embedded and two coats of plaster are applied to the surface of these elements."

Key aspects such as structural strength, insulating properties, speed of construction and labour costs have been constantly refined to achieve optimal results and the system provides an excellent balance between economic, ecological and social requirements, according to the spokesman.

Elaborating on its insulative features, he says: "The fire-retardant polystyrene serves as a permanent shuttering and protection for the concrete, hosts the electrical conduits, water supply pipes, architectural add-ons to the building facades and more importantly provides thermal and sound insulation, which is an integral part of the system.

"Although, polystyrene is considered to be one of the best thermal insulation materials, other kinds of insulation materials such as mineral wool, mill board, cement board, hardboard and cork could also be used, based on the availability of these materials locally and the level of thermal insulation required.

"In residential buildings, for example, the insulation usually consists of one layer of polystyrene on both sides of the walls and under the slabs, whereas in industrial buildings, multiple layers of polystyrene or any other insulation material can be used to obtain the required thermal insulation factor.

"This degree of insulation makes Jodran buildings far superior to any other similar systems."

Since the foundation, walls and slabs are constructed with reinforced concrete, the building behaves as a monolithic structural unit, providing greater resistance to differential in soil settlement and seismic activity, he says. "Studies by the Cornel University in the US have shown that the lateral strength of infilled walls connected to frame members is 200 to 600 per cent more than that of normal frames."

Jodran says it is capable of producing all the panels required for an average building within a week. The erection of these panels at site is said to be very easy and fast due to its light weight and an intelligent wire arrangement to accurately adjust the placement of rebar.

Concreting operations - for walls, columns and lintels - can be undertaken a floor at a time and as shear-bearing walls can be erected in spans of up to 12 m, this leads to significant savings in construction time, he says.

The standard methods and specification adopted by Jodran comply with the requirements of the ACI (American Concrete Institute) and ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) and this guarantees the quality of material and the method used in the construction, according to the company.

Jodran uses a state-of-the-art software developed in-house called JCAD, which controls the designing, estimation, production, project budgeting and construction scheduling of a project.

"Unlike other systems and construction methods, our concept offers the architect total creativity," the spokesman says. "He can be the absolute master of his project, at liberty to exploit his imagination to the hilt."