Briefing: Construction of RC buildings – ICITECH's experience over the last 30 years

Abstract

This paper contains a summary of the experience obtained by researchers at the Instituto Universitario de Ciencia y Tecnología del Hormigón (ICITECH) at Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), in the last 30 years of investigating reinforced concrete building structures under construction. During this period, ambitious experimental campaigns and advanced computational simulations have been carried out, and new analytical methods have been formulated to assess slab–falsework load transmissions in buildings under construction. From all these campaigns the following main conclusions can be derived. First, it is important to consider construction processes when planning building projects. Second, the use of analytical methods to evaluate construction processes need to be adapted to the current requirements of efficiency and sustainability. Third, there is a need to improve the robustness of temporary shoring or propping structures. Improving the construction sector necessarily involves the implementation of the above measures in buildings under construction and the use of new monitoring and inspection technologies for the construction processes applied.