Contemporary trends in formwork standards - A case study

One expression of the renewed attention gained recently by formwork for concrete is the current revision of formwork standards. This paper presents the new Israeli formwork standard as a case study for contemporary trends in formwork standardization. The main novelty in the new standard is its similar treatment of the design of temporary structures to that of permanent structures, resulting in the replacement of the traditional allowable-stress approach with the concept of limit-state design and partial safety factors. The paper presents this concept and discusses its applicability to formwork design. In addition, the paper highlights several other issues of a contemporary nature, which appear to be worth debate by standardization committee members from the industry and academia. In the course of the preparation of the new Israeli standard, American, European, and Australian standards and similar documents were closely studied; some comparisons of design and loading data that may affect construction safety and economy are also presented in this paper.