Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Removal of Shuttering from Structural Elements

Many times, I have been asked what is the ideal time for maintaining formwork after casting of a structural element such as column, wall, beam and slab.

Below is only a general guideline for removal of formwork and not to be followed without the approval of your structural consultant.

a) Removal of formwork from walls, columns and vertical surfaces - 24 hours

b) Removal of formwork from slabs while keeping the props - 4 days

c) Removal of formwork from beams while keeping the props - 7 days

d) Removal of props under slabs
1) Slab span upto 4.5m - 7days
2) Slab span above 4.5m - 14 days

e)Removal of props under beams
1) For beams upto 4.5 m - 14 days
2) For beams above 4.5m - 21 days

Please remember after removal of formwork, proper curing of concrete is really important.

Power Sector Outook

Currently the installed capacity of India is 160,000 MW of which nearly 80 percent is with PSU's and govt bodies and 20 percent is with private sector.

In 2009, India was able to add about 10,000 MW to its capacity.
The good news is that the ministries are taking a very active role in fast tracking projects and its likely that another 10,000 MW would be added by end of 2010. More then 40 private projects have been cleared and would be under construction soon. Typically it takes 3-5 years for a thermal power plant to be operational once the construction starts.

Major players in Power Sector:
NTPC is the largest player with installed capacity of 32,000MW
Tata Power and Reliance Infra are the major private players.
NHPC is the largest player in hydropower space.

For the first time Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) ie power plants with 4000MW capacity have been sanctioned and four of the UMPP's are expected to be commissioned by 2015.

The future of power sector looks very positive.