Design of Funicular Arched Wooden Falsework

Abstract

Construction of buildings with conventional formwork/falsework systems involves using a great deal of wood as shoring, which involves cutting more trees, extra costs, more construction time, consuming a great deal of energy, and emitting a great deal of CO2. A new design is presented within this study that involves the use of funicular arched wooden trusses instead of the conventional stringer-shore falsework systems. A closed-form solution for the truss is formulated to calculate the straining actions and deflections. A parametric study is performed using the closed-form solution to study the variations of the straining actions and deflections within the members while changing the truss span. The weights of the proposed trusses are compared with the weights of conventional formwork to judge the economic and environmental soundness of the new system. The new system is proven to consume lower amounts of wood; to be more economic, easier, and faster to assemble and transport; to produce less carbon emissions; and to save more energy.