New solutions appear daily in the field of UHPC (Ultra-High Performance Concrete).
Today I would like to introduce one of the latest that we have produced, the Industrial Raised Floor.
The recycling company RECICLADOS RIBERA DEL XUQUER is the first client that has been involved in this flooring solution produced by PREFABRICADOS FORMEX SL.
If you want to know something more about this industrial raised floor, go on reading
THE INDUSTRIAL RAISED FLOOR
As you may know, a raised floor is an indoor paving that is raised using a number of individual supports that can be regulated in height. The floor forms grids with spacing that will be used to allocate different pipes, conducts or wiring
When this is required for an industry, the adequate size for the grid and the requirements of vehicle trafficking are generally much larger than the required for an office.
For this reason, we have designed and precast this raised flooring, adapted to the requirements of our industrial client.
ADVANTAGES OF THE UHPC INDUSTRIAL RAISED FLOOR
There are many advantages of using a UHPC industrial raised flooring, as:
1-LARGER SLABS, WITH TAILERED SIZE AND SHAPE
In this design and due to the customer requirements we have used slabs of 1.48 x 2.40 m (most common size), using other smaller elements for the adjustment.
The size is generally conditioned by the transport conditions and by the size of the textures that are desired to avoid joints in the elements.
2-HIGHER STRUCTURAL CAPACITY
In this example, the capacity of the slabs is of 500 kg/m2 of distributed design load, but the value can be much higher if the application requires it.
3-LESS JOINTS
As the units are larger, the number of joints is much smaller than for other raised flooring.
4-SLAB WITH MINIMUM THICKNESS
The thickness of the slab is in the range of L/100, being L the large side of the slab.
IN THIS EXAMPLE THE SLABS HAD 4 CM. OF THICKNESS
5-REDUCTION OF THE NUMBER OF THE SUPPORTS
As the slab units are larger, the number of supports is much more reduced than with other materials. This allows to reduce the personnel and the time required to carry out the works.
6-MANY POSSIBILITIES OF TEXTURES AND FINISHES
One of the main advantages of the Formex® (registered UHPC that we do) is its ability to perfectly copy the texture of the formwork that is used. Besides, the elements can be done in different colors, avoiding to use paints.
7-POSSIBILITIES OF MAKING HOLES AND CROSSING THE SLAB
In many occasions, raised floors require that flush box are foreseen. The precast elements allow that. It is also possible to open a hole in the finished precast elements.
8-DURABILITY
Last but not least, this property is one of the most relevant. The solution can be installed not only outside of the factory, but also in aggressive environments (acid, salts…), as the minimum porosity of Formex® guarantees a much larger lifespan than the ordinary concrete elements.
INSTALLATION OF THE SLABS
The company JOSE GORRIZ CONSTRUCCIONES S.L, allocated in Torrent (VALENCIA), has produced the supports, has disposed the facilities, has assembled the slabs and performed the development works of the green areas.
As always in the precast world, the success of the whole system required the professionalism of the company that installed the elements, completing a solution of which we are proud.
THE ADVANTAGE OF PREFFOR
If you take a look at PREFFOR website you may be surprised by the wide range of sustainable products produced by this recently-created SME. Some of them were described in articles as bateas con UHPC or Precast UHPC Footbridges.
Our strength is the capacity to design and precast solutions for specific problems where the ordinary concrete or the steel are a poor solution or could be improved.
If you have the need of slender elements, pieces for aggressive environments, light structural products or raised floors we will be pleased to listen to your needs and design and produce for you an optimized solution. Contact us!
SINCE CONTAINERIZED TRANSPORT IS ECONOMICAL, WE CAN GO FURTHER
I want to thank again to Esteban Camacho, PhD for his help in the English translation of this post.
If your prefer to read this article in Spanish, please click here