Falsework is a temporary structure supporting the permanent structure while it is not
self-supporting. Falsework is commonly required in concrete construction which
involves a number of parties such as the design engineer, contractor, subcontractor,
supplier and checking engineer. In the past, many failures occurred due to procedural
inadequacy such as confusion in responsibility delineation and communication. In
Hong Kong, during the last six years, at least eight major falsework collapses have
been reported.
Researchers studying falsework failures have devised models for analysis and
prediction. However, procedural inadequacy has not been adequately considered and
assessed in these models. Further, these models were mainly used to predict the
likelihood of eventual failure at loading stage without evaluating the safety condition
at various stages of falsework construction.
The overall aim of this thesis was to develop a procedural framework that can be used
to assess the proneness to failure at different stages of constructing falsework in Hong
Kong, thus, warning can be given promptly.
[Continues.
