SEG-IRAQ Operations / Dhe Qar Province

Bab Al Nasiriya Development Project

Monolithic construction System

SUBMITTAL
FOR CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM APPROVAL
CAST IN PLACE MONOLITHIC CONCRETE STRUCTURE

IIntroduction
After assessing the project contents and required quality for the housing units, it is obvious
that the execution time is the most important criteria along with quality and occupants
comfort. For that we considered all options leading to the required results and we concluded
that the housing units should be executed using a modern chain production system able to
guaranty higher quality and comfort ratings in an exceptional shorter time than traditional
construction methods.
The above philosophy is considerably reinforced by the fact that the project is horizontally
spread (heavy equipment is not suitable) and the fact that the housing units are of only three
types which means a high repetition ratio of every single type.

IIObjective
In our approach, we had to fix our objectives in order to find the most suitable and optimal
answers. Thus the projects operations set the following objectives as being the constraints
for our assessment:

Rigidity, strength and integrity of the structure in addition to maximum durability.

Comfort of the occupants, knowing that the weather conditions at the project location
are among the most extreme conditions that can be faced.
Good finishing quality.
Exceptionally short execution time frame in order to satisfy the great needs &
demand in housing in the project area.

SEG international having a consistent experience in this type of projects, striving to fulfill its
clients satisfaction that overcomes all other profit considerations, guided our team to find
and recommend the optimal solution that will satisfy all the above constraints, by:

Building a whole unit shell entirely made of reinforced concrete which proved its
rigidity and durability for ages.
An external shell of the unit having very low thermal conductivity that means an
efficient thermal insulation.
Obtain fair faced concrete walls and ceilings completely avoiding irregularities of the
finish layers (plastering) that are common when using the traditional Tabouk bricks
and/or the cement blocks.

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Monolithic construction System

A chain production system proven to deliver an average of two (2) housing units by
the end of every working day after the units construction launching period (estimated
to be shorter than four weeks).
Embedding all electrical conduits within the unit shell during construction, eliminating
chipping the walls.
Standardization of all openings dimensions (doors & windows) which allows a mass
production of those items in advance of construction, that means better quality,
shorter lead times and extremely faster installation.
Avoiding heavy lifting equipment (needed in some formwork or heavy precast
systems) since the project is a horizontal development.

III-

Recommended Construction System (Monolithic threedimensional light weight formwork)

The monolithic formwork system was introduced in early 60s and proved its efficiency
through many decades of time and adopted by many government and private housing firms
in all around the world mentioning the fast developed countries in East Asia, South America
and Middle East profiting from the fast production in construction and uniformity of products
in addition to the quality of the resulting product being a solid reinforced concrete structure
that provides the least maintenance cost over decades of use.

Monolithic Formwork Sample

The relevant concept of construction is to build in one shot a whole cast in place concrete
floor structure all together including but not limited to:
Columns
Bearing and non-bearing walls
Beams
Slabs
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Bab Al Nasiriya Development Project
Monolithic construction System

Stairs and landings

Windows and door openings
Embedded insulation (when required)
Embedded conduits

The main characteristics of the monolithic formwork system:

A tailor made formwork especially fabricated for a given pre-engineered

repetitive structure.
A factory fabricated formwork that guaranties minimum tolerance in quality of
concrete.
Whole made of rigid but lightweight aluminum panels including the concrete
facing surface (smooth surface).
Easy handled and lightweight formwork that can cycle within the site easily.
The system is especially well suited for mass housing or multiple-unit housing
developments because of its quick erection and striking time.
Timely considerable fast production rate.

The benefits resulting from such method of construction are limitless structural wise,
durability, insulation and finishing.

IV-

The System Advantages

1- Structure rigidity, strength and integrity

The three aspects that affect the rigidity, strength & integrity of a structure can be grouped
as follows:
-

The tolerance in dimensions leading to proper installation.

The material compressive strength.
The material resistance to water, moist and other porous aspects.

Traditional Tabouk: yellow or reddish clay bricks of dimension 11.5*7.5*24 cm which are
commonly used in Iraq for internal and external walls. Rendered with (cement and sand) mix
plaster on both sides (interior and exterior). Starting in the 20th century, the use of brickwork
declined worldwide due to concerns with earthquakes. Earthquakes such as the San
Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the 1933 Long Beach earthquake revealed the
weaknesses of brick masonry in earthquake-prone areas. During seismic events, the mortar
cracks and crumbles, and the bricks are no longer held together. The mortar joints ratio =
17.28%
However the most optimal (Class A) traditional brick characteristics as being used in Iraq:
- Dimensional tolerance
: 3 %, means a 3cm tolerance for every one meter
long in all directions.
- Compressive strength
: 8.9 N/mm2,
- Water absorption
: 25-26%
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Monolithic construction System

Traditional tabouk wall

Reinforced concrete: as known, reinforced concrete is used to build the core of any
structure worldwide, the concrete is consisted of mixing Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) or
Sulfate Resistant Portland Cement (SRPC) with selected aggregates (20-25mm) and sand,
the reaction of the above mix with water will produce concrete product with optimal
compressive strength to be defined as per structural study recommendation.
Yet, the concrete mix, reinforced with appropriate steel rebar mesh, will be poured in the
designated formwork and will be kept to dry before submitting to curing phase till reaching
the desired strength.
However the most optimal reinforced concrete characteristics as being used in Iraq:
-

Dimensional tolerance
directions.
Compressive strength
Water absorption

: 0.5%; means 5mm for every one meter in all

: 20 N/mm2,
: 5%

By a simple comparison of the above data; we conclude that concrete walls are largely more
integer than the Tabouk constructed walls, they have more than two times strength and
less than one fifth absorption.
2- Thermal insulation

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Bab Al Nasiriya Development Project
Monolithic construction System
Thermal conductivity is a critical constrain when developing in a location like South of Iraq,
since the weather condition may reach extreme levels of heat in summer and cold in winter
and it is a challenge to be able to build a weatherproof facility especially when it comes to
individual residential unit that:
-

Is energy-efficient, thus saving the owners money.

Provides more uniform temperatures throughout the space. There is less
temperature gradient both vertically (between ankle height and head height) and
horizontally from exterior walls, ceilings and windows to the interior walls, thus
producing a more comfortable occupant environment when outside temperatures are
extremely cold or hot.
Unlike heating and cooling equipment, insulation is permanent and does not require
maintenance, upkeep, or adjustment. Convenient insulation will largely reduce the
recurring expenses.
Lowers the Tripton rating of the carbon footprint produced by the house.

Thermal insulation is the act of reducing the thermal conductivity (k) of the building shell
which is inversely proportional to the thermal resistance value (R), resulting lower exchange
of heat through the building shell. Providing such system requires using materials with high
thermal resistance values along with avoiding non-preferred thermal bridges within the
entity.

Traditional Masonry Walls

Traditionally, builders seek to use thermal resistant masonry unit joined together using
mortar, where, besides the modest results in thermal resistance of the units (brick, cement
block) the mortar used to assemble the units all together creates thermal bridges.
Thermal bridges affect the thermal resistance which will increase thermal conductivity,
enabling additional heat exchange through the surface. Thus, the homogeneity of a surface
is a recommendation.

Graphic simulation of thermal bridges in a

traditional Tabouk wall. The red spots define the
higher thermal conductivity surfaces.

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Monolithic construction System

Cast in Place Insulation System (CPI)

This solution combines the construction efficiency of our monolithic forming system with a
method to install high quality foam insulation within the structural walls. A continuous layer of
insulation foam is installed inside the formwork prior to the walls casting. The result is a
completely closed high performance thermal barrier with no thermal bridges.
For over 20 years the CIP System has been used extensively to insulate cast-in-place
concrete structures both above and below grade. It has been proven to be the most effective
method to incorporate a continuous foam insulation barrier within a concrete structure to
achieve high R-values, home comfort, and energy savings.

Continuous insulation system inside formwork

(Extruded Polystyrene panels placed at the centerline of walls)

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Bab Al Nasiriya Development Project
Monolithic construction System
The CIP System utilizes the Thermal Mass Effect of concrete combined with the properties
of the foam insulation to achieve effective R values that are 2 to 3 times greater than the
material alone.

The CIP System is comprised of two main components, the Rigid Insulation made of
Extruded Polystyrene and the Fiber-Composite Connectors:
Rigid Insulation
- Extruded Polystyrene
- High long term R-Value 1.76 RSI/ 25mm thickness (of insulation).
- Protected within concrete.
- Readily available.
- Water, mold and pest resistant.
- Easily modified to fit around doors and windows.
- Can be ganged together and installed in the form in pre-prepared units.

Fiber Composite Connectors

-

Thermally non-conductive
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Monolithic construction System

Ties the two layers of concrete together through the insulation barrier

Positions the insulation within the wall

Each Connector is comprised of a composite connector rod with toothed collar and a
retaining button to hold the insulation firmly in place in
either a balanced or unbalanced wall.

Connectors are made of 76,000 strands of EGlass

bonded with a Vinyl Resin. When embedded in the
concrete they form a structural bond between the two
layers of concrete on either side of the insulation.

Each Connector Assembly has a tested pull out

strength of 11kN and a shear capacity of 0.2kN
ensuring the structural integrity of the wall.

The combined material has the same expansion and contraction properties as
concrete to avoid cracking and spilling.

The materials are resistant to the high alkaline content of concrete and thus wont
degrade over time.

The connector is non-conductive and thus eliminates thermal bridging on either side
of the insulation through the connector.

The primary insulation component, the extruded polystyrene (XPS), combines with the ability
of concrete to store energy and dampen the effects of temperature change to considerably
increase the actual effective R-value for the constructed wall.
The effectiveness of the CIP System is also increased since the insulation barrier is
continuous throughout the wall as opposed to more traditional solutions which create thermal
bridging and reduce the effectiveness of the insulation.
As a result, the Interior temperature of a structure is stabilized against exterior temperature
changes much better than conventional insulation.
The effect of temperature change on heating and cooling systems is greatly reduced
resulting in significant energy savings and home comfort.

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Monolithic construction System

Continuous Insulation without

thermal bridging

Very low resistance

Thermograph of wall with discontinuous

insulation and thermal bridging

Medium resistance

High resistance

Thermograph of wall using the

Thermomass CIP System

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Monolithic construction System
3- Finishing quality
The desired finishing quality is high end fair face concrete surface, with the ability to receive
final finishing immediately after striking the formwork.
Fair Face finish: We adopted such solution to eliminate the defects that can be caused by
applying traditional plastering which must reach critical thickness when needed to align the
waviness of the subsurface caused by deformity of used bricks and/or cement blocks.
MEP Embedded Items: Mechanical and Electrical embedded items, will be installed in walls
and ceiling prior pouring concrete avoiding chipping the finished surface for installation.
Openings for doors and windows: the monolithic formwork system is a high precision
factory tailor made mold able to produce repetitive similar units with exactly same
dimensions openings. Therefore, the production doors and windows will start separately
without referring to site verification and measurements. That will allow installation right after
formwork striking.
Roof finishing: the roofing which is a critical issue regarding water proofing and insulation,
the monolithic system can provide a roof cast along with the walls avoiding joints at soffits
and leaning the concrete surface as per required slope during pouring stage then applying
protected waterproofing membrane and insulation on the top of concrete surface.

Fair face finished concrete surface

Installation of MEP embedded items

during formwork assembly.

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Monolithic construction System

Standardization of openings allowing

easy production of doors, windows and
any required architectural details, in
one shot with the integral structure.

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Monolithic construction System
4- Time frame
The effectiveness of the monolithic Construction System relies on a unique and very efficient
daily repetitive work cycle. The other trades of reinforcing steel, concreting and mechanical
and electrical works also benefit from daily repetitive work. This efficiency also applies (to
a lesser degree) to the trades that follow such as tiling, plastering and painting.
The Monolithic System will result in the houses being constructed at the standard rate of one
house per day with one set of equipment. Each floor level of a particular house will be
concreted with a five day lag time between floor levels to allow for sufficient curing of the
concrete on the floor below. However, once the construction cycling is fully underway, one
ground floor, one first floor and one roof floor will be concreted every consecutive working
day with each set of equipment operating. The other trades such as steel reinforcement,
mechanical and electrical and the Monolithic System formwork itself follow along at the same
rate.
This justifies the time frame objective of producing a chain production which; after the
completion the very first unit; is able to produce one housing unit at the end of each
working day.

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Monolithic construction System
5- Recapitulative Comparison
In reference to previous paragraphes and annexed sheets, we present here-after, a
comparison table recapitulating the advantages of the concrete (insulated) walls versus the
Tabouk walls.

Water
Absorption

Cement
Plaster
15 mm
R-1

Adobe
Brick
240 mm
R-2

Thermal Resistance (m2.k/W)

Gypsum
Reinforced
extruded
Plaster
Concrete
polystyrene
15 mm
80 mm
50 mm
R-3
R-4
R-5

Thickness

compressive
strength

Traditional
Tabouk

24 cm

8.9 N/mm2

25%

0.16

0.38

0.17

Concrete
wall with
insulation

24 cm

20 N/mm2

5%

4.5455

Reinforced
Concrete
110 mm
R-6

Wall
R

0.43

0.6369

3.8462

0.565

Trades involved in system

thickness

Traditional
Tabouk

Concrete
wall with
insulation

24 cm

24 cm

Finish
Quality

Clean fair
face with
clean angles
& lines
Irregular
angles, line
and surface
Needs
further
treatment
(plaster)

Production
Rate

Wall core
construction

Wall
Chipping

External
plaster

Internal
plaster

Openings
frame
installation

Material
Waste

2 m per
man hour

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

2 m per
day
complete
system

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

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Monolithic construction System

6- How the system works

The complete construction and building envelope solution offers monolithic three
dimensional formwork system for cast-in-place concrete structures and requires only minor
considerations to the overall design of the building, erection of the formwork, and insulation
installation to maintain the benefits achieved through monolithic construction.
These considerations include:
- Structural wall design for insulated walls using the CIP System
- Insulation installation during form erection
- Concrete Casting

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Monolithic construction System
A- Structural wall design for insulated walls using CIP

Exterior walls to be designed with insulation can either be balanced meaning equal
thicknesses of concrete on either side of the insulation; or unbalanced meaning a
thicker load bearing wall on one side of the insulation and a thinner nonstructural
layer on the other.

The choice of balanced vs. unbalanced is dictated by requirements of local

building codes, the attributes of the structure, and the preference of the builder. For
above grade structures an unbalanced wall is generally preferable as the load
bearing structural elements need no special consideration.

Minimum concrete coverage over the Insulation is 80 mm. typically, balanced walls
for residential uses are arranged in a 80/50/110 mm arrangement. Unbalanced walls
are arranged in a 120/50/80 arrangement. Insulation and concrete thickness can be
changed to any required thickness as specified by the structural engineer.

For both balanced and unbalanced walls a layer of rebar is required as specified by
the structural engineer on both sides of the insulation.

Interior walls of a structure do not need to be insulated and can be reduced in

thickness.

Any size of insulation sheet can be used and the orientation of the joints is
completely unhindered.

The foam core will be easily drilled though after the aluminum panels are in place (to
allow the taper ties to pass).

The taper ties will restrain the foam core in the form, eliminating uplift.

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Monolithic construction System

B- Erection of the Form and Insulation

-

The erection of the formwork should follow the typical monolithic three dimensional
system erection guidelines set out by the manufacturer.

Form erection is begun on the interior and proceeds until all interior walls are
erected.

Once all interior wall formwork is installed the inside level of rebar for the insulated
exterior walls can be installed.

Rebar should have sufficient spacers installed

Insulation panels can also be integrated into pre-fabricated rebar cages.

Once interior walls are erected, slab erection and insulation erection can begin.

Once interior level of rebar is installed, the insulation pre-installed with connectors
should be erected over the interior level of rebar.

Insulation should be cut to fit around doors and windows.

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Monolithic construction System

Once the insulation is installed, tie holes can be drilled through the insulation from
the interior form side. Interior walls and accessories can then be installed and taper
ties secured through the insulation.

Exterior level of rebar can be installed

Holes through the insulation created by the ties can be backfilled with insulation after
concrete is cured.

Once taper ties are installed through the insulation, and the exterior level of rebar is
in place the exterior form panel and walls can be installed and secured.

Form and insulation should be inspected prior to pour and once approved concrete
placement can begin

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Monolithic construction System
C- Concrete Casting
The concrete casting shall take place once the checklist is completed, inspected and
approved:
1234-

Steel rebar is placed as per drawings and approved after inspection.

Insulation system is placed and approved after inspection.
Embedded MEP items placed and approved after inspection.
All the formwork is completed and inspected.

The formwork is integrally erected in one phase to include all the shell (walls, slabs, stairs,
parapets, etc).
The formwork is integrally
erected in one phase to
include all the shell (walls,
slabs, stairs, parapets, etc).

The concrete will be casted to the

whole structure (walls, slabs & stairs)
with the assistance of concrete pump.

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Monolithic construction System

Casting the complete structure in one shot

V-

Conclusion & Request

As shown in Section IV, there will be limitless advantages when adopting the monolithic
three dimensional formwork systems, to produce insulated concrete walls instead of Tabouk
walls, such advantages are as follows:
1234-

Assures a more than two times more strength than Tabouk walls.
Has more than five times less water absorption than Tabouk walls.
Assures around 4 times better insulation than Tabouk walls.
Is more than eight time faster in construction, it allows an average delivery of one unit
per working day.
5- Quality & Finishing:
a. Assures an excellent fair face finish with no need for further treatment
(plaster).
b. Avoids wall chipping for MEP embedding.
c. Gives precise doors and windows opening with no need to install pre-frames.
d. Has a great uniformity in production that allows excellent planning and
unforeseen elimination.
6- Eliminates material waste cost & management.
In reference to the above presentation of the system and advantages, based on our previous
experience in such projects and considering the projects interest (quality, time & occupants
comfort), we highly recommend the usage of the Monolithic Three-dimensional Formwork to
produce reinforced concrete walls in the housing units in replacement of the traditional
Tabouk Walls System.
Accordingly, we are seeking your appreciated eventual decision to kindly consider approving
the adoption of the Monolithic Three-dimensional Formwork system for the construction of
the housing units at Bab Al Nassiriya Project by an integrally cast in place reinforced
concrete shell for foundations, walls, slabs, stairs and parapets.
.

.
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