Prefabricated Concrete Technology- Perspectives And Challenges

Abstract

he technology in construction industry has changed rapidly over the past few years. In order to cope up with the challenges in speed and quality in construction industry to offset the shortage of houses for growing population in any country, the need of the day is prefabricated concrete construction. Pre fabricated concrete systems also provides the benefits of improved durability at a relatively lower cost.The different  categories of pre fabrication concrete systems - component systems, panelised systems, volumetric systems and modular systems are adapted depending upon the functional needs and site conditions.Though, precast concrete technology provides an opportunity to construction industry in terms of rapid constructional speed and  equally matched with better quality, it also accompanies with challenges in its structural design, stability and reliability. The prime aspect of precast concrete  structures is that it requires special connection detailing for the continuity and monolithic action of different precast components under both normal and lateral loading conditions. The behaviour of joints under action of loading should be analyzed and it paves a  potential direction for providing innovative connection detailing of future use.  This paper emphasizes problems confronted in precast concrete technology, especially the research challenges on joints and conncetions. Likewise it also highlights the research made in the area of pre-fabricated concrete structures.