SEMINARON

AFFORDABLE RAPID MASS HOUSING USING GFRG PANELS

SEMINAR REPORT

Submitted by:

SUMAN PATI(Roll No.: 100301CER012)

GUIDED BY:Prashant Kumar Nayak

CENTURION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, JATNI

in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

in

CIVIL ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Seminar titled

Affordable Rapid Mass Housing Using GFRG Panels

Was prepared and presented by

SUMAN PATI(Roll No.: 100301CER012)

of the eighth Semester Civil Engineering in partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of

Degree of Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering under the Centurion University of Technology& Management during the year 2013

SEMINAR GUIDE SEMINAR IN-CHARGE

Prashant Kumar Nayak Prof. Siba Prashad Mishra

Prof. Jayakrushna Dash

DECLARATION

“I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that to the rest of

my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by

another person nor the material which has been accepted for the award of any other

degree of the university or other institute of higher learning, except where due

acknowledgement has been made in the text”.

Place: Jatni, Khurda Name : Suman Pati

Date: 31- 12- 2013 Regd No. : 100301CER12

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have the greatest pleasure to offer my profound respect and pleasure and

sincere thanks to Prashant Kumar Nayak for his support in achieving the objective of

my Seminar work.

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Prashant Kumar Nayak (Seminar

Mentor) who became the source of inspiration for me in completion of the seminar

work.

I foremost like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Jayakrushna Dash and

Prof. Siba Prashad Mishra (Seminar In-Charge) for the continuous support on my

Study and for their patience, motivation, enthusiasm and immerse knowledge. Their

guidance helped me a lot for my technical seminar. I could not have imagined having a

better advisor and mentor for my B.Tech. Study.

My special thanks to my parents and my friends, who have been supportive and

caring throughout my every step.

Signature of student

Suman Pati

ABSTRACT

There is a huge growing requirement of building materials in India due to the existing housing shortage of 24.7 million units ( 2007) mainly for the low income groups in urban India. Estimated urban housing shortage in 2012 is 26.53 million, while the housing shortage of rural India in 2012 is 42 million units. Thus total estimated housing shortage for Urban & rural India in 2012 is 68.53 million units. To meet this challenge, India requires innovative, energy efficient building materials for strong and durable hous-ing in fast track method of construction at affordable cost. It is also impor-tant that housing and buildings are disaster resistant to protect the lives and properties of people. All these concerns are involved in sustainable and in-clusive development. Rapidwall Panel provides rapid or faster construction and contributes to environmental protection, providing a solution to many of the above issues and concerns. The paper describes the method of construc-tion using Rapidwall panels based on construction manual prepared by IIT Madras to suit Indian situation. FACT & RCF, two fertiliser giants under public sector are together setting up Rapidwall and plaster products manu-facturing plant at Ambalamugal using Rapidwall technologies of Australia called FACT RCF Building products Ltd. (FRBL). FACT has about 7 million tons of industrial by product gypsum. By setting up Rapidwall & Plaster products plant, they intend to produce 1.4 million sqm or 15 million sq ft panel per year and about 50000 tons of superior quality wall plaster and wall putty.

CONTENT

Items Page No.

Certificate i DECLARATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iiiABSTRACT iv Chapter 1Introduction 1 Chapter 2MANUFACTURING OF GFRG PANEL 22.1 Inspections & Testing 2 Chapter 3PHYSICAL AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES 3

Chapter 4JOINTS 4 Chapter 5TRANSPORTATION AND LIFTING 6 Chapter 6CONSTRUCTION & WORKMANSHIP 76.1 FOUNDATION 76.2 RAPID WALL 76.3 OPENINGS 76.4 LINTEL 86.5 CONCRETE INFILL 86.6 TIE BEAM 86.7 ROOF SLAB 86.8 Erection of wall panel and floor slab for upper floor 96.9 Water proofing 96.10 STAIR CASE 96.11 FINISHING WORK 9

Chapter 7COMPERISON 10

Chapter 8VARIOUS TEST 118.1 Measurement of Water Content 118.2 Measurement of Density 118.3 Measurement of Water Absorption Rate 128.4 Flexural Bending Test 128.5 Durability Test 14

Chapter 9RAPAIDWALL FOR AFFORDABLE QUALITY HOUSING 159.1 USES of RAPIDWALL 169.2 RCC Columns, beams with Rapidwall floor and walls in high rise building 169.3 Scattered small and row houses 16

9.4 FACT & RCF tie up 17

Conclusion 18

Bibliography 19

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The threat of climate change caused by the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is pushing the whole world into a catastrophic crisis situation with universal concern. The need of the 21st century is for energy efficient and eco-friendly products. The building industry accounts for 40% of CO2 emissions. Building construction causes CO2 emissions as a result of embodied energy consumed in the production of energy intensive building materials and also the recurring energy con-sumption for cooling and heating of indoor environment. Rapidwall, also called gypcrete panel is an energy efficient green building material with huge potential for use as load bearing and non load bearing wall panels. Rapidwall is a large load bearing panel with modular cavities suitable for both external and internal walls. It can also be used as intermediary floor slab/roof slab in combination with RCC as a composite ma-terial. Since the advent of innovative Rapidwall panel in 1990 in Australia, it has been used for buildings ranging from single storey to medium - high rise buildings. Light weighted Rapidwall has high compressive strength, shearing strength, flexural strength and ductility. It has very high level of resistance to fire, heat, water, termites, rot and corrosion. Concrete infill with vertical reinforcement rods enhances its vertical and lat-eral load capabilities. Rapidwall buildings are resistant to earthquakes, cyclones and fire.

Fig.1 Worlds’ largest load bearing lightweight panel

CHAPTER 2

MANUFACTURING OF GFRG PANEL

Phosphogypsum which is a byproduct of phosphoric acid plant is calcined in calciner at 140-1500 C at the rate of 15MT/hr of calcined plaster. This calcined plaster is stored in product silo having capacity of 250MT. The plaster is then transferred to batch hop-per by screw conveyors and through Entoleter in wall panel manufacturing area. This area consists of 6 casting tables having dimensions of 3m x12m, one crab having mixer and glass roving delivery system is for delivering slurry and glass roving for three ta-bles. The chemicals are added in water & mixed and then plaster is added & mixed to form slurry. One layer of slurry is laid on the table by the crab followed by a layer of glass roving. This glass roving is embedded in to the slurry with the help of screen roller. Another layer of slurry is poured followed by a layer of glass roving this layer is pushed inside the ribs with the help of temping bar. Finally a layer of glass roving is laid for the top face of the wall panel. After getting final Gilmore wall panel is lifted from the casting table to ACROBA frame and shifted to dryer for drying. The wall panel is dried at a temperature of 275˚C for 60 minutes. After drying, the wall panel is either shifted to storage area or on the cutting table. The wall panel is cut as per dimen-sions supplied by the consumer and the cut pieces are transferred to stillages which are specially made for transporting wall panel. The liquid effluent generated during manu-facturing process is recycled back in the system for manufacturing of new wall panels. The solid waste which is generated while manufacturing wall panels is recycled back to the calciner after crushing and separating plaster & glass roving in recycle plant. The above system is a batch process. Six wall panels can be manufactured in eight hour shift per table. Similarly, 36 wall panels can be manufactured in eight hour shift with 6 tables. Flow diagram of the system showing the manufacturing process is attached herewith.

2.1 Inspections & Testing:It shall be done at appropriate stages of manufacturing process. The inspected panels shall be stored & packed to ensure that no damage occurs during transportation. As part of quality assurance regular in process inspections shall be carried out by the trained personnel of the PAC holder.

CHAPTER 3

PHYSICAL AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Rapidwall panel is world’s largest load-bearing lightweight panels. The panels are manufactured with size 12 m length, 3m height and 124 mm thickness. Each panel has 48 modular cavities of 230 mm x 94 mm x 3m dimension. The weight of one panel is 1440 kg or 40 kg/sqm. The density of the panel is 1.14g/cm3, being only 10-12 % of the weight of comparable concrete /brick masonry. The physical and material proper-ties of panels are as follows:

Weight 44 Kg/ sqm

Axial load capacity 160 kN/m{ 16 tons/ m}

Compressive strength 73.2 Kg/cm2

Flexural strength 21.25 kg/cm2

Tensile Strength 35 KN/ m

Fire resistance 4 hr rating withstood 700-10000 C

Elastic Modulus 3000-6000Mpa

Water absorption < 5%

The vertical and lateral load capability of Rapidwall Panel can be increased many fold by infill of concrete after placing reinforcement rods vertically. As per structural re-quirement, cavities of wall panel can be filled in various combinations (See Fig.2.)

CHAPTER 4

JOINTS

Wall to wall ‘L’, ‘T’, ‘+’ angle joints and horizontal wall joints are made by cutting of inner or outer flanges or web appropriately and infill of concrete with vertical rein-forcement with stirrups for anchorage. Various construction joints are illustrated in Fig.3.

Fig.2 : RCC infill to increase load capability

Fig.3 Various construction joints Rapidwall Panel can also be used for intermediary floor slab / roof slab in combination with embedded RCC micro-beams and RCC screed concrete (Fig.4).

Fig.4 GFRG embedded with RCC micro beams and RCC screed concrete

CHAPTER 5

TRANSPORTATION AND LIFTING

Panels are vertically loaded at the factory on stillages for transport to the construction sites on trucks. Each stillage holds 5 or 8 pre-cut panels. The stillages are placed at the construction site close to the foundation for erection using vehicle mounted crane or

other type of crane with required boom length for construction of low, medium and high rise buildings. Special lifting jaws suitable to lift the pane l are used by inserting into the cavities and pierced into webs, so that lifting/handling of panels will be safe.

Fig.5 Transportation and lifting of the GFRG panel CHAPTER 6 CONSTRUCTION & WORKMANSHIP

6.1 FOUNDATION: For Rapidwall Housing a conventional foundation like spread footing, RCC column footing, raft or pile foundation is used as per the soil condition and load factors. All

around the building RCC plinth beam is provided. Conventional water proofing materi-als are used in the foundation.

Fig.6 Foundation part of the construction

6.2 RAPID WALL:Rapidwall enables fast track method of construction. Conventional building construc-tion involves various time consuming processes, like i) masonry wall construction ii) cement plastering requiring curing, iii) casting of RCC slabs requiring centering and scaffolding and curing iv) removal of centering and scaffolding and v) plastering of ceilings and so on. Construction time is minimized to 15-20% by the rapid wall method. Instead of brick by brick construction, Rapidwall enables wall by wall con-struction. Rapidwall also does not require cement plastering as both surfaces are smooth and even and ready for application of special primer and finishing coat of paint.

6.3 OPENINGS:Door/window, openings will be cut and reinforced concrete is pro-

vided there.

Fig. 7 Window opening 6.4 LINTEL:Embedded RCC lintels are to be provided wherever required by cutting open external flange. Reinforcement for lintels and RCC sunshades can be provided with required shuttering and support.

6.5 CONCRETE INFILL:After inserting vertical reinforcement rods as per the structural design and clamps for wall corners are in place to keep the wall panels in perfect position, concrete of 12mm

size aggregate will be poured from top into the cavities. There is no need to use vibra-tor because gravitational pressure acts to self compact the concrete inside the water tight cavities. Generally every third cavity should be concreted.

6.6 TIE BEAM:An embedded RCC tie beam to floor/roof slab is to be provided at each floor/roof slab level, as an essential requirement of national building code against earth quakes. For this, web portion to required beam depth at top is to be cut and removed for placing horizontal reinforcement with stirrups and concreted.

6.7 ROOF SLAB:Instead of a solid concrete floor slab, which is typically 100 to 150mm thick, the GFRG panels are used. They are placed horizontally over the walls in different roofs. The roofs typically spanning along the shorter direction. Concrete tie beams connect the panels to the walls at all junctions. Every third cavity in the horizontal GFRG panel is cut open from the top and reinforced cage is inserted to serve as a concealed beam. Further a steel welded mesh is placed on top of the entire floor slab and subsequently embedded in screed of concrete 50mm thick. The advantage with the system over con-ventional concrete slabs is the there is no need of shuttering and the finish at bottom is excellent. It also not required any plastering. Conduits for electrical work are kept in place before concreting the slab.

Fig.8 Roof slab construction6.8 Erection of wall panel and floor slab for upper floor:Vertical reinforcement of floor below shall be provided with extra length so as to pro-trude to 0.45m to serve as start up rods and lap length for upper floor. Once the wall panels are erected on the upper floor, vertical reinforcement rods, door/window frames fixed and RCC lintels shall be casted. Then concrete where required and joints shall be filled. Thereafter, RCC tie beams all around shall be concreted.

6.9 Water proofing:

The PAC holder shall provide to the client details of water proofing treatment required at different levels of construction such as foundation, sunshade and flooring etc.

6.8 STAIR CASE: The stair case work is taken up using GFRG panels as the landing slab with reinforced concrete bars in all the cavities.

Fig.9 Stair case construction

6.9 FINISHING WORK: Once concreting of ground floor roof slab is completed, on the 4th day, wooden planks with support props in ground floor can be removed. Finishing of internal wall corners and ceiling corners etc can be done using wall putty or special plaster by experienced plasterers. Simultaneously, electrical work, water supply and sanitary work, floor tiling, mosaic or marble works, staircase work etc can also be carried out. Every upper floor can be finished in the same way.

Fig.10Finishing Work CHAPTER 7

COMPERISON

Comparative study of Rapidwall building and conventional 2storey 1500 sft Building:

Materials/ items Rapidwall Building Conventional Building Saving in %

Cement 16 tons 32.55 tons 50.8

Steel 1800 kg 2779 kg 35.2

Sand 20cum 83.37cum 76

Granite 38cum 52.46cum 27.56

Bricks - 57200

GFRG panel 500sqm -

Water 50000ltr 200000ltr 75

Labour 389 mandays 1200 mandays 67.59

Construction time 21 days 120 days 82

Wt. of superstructure 170 tons 490 tons 65

Construction cost Rs 13.25 lakhs Rs 18.27 lakhs 61.5

CHAPTER 8 VARIOUS TEST

8.1 Measurement of Water Content:The water content shall be tested for the selected panels against Clause 7.3. Samplingof the test specimen shall be made in accordance with Clause 10.2.1. Do not treat theedges and surfaces of the specimens nor damage the specimens. This test measures the loss of water of the specimen after drying in a standard oven. It is combined with the measurement of density and water absorption tests. Should the samples after condition-ing take up moisture then the panel was over cooked (calcined) in the dryer and fails the test.

8.1.1 Apparatus:

Air circulating oven: The net space available inside the drying oven shall not be less than 200×300×360. The oven shall have a temperature control at 40±2°C and a humid-ity control at 50±2%. Balance or scale: with a capacity of 5kg and an accuracy of 0.5g.

8.1.2 Test Procedure:1). Weigh each original specimen and record their weights;2). Condition the specimen (or specimens) to constant weights, within 0.1% of thedried weight, at a temperature of 40±2°C, in an atmosphere having a relativehumidity of 50±2%. This can be done by drying the specimen for 24 hours initiallyand weighing the specimen; then drying for another 4 hours each time andweighing the specimen until the difference of the two consecutive weights of thespecimen is with 0.1% of the dried weight; and3). Weigh the dried weight w of each specimen to within 0.5g.

8.1.3 Calculation of Results:The weight loss of the individual specimen in percent with respect to its dried weightw is the water content of the specimen.

8.2 Measurement of Density:Density of the panel shall be measured from the specimens immediately after the water content tests and before water absorption tests. Care shall be taken to prevent damag-ing the specimens in the measurement so that it does not affect the water absorption test.8.2.1 Apparatus:Right-angle ruler: with an accuracy of within 1 mm.8.2.2 Test procedure:Take the following measurements from each specimen:-The four dimensions as shown in Fig.7 measured to within 1mm, where H1 and H2 are the lengths of the two vertical sides, respectively, and B1 and B2 are the horizontal di-mensions that are perpendicular to the vertical side measured with a ight-ngle ruler.

8.3 Measurement of Density:Density of the panel shall be measured from the specimens immediately after the water content tests and before water absorption tests. Care shall be taken to prevent damag-ing the specimens in the measurement so that it does not affect the water absorption test.8.3.1 Apparatus:Right-angle ruler: with an accuracy of within 1 mm.8.3.2 Test procedure:

Take the following measurements from each specimen:-The four dimensions as shown in Fig.7 measured to within 1mm, where H1 and H2are the lengths of the two vertical sides, respectively, and B1 and B2 are the horizontal dimensions that is perpendicular to the vertical side measured with a right-angle ruler.

8.4 Measurement of Water Absorption Rate:The specimens tested for density is immediately used for water absorption rate.8.4.1Apparatus:Balance: same as 10.4.3.1.Water bath or container: enough room to immerse the three specimens and keepthem separated and elevated from the bottom of the bath with minimum spaces of25mm.8.4.2 Test procedure:1). Immerse the specimens flat in a bath of water at a constant temperature of21±0.5°C with a head of 25 mm of water over the top of the sample. The sampleshould be positioned in the water bath elevated one inch above its base;2). Remove the specimens from the bath after 24 hours of immersion, wipe excesswater from the surfaces and edges of the specimens and weigh immediately towithin 0.5g.8.4.3 Calculation of results:The percentage of weight gain with respect to the dried weight of each specimencalculated is the water absorption rate.

8.5 Flexural Bending Test:

(a)Pin Support (b) Roller support

8.5.1 Apparatus:

As the specimen is one meter wide, it is important for the load and reaction force from the supports to be distributed evenly along the width of the specimen. The point load from a load jack is applied to a main distribution beam that then distributes the load equally to two secondary distribution beams. The load is finally transmitted from the secondary distribution beams to the top face of the test specimen as an evenly distrib-uted line load. The minimum ultimate flexural strength of the main distribution beam shall be 10kNm. The secondary distribution beam shall be 1000mm long with a mini-mum flexural rigidity EI of 5×1011 N/mm2. To ensure a good contact and even distri-bution of load, a thin layer of quick-setting plaster (such as dental paste) shall be ap-plied between the bottom face of the secondary beams and the contact surface of the specimen. The specimen shall be supported firmly with one pin support and one roller support as illustrated in Fig.11. The pin support is composed of two steel plates of 1000mm long×100mm wide × minimum10mm thick and a 1m long steel roller bar with a minimum diameter of 30mm. The steel bar is fixed to the bottom plate (such as by welding) and the top plate just sit on top of the bar to ensure free rotation. The roller support shown in Fig.11(b) is similar to the pin support except that some smaller steel roller bars of about 10mm diameter and 1000mm long are provided underneath the bot-tom steel plate to ensure both free rotation and longitudinal movement. The loading jack shall have a minimum load capacity of 20kN. The displacement transducer shall have a minimum travel distance of 100mm. The measurement or data acquisition in-volves both the applied load measured from the load cell and displacement from the displacement transducer at the mid-span. The accuracy of measurements shall be within 0.1kN for load and 0.5mm for displacement.8.5.2 Test procedure:1) Mark the positions of support line (centre line position of the roller bar) on thebottom of the specimen, and load line (centre line position of the secondary distribu-tion beam) on the top of the test specimen;2) Set up the pin and roller supports;3) Apply a thin layer of quick-setting plaster on top of the supporting steel plates andthen place the test specimen on top of the two supports. Waite a few minutes forthe plaster to set;4) Apply a layer quick-setting plaster on top of the test specimen at the position of thesecondary distribution beams and place the secondary distribution beams in position. Allow the plaster to set;5) Set up the rest of the loading system (main distribution beam and its support, etc.)and loading jack;6) Place the displacement transducer under the test specimen at the mid-span. A piece of small plate (about 20mm×20mm×2mmthick) shall be glued onto the tip of the trans-ducer to prevent it from going into a crack if the crack happens to occur at the position of the displacement measurement point;

7) Load the jack under displacement control in a strain rate of not greater than5mm/minute until the load passes the peak and drops at least 50% off its peak load;8) In the mean time of applying loading, record the test data at sufficient number oftest points to produce a load vs. displacement curve (as illustrated in Fig.12). Anautomatic data acquisition system is recommended that can record the completetest curve automatically. If manual record is used, one data point (a pair of loadand displacement readings) shall be taken at a displacement increment of not morethan 1.5mm.

8.6 Durability Test:8.6.1 Wetting and drying test:Put the panels through 20 cycles of wetting and drying at room temperature of 300C.Each cycle consist of 24 hours of wetting followed by 24 hours of drying. Measure the average compressive strength at the end of 20 cycles.8.6.2 Salt spray test:Embed a 12mm dia,250mm reinforcing rod in the concrete filled in cavity. After 7 days curing, hung the same in a salt spray chamber for 2 weeks. Observe any apparent damage to the panel and to the reinforcement.8.6.3 Fire Resistance test:The fire resistance test on GFRG panel (Rapidwall) shall be conducted using a blowtorch (burning kerosene as fuel). The blue flame temperature shall be measured andshall be in the range of 7000 C to 10000C. The blower tip of the blow torch shall be kept at a distance of about 50 mm from one face of the building panel (size 300 x 300 x 124mm) so that the blue flame shall directly hit the panel continuously. The panel shall be exposed to such a state for continuation duration of 4 hours. The other face of the panel shall be pasted with a thermocouple to monitor the temperature continuously.Record the temperatures (0C) at 30 minutes interval during the test period of 4 hours for the hollow GFRG panel and the GFRG panel filled with M20 concrete the results.At the end of the test, no damage or cracks should be observed beyond the spot wherethe flame was directly hitting the face of the panel.

CHAPTER 9

RAPAIDWALL FOR AFFORDABLE QUALITY HOUSING

Access to adequate shelter at affordable cost by low income section and common peo-ple is very important for India for inclusive development.. The booming of real estate and construction industry has indeed shot up the cost of construction due to the ever in-creasing cost of cement, steel, bricks, river sand, concrete materials and labour cost. In this situation, safe and good quality housing will become unaffordable to all the sec-tions. Commonly used walling in India is brick masonry. Cost of brick wall with two sides cement plastering has increased by almost 4 times during the last 5 years. Brick wall construction cost was Rs 460/sqm in 2003. This increased to Rs 1700 /sqm in 2007. In view of likely increase in cost of energy, bricks, cement, river sand, water, labour and hire charges for scaffolding etc, the cost of masonry made of bricks or con-crete blocks will continue to rise in future. This will make Rapidwall panel much cheaper and affordable to the building industry while it will also help to protect the en-vironment, as one sqm panel will save carbon emission reduction of about 80Kg. Rapidwall panel has excellent acoustic properties. Testing of panel by IIT Madras found that the panel belongs to a class of STC 40 with respect to air-borne sound insu-lation. Infill of cavities with locally available cheaper materials like quarry dust mixed with cement (1:20) and water or sand and cement (1:20) up to lintel/ window height can make the wall solid and address security-related concerns. Other than Australia and China, India is set to benefit from the technology as Rapidwall panels are to be manu-factured and marketed in Mumbai within few months by RCF, one of the largest fertil-izer company of Govt. of India. FACT, another large public undertaking fertilizer com-pany in joint venture with RCF is also setting up another rapidwall plant in Cochin. A Rapidwall plant near Chennai is also commissioning and marketing the product shortly. In Rapidwall construction, especially in repetitive type mass housing, time for construction will be reduced by 75-80% thereby reducing overall overhead establish-ment costs with reduced lock up investment period and less labour component. Com-parative study of Rapidwall building and conventional building (2 storey 1500 sft) shows significant savings in Rapidwall buildings. Embodied energy of Rapidwall

building is only 82921 kWh, while conventional same size building would have 215400 kWh, thereby saving 61.5% embodied energy.

9.1 USES of RAPIDWALL:The most valuable use of Rapidwall is its use as load bearing wall in multi storey con-struction in combination with RCC. Rapidwall can also be used as non load bearing and partition wall in RCC framed structures. IIT Madras has recently developed method of fixing panel in between RCC columns, beams and floor slab with clamping system. By this panel can be fixed to floor slab and panel at bottom using screws, which will be embedded within flooring and skirting. At top clamps will be fixed to panel and ceiling slab or beam. On sides also clamped at bottom to RCC column, floor slab and panel. Plastering of walls can also be saved thereby saving time and cost. If this is taken into account at design stage itself, dead load reduction of more than 50% can be made. This will save in foundation, RCC columns and beams, in turn steel and concrete. This will make substantial savings in cost of construction.

9.2 RCC Columns, beams with Rapidwall floor and walls in high rise building:One of the leading architects based in Mumbai proposed an innovative method of con-struction of high rise building with RCC columns and beams to take load, while panel is to be used for walls and floor slab with micro beams. For this specially designed shuttering for RCC columns and beams will be in position in such a way that wall panel and floor slab panel of ground floor will be in position. Concreting of columns, beams, infill of required cavities, micro beams, and screed will be done simultane-ously. This process will be repeated on each upper floor. Walls of each floor construc-tion will be done along with rising up structure. It is estimated that this method will re-duce 50% dead load which will reduce substantial steel and cement, 8% increased car-pet area and saving of 60-70 % time.

9.3 Scattered small and row houses:Quality small houses and row houses for low income and common people which can resist natural disasters at affordable cost is essential for inclusive development. Hous-ing of the masses as well as other segments along with infrastructure alone will deter-mine growth and development of the society or the nation. One BHK housing from 300-500 sft at affordable cost @ Rs 600-700/ sft can be a reality with Rapidwall. At a time when the real estate market is on the downslide due to the economy in recession, many builders who have embarked on mega residential schemes may find affordable housing as a catalyst to tide over the recession period. It need not mean that they need to build houses for low income or middle class alone, but with structures built at af-fordable cost using Rapidwall and carry out superior finish to meet the requirement of

up market and luxury segment may be a good solution and response . While provide more comfortable living, this will also save energy, contribute to environmental protec-tion and fight global warming.

9.4 FACT & RCF tie up:FACT & RCF, two fertilizer giants under public sector are together setting up Rapid-wall and plaster products manufacturing plant at Ambalamugal using Rapidwall tech-nologies of Australia called FACT RCF Building products Ltd. (FRBL). FACT has about 7 million tons of industrial by product gypsum. By setting up Rapidwall & Plas-ter products plant, they intend to produce 1.4 million sqm or 15 million sq ft panel per year and about 50000 tons of superior quality wall plaster and wall putty. RCF is al-ready setting same capacity plant in their Chembur plant to meet the huge demand of Mumbai market. Gypsum based wall plaster and wall putty will be alternative to ce-ment plaster for interior walls and ceiling. This will save river sand, cement and water. It will also provide fine finish. Gypsum based wall putty will be superior product than currently marketed brands of wall putty. These products will also be very useful to the real estate and housing industry.

CONCLUSION

Rapidwall Panel provides a new method of building construction in fast track, fully utilising the benefits of prefabricated, light weight large panels with modular cavities and time tested, conventional cast-in-situ constructional use of concrete and steel rein-forcement. By this process, man power, cost and time of construction is reduced. The use of scarce natural resources like river sand, water and agricultural land is signifi-cantly reduced. Rapidwall panels have reduced embodied energy and require less en-ergy for thermo-regulation of interiors. Rapidwall buildings thereby reduce burdening of the environment and help to reduce global warming. Rapidwall use also protect the lives and properties of people as these buildings will be resistant to natural disasters like earthquakes, cyclone, fire etc. This will also contribute to achieve the goal of much needed social inclusive development due to its various benefits and advantages with af-fordability for low income segments also. Fast delivery of mass dwelling/ housing is very critical for reducing huge urban housing shortage in India. Rapidwall panels will help to achieve the above multiple goals.

BIBILOGRAPHY

http://www.bmtpc.org/DataFiles/CMS/file/PDF_Files/ 24_GFRG_Panel_FRBL.pdf

http://www.google.com/patents/US6878321? hl=en&output=html_text

http://mhupa.gov.in/W_new/11_Meher%20Prasad_Tech %20for%20Mass%20housing.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUQEUcB7cMM