Precast Concrete Manufacturing

Techniques and Installation

Presenting by…
Jameel Ahamed & Vignesh Ramachandran
Introduction:
• Precast concrete is a form of concrete that is prepared, cast and
cured off-site, usually in controlled factory environment, using
reusable moulds. 

• Precast concrete elements can be joined to

other elements to form a complete structure. It is typically used
for structural components such
as wall panels, beams, columns, floors, staircases, pipes, tunnels,
and so on.

• Structural steel frames can provide an alternative for pre-

fabricated structural components, but precast concrete can be
more economical and sometimes more practical.
• Many buildings now include a mixture of
both construction techniques, sometimes incorporating structural
steelwork, in-situ concrete and precast concrete elements.

• Precast concrete structures are used in many types of construction

and for many different purposes, including electrical and
communication utilities, storm water storage and conveyance,
wastewater applications, bridges, building structures, and more.

• It provides many benefits on a project, including quick and easy

installation since there are no on-site forms to construct or waiting
for the concrete to cure in the field.

• Improving jobsite safety by decreasing the amount of time an

excavation is open, and providing a high-quality, higher-strength
product since it is produced in a controlled environment.
Engineering & Design
• The process starts with engineering. On each project, a design
engineer or owner (such as a Department of Transportation,
DOT) sets requirements for their precast components. When we
get the drawings and requirements, every product is
engineered in-house according to the design engineer and
owner’s specifications.

• The engineers ensure each precast structure has the appropriate

steel reinforcement (rebar) and meets the structural
requirements for the area in which it will be installed. Some
important considerations include the soil type, whether the
precast structure will be adjacent to a building or other
structure, and the water table of the area.
• Once the calculations are
complete, the drafting team
creates detailed drawings.
These drawings, called
submittals, are then sent to
the design engineer or owner
for approval.

• When the submittal drawings

are approved, the
engineering and drafting
teams create production
drawings which are sent to
the factory floor and used to
manufacture the product.
Joinery details before pre-
casting of concrete:
Hidden danger: Material leaks from the fill-in pier base:

• Compared to the precast
concrete pier base, the fill-in pier
base is lighter and moves more
easily. A poor design of the pier
base structure or incomplete
pier base components will cause
material to leak from the pier
base.

• Consequently, the pier base will

not be heavy enough, which will
affect the stability of the relief
pipe .
Remedy:
• The fill-in pier base should not be
designed with a door at the side,
because the filling material can
easily leak from a side door. The
sand filling port should be set in
the top of the pier base, which
will prevent material from
leaking, as shown in indicates
another type of pier base filling
called toy bricks cement.

• The fabrication and
transportation of this type of pier
base is very convenient and easy.
Preparing the Rebar Cage:
• When the production team receives the drawings, the first step is
to assemble the rebar cage. To do so, they must cut all rebar to
the appropriate lengths according to the BOM and then bend and
tie them together.

• Rebar wheelchairs, sometimes called wagon wheels, are round

plastic components that hook onto the rebar and ensure it is
properly positioned inside the walls of the precast product – not
too close to either side of the wall – matching the engineer’s
design and meeting the structural requirements.
Rebar for Shear
wall:

Rebar for
Ceiling/Floor
Portion:
Preparing the Form:
• While the rebar cage is being made, another team preps the
forms. This team reviews the drawings to see if the structure has
any openings or knockouts and places foam inserts (which are
removed after the concrete cures) into the form.

• Openings are used where pipes connect or where other junctions

are needed. Knockouts are thinner wall sections which allow
openings to be “knocked out” in the field once the engineer
knows where electrical conduit or communication lines would
enter the vault.

• These inserts, along with the proper lifting hardware, are

embedded and secured to the form so they don’t move when
the concrete is being poured.
Mixing and Pouring the Concrete:
• Precast concrete is made up of coarse and fine aggregates,
cement, water, and admixtures. It is mixed in the factory’s batch
plant according to the concrete mix design specified by the
engineer.

• Each plant has a concrete laboratory used to conduct routine

raw material testing and control exact quantities of each
material in a given batch.

• This is especially important when using high-flow self-

consolidating concrete, or SCC, which is used so the concrete
flows quickly and easily, filling the mold completely and
minimizing the possibility of air pockets.
The concrete also undergoes a variety of additional tests including a
spread test to verify the mix has the proper flow and that there is no
segregation of the aggregate.

The approved batch of concrete is transported in a dispensing machine

to the molds using an overhead crane.
• When the crane is positioned over the mold, the production
team fills each form with the required amount of concrete,
taking care to fill the mold completely without trapping air
voids. Many plants use vibrating tables to ensure the concrete
is completely settled into the form. Once the form is filled, the
top is leveled off and the specified finish is applied.
Stripping the forms and
inspecting the product:
Once the QC technician confirms
that the product has reached the
desired strength required (2500 –
3000 psi) to remove the concrete
from its form, the stripping
process can begin.

This involves opening the outer

jacket of the mold and collapsing
the inner core, attaching the
crane’s hooks to the lifting
hardware, and moving the
product via crate to the post-pour
inspection and finishing area.
 Site and factory precasting:
• Precasting can be carried out at a casting yard, in or near the site,
or in a factory. A key aspect of determining whether to
use site or factory precasting
is transport costs. Factory work offers superior quality for obvious
reasons, so if there is a factory close to the site, it makes sense to
use it. If a precasting yard is to be created, space must be laid out
for the following activities:

• Storing the raw materials, such

as cement, aggregate, sand, admixtures, water, reinforcement bars
and steel or plywood sheets for formwork.

• A formwork making and maintenance yard.
• A concrete mixing plant.
• A steel reinforcement yard to make rebar cages to be placed
inside the concrete.
• A casting area.
• A curing area.
• A stacking area for finished components.
• For infrastructure projects, a casting yard is created on a piece of
open land in the city. It is important that this is located near a
major highway, as the precast elements can be very large or
heavy, and cannot be taken through narrow roads.
Connecting precast elements :
They can be bolted together. In order to do this, steel connectors are embedded
in the concrete at the time of casting. This must be done with great precision.
They can be grouted or concreted together. In this method, loops of steel
reinforcement are left protruding out of the precast concrete members.
Two members are placed in position, and reinforcement is threaded between the
loops. Fresh concrete is then poured around this reinforcement, in a space left
for this purpose.
Advantages of Precast concrete:
• As it is done in a purpose-built pre-casting yard or factory, it
makes construction easier for the following reasons:
• The construction is done on the ground rather than at height.
• It can be done inside a climate-controlled structure, eliminating
problems of rain, dust, cold, or heat.
• Specialized formwork (moulds) can be built for doing many
repetitions of the same component.
• Specialized equipment can be used to make, move, and pour the
liquid concrete.
• Curing takes place in a controlled environment.
• This means that the quality of precast components can be very high.
 Dis-advantages of Precast concrete:
• Since each piece is made separately, the structural frame or system is not
monolithic or continuous like regular concrete construction.
The joints between pieces create structural discontinuity. The forces of
the building will pass through these joints, so they have to be designed to
transfer these forces safely and properly. Note that precast concrete can be
used for non-structural members too.

• As the building is made of discrete components, the joints between

adjacent members have to be sealed with special sealants to make
them waterproof

• Each precast component is usually large and heavy. This means

that cranes are required to lift them in position; these cranes are required
to operate over the entire building volume. Since there will only be a
few cranes at site, the time taken by the cranes to pick up a piece and shift it
to its final position becomes critical in determining the building schedule.
Thank you.