Prefabricated Wall Panels Research Articles

Off-Site Construction in Saudi Arabia: The Way Forward

Off-site construction, which gained prominence in the last quarter of the previous century, is the form of construction in which the intent is to move some of the effort that goes into construction from the construction site into the controlled environment of a manufacturing facility (Arif and Egbu 2010). Gibb (2001) traced the history of off-site construction as far back as 1851; however, Arif (2009) actually goes one step further and argues that the use of big boulders instead of smaller bricks in pyramids is no different from using prefabricated wall panels. Humanity has always looked for better ways of building faster, and the use of precut rocks and boulders leveraged the opportunity to fill large volumes of pyramid structures more quickly (Arif and Egbu 2010). The benefits of off-site construction have been well-documented in the literature. Gibb and Isack (2003) classified the benefits into five major categories: time, quality, cost, productivity, and people. Arif and Egbu (2010) identified off-site as a construction paradigm that can address the housing shortage in the future. However, there are some major challenges associated with the implementation of off-site construction. Pan et al. (2007) documented the barriers to the implementation of off-site construction. The most important five barriers identified by Pan et al. (2007) are higher capital cost, difficulties in achieving economies of scale, complexity of interfacing between systems, inability to freeze the design early on, and the nature of the planning system. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, has seen an economic boom in the previous five years, owing to high oil prices. Oil and gas exports have increased from 70.7 billion USD in 2001 to 205 billion USD in 2007 (Tabata 2009). This economic growth has resulted in significant economic activities being undertaken in the kingdom. However, the construction projects being performed are fraught with delays and inefficiencies (Alkharashi and Skitmore 2009). One documented benefit of off-site construction is productivity, leading to a higher speed of construction. To assess the issues with the implementation of off-site construction in Saudi Arabia, a workshop was organized in Jeddah in November 2010. There were 20 attendees in the workshop; all were project managers, either in government organizations or private construction companies. The objectives of the workshop were 1. To introduce the benefits and challenges associated with offsite construction to the audience. 2. To document the perceptions associated with off-site construction in the construction industry in Saudi Arabia. 3. To identify the major barriers to the implementation of off-site construction in Saudi Arabia. 4. To propose a way forward in implementing off-site construction in Saudi Arabia. Workshop Execution

Knowledge and opinions of designers of industrialized wall panels regarding incorporating ergonomics in design

As residential construction moves towards industrialized construction methods, ergonomic exposures of construction workers may increase due to heavier components and changes in construction activities. Ergonomic considerations early in the design stages are expected to have the most impact, provided that designers are aware of ergonomic risks and are willing to incorporate ergonomic principles into designs. To determine current knowledge and opinions regarding ergonomics in the context of one commonly used industrialized construction method (prefabricated wall panels), 12 panel designers completed a questionnaire, and seven of those designers participated in a semi-structured interview. Results showed that panel designers generally have little knowledge about the influence of panel designs on workers’ ergonomic risks. Panel designers were neutral or slightly resistant to incorporating ergonomics into designs, due to perceptions of lack of responsibility and influence over workers’ long-term health. Though the participants acknowledged the necessity of ergonomics in panel design, they were concerned with the possibilities of increased workload, costs, and decreased design flexibility. To advance the incorporation of ergonomics in panel design, panel designers need to recognize the potential ergonomic impact of their panel wall system designs. Current research represents an initial step in creating support tools for use in designing wall panel plans that decrease the risk of work-related injuries and illnesses in construction workers. Relevance to industry Understanding the background knowledge and opinions of panel designers regarding ergonomics in construction is necessary to develop successful design support tools that incorporate ergonomic principles into panel design.

Sound absorbing wall panel

A movable, prefabricated wall panel having a rigid rectangular frame, a septum core disposed within the region bounded and confined by the frame, and adjacent layers of fibrous sound absorbing material is disclosed herein. The septum core is formed from a central layer of honeycombed-shaped paper sandwiched between two steel skins, and is fixedly confined to the center of the interior frame perimeter by elongated channels of the perimeter frame. The combined shape forms a central cavity on opposing sides of the septum core allowing relatively thick inner layers of sound absorbing fibrous material, preferably fiberglass, to be placed within the panel adjacent to each steel skin. Outer layers of sound absorbing fibrous material are placed adjacent to the inner layers, and the outer layers are covered with fabric or similar material.

開口を有するパネル状木質壁体のせん断耐力に関する研究 (その 2) : 木質構造の新らしい設計体系確立のための提案と考察 (第 7 報)

The shear racking tests were made on the prefabricated wall panels with opening constructed with wooden framing and rawan plywood facings. Effectiveness of the formulae proposed by the author, predicting the shear stiffness and maximum load of the wall panel of the above type from the shear stiffness and maximum load of the wall panel without opening, is examined by the above test results. In this paper the results of the wall panels with openings of window and door types are examined, while vertical slit, horizontal slit and window were selected as the types of opening in the previous paper. The dimensions of the panels in this paper are larger than those of previous paper's panels.