Page 52 - CO_April_2023

GUEST ARTICLE INDUSTRY WATCH - PRECAST CONCRETE

Eliminate Cast In Situ Joints in Precast Projects
for long term sustenance and profi tability

Kapilesh Ajit Bhate, MD, Precast India Connections is a new venture cannot act as one single long wall to gain
Precast India Connections, from the team of Precast India Infrastructures srtuctural benefit. Furthermore, this connection
a young Civil Engineer from Pvt. Ltd. Precast India has conceived, isn’t recommended in seismic areas by most
Pune, has completed some innovated and patented a method of Structural Engineers
achieving a
key end to end projects Dowel-Sleeve connection that functions even 2. Cast in Situ Stitch Joint (also known as the
which have received multiple in the horizontal direction. “Steel loop system”)
National Level Awards from Various Plug and Play applications in beam to The design challenge of “individual panel
Indian Concrete Institute, beam and wall to wall connections design” which is posed by the wire loop
Association of Consulting ready to use in your Precast Projects instead of system is somewhat overcome by adopting
the usual “Cast In Situ Open
the steel loop system. By having overlapping
Civil Engineers, Institution Junction” or “Stitch Junction” loop bars and certain vertical reinforcement
of Engineers and Builder’s inside them, it is assumed to act as a force
Association of India. Under What are the Current methods of Wall to Wall transferring mechanism from one panel to
his leadership Precast India connections across the vertical joint (ie in another, and hence, if there are multiple
has conceived, innovated horizontal direction) panels next to each other, then they can
and patented a method 1. Wire loop system be assumed as a single long panel, in the
This connection is widely used in the residential
structural analysis and design stage. However,
of achieving a dowel sector or sometimes even the commercial as simple as it may sound on paper, the
sleeve connection even projects however, it is well known that these actual manner in which it is achieved on site is
in the horizontal direction connections cannot be classified as ductile very difficult. There is tremendous congestion
and launched the Precast connections and often known as “soft in the junction, which is often open for a
India Connector (PIC) via its connections” or notional connections to just width of around 300mm. Miniscule quantities
new venture, Precast India align the wall panels together and to avoid of shuttering and concreting (or grouting)
a progressive collapse, which also relies
is very time consuming, costly and quality
Connections more on the shear keys provided in concrete assurance of such minor quantum of work
more than the loop itself. Also, in such cases, is difficult. It is prone to bulging and the joint
these wall panels are designed as individual looks aesthetically different and is difficult to
panels with dedicated vertical reinforcement treat. Not only is it difficult on site, but it is also
required for each panel right from footing difficult to have protruding loops from the
top level to the terrace level. In other words, mould shutters as well, at the time of casting,
despite of the presence of say, 2-3 walls which may include bending/ rebending etc.
next to each other, their combined effect
cannot be considered in design to increase What is the PIC?
the length of shear wall in plan and hence, PIC is based on a simple and proven precast

52 CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES|APRIL 2023