Comparative Study between Chinese and British Design Codes of Cup-Lock Scaffolding System

Abstract

Abstract A comparison study between Chinese and British codes for cup-lock scaffolding and formwork system were carried out. The analysis results show significant difference between these national codes regarding falsework management and design methodologies. The difference in the management is mainly focusing on whether the execution should be performed by main contractors or the falsework specialists. The difference in design, however, is the design methodologies of concrete lateral pressure on formwork, wind load and the capacity of the cup lock pipes. Mix use of different design codes can cause unreliable change of system safety margin and negative impact to the project cost. A case study is also provided to show the difference in the safety margin which can leads to opposite results if different codes are adopted in the projects.