Formwork means Mold which means it is the casing into which the casting material, usually concrete, is poured to obtain the desired structural shape. In construction industry formwork is similar to a mold to cast concrete member in different shape and sizes using different types of materials such as timber, steel, aluminum, plastic, etc. Shuttering is a synonym term used for form-work.

Types:

• Timber Forms: The Timber formwork is one of the mostly used in construction industry, fabricated on site using timber. It is easy to produce but time-consuming for larger structures. Plywood facing has a short lifespan. Timber is easy to fix, remove and lightweight. Timber Shuttering is most flexible type of shuttering; it can be used for any shape and size.

• Plywood forms: Plywood is an artificially manufactured wooden material available in different thickness and size used in formwork for concrete member. It is strong enough, durable and light weight. Plywood is one of the mostly used materials for sheathing, decking and form linings in shuttering.

• Steel Forms: Steel formwork is now becoming popular due to its long life time and multiple time reuses. Steel formwork is costly but can be used for large number of projects. Steel shuttering give very smooth finishes to concrete surface. It is suitable for circular or curved structures such as tanks, columns, chimneys, sewer, tunnel and retaining wall.

Types of Form based on Structural member:

• Wall Form work: Wall formwork used for concreting of shear or RCC wall in dams, wing walls, basement rcc walls etc. Wall shuttering made up of vertically arranged upright timbers (bearers) to which plywood sheeting boards are nailed at the inner side. The upright timbers are diagonally braced with the help of boards at both sides.

• Beam Form work: Beam is the most important member in RCC framed structure. Beam formwork has prefabricated form work includes sheeting bottom and side sheeting panels. The individual parts of form-work are manufactured based on the beam size. For prefabrication of the sheeting parts, a table for fabrication must be manufactured on site.

• Foundation Form work: Foundation formworks designed according to foundation type. Shuttering design for foundation depends on foundation type like footing, combined footing, raft. Basically there is a difference in the design for individual foundations, and shuttering for strip foundations. The design of shuttering is dictated by the size, mainly by the height of the foundation.

• Column Formwork: Formwork arrangement for column may differ on the basis of column outline like rectangular, circular, and hexagonal or any other shape. The sheeting of column shuttering is constructed according to the column dimensions. The panels are placed in a foot rim, anchored in soil with the help of bolts.