WALL PANEL SYSTEM

A wall panel is single piece of material, usually flat and cut into a rectangular shape, that serves as the
visible and exposed covering for a wall. Wall panels are functional as well as decorative, providing
insulation and soundproofing, combined with uniformity of appearance, along with some measure of
durability or ease of replaceability. While there is no set size limit for a piece of material fulfilling these
functions, the maximum practical size for wall panels has been suggested to be 24 feet by 8 feet, to
allow for transportation.

Use of wall panels can reduce construction costs by providing a consistent appearance to the panelled
surface without requiring the application of paint or another finishing material. Wall panels may be
finished on only one side, if the other side is going to be against a brick or concrete wall, or a
comparable structure. Alternately, the panels may, if assembled to an appropriate framework,
substitute for having any other kind of wall at all. Holes may be cut or drilled into a wall panel to
accommodate electrical outlets and other devices coming out of the wall.

There is a new type of eco friendly 3d wall panel made out of the fibrous residue of sugarcane. This
fibres of crushed sugarcane stalks, remaining after raw sugar is extracted from the juice of the
sugarcane by shredding it, is now the raw material, called bagasse, that forms the base of this easily
installed eco friendly product. The raw material used for these 3d wall panel is 100% recycled,
compostable and is therefore 100% biodegradable.

WALL PANEL FUNCTIONS:

Decorative functions
Insulating functions
Soundproofing functions
Uniformity of appearance
Durability
Ease of replaceability
 Flat type

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE

What is prestressed concrete? How is it used?

Before getting into prestressed concrete, let us go back to the basics first.

We all know that concrete is strong in compression and weak in tension. This is reason for providing
reinforcement (in the form of steel bars) to resist tension/tensile force acting on beams/columns/slabs
etcetera.

RC structures under service load undergoes deflection causing the bottom of the beam (tensile zone) to
elongate, causing cracks. Generally, steel bars are provided to limit the crack widths and resist the
tensile force which the concrete lacks.

Here, the rebar acts as passive reinforcement. Rebars (steel reinforcement) provided at the bottom of
the bar, does not carry any forces until the concrete has already deflected enough to crack.

How it is used?

This is where prestressing comes into action. The principle behind prestressed concrete is that
compressive stresses induced by high-strength steel tendons in a concrete member before loads are
applied will balance the tensile stresses imposed in the member during service.

Simply, Permanent pre-compression is produced in the areas subjected to tension using high tensile
strength steel wires or alloys. Now, a portion of tensile stress is counteracted, thereby reducing the
cross-sectional area of steel reinforcement.

As as result, the concrete does not crack because the pre-stressing has reduced the tensile stress in the
section below cracking stress. hence concrete is treated as a elastic material.

Now, the concrete is said to have two compressive force:

Internal prestressing force

External forces (Dead load, Live load etc.)

These two forces must counteract each other.

When loads are applied, reinforcing steel takes on more stress and the compressive force in the
concrete is reduced greatly, so that it doesnt become a tensile force. As a result the concrete is less
prone to cracks or failures because it is always under compression.

Definition: Prestressed concrete is concrete that has had internal stresses introduced to counteract, to
the degree desired, the tensile stresses that will be imposed in service. The stress is usually imposed by
tendons of individual hard-drawn wires, cables of hard-drawn wires, or bars of high strength alloy steel.
Prestressing may be achieved either by pretensioning or by post-tensioning.

Prestressed concrete structures can be classified in a number of ways depending upon the feature of
designs and constructions.

1. Pre-tensioning: As the name says, the steel wires or tendons are tensioned first and the concrete is
poured later. Tendons are temporarily anchored and tensioned and the prestress is transferred to the
concrete after it is hardened.

Then the tendon tries to shrink back to the original length, but resisted by the bond between the
concrete thereby inducing compressive force in it.

2. Post-tensioning: Post- tensioning similar to pre-tensioning, where concrete is poured first, allowed to
harden and the tendons is tensioned later. Tendons are placed in sheathing at suitable places in the
member before casting and later after hardening of concrete.

Uses:

Longer spans
Unique designs: irregular shapes
Shorter construction cycles
Cost reduction
Shorter floor-to-floor heights
Superior structural performance
References:

Wall Panel. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_panel

Adithya, B. (2016, August 11). What is prestressed concrete? Retrieved from

https://www.quora.com/What-is-prestressed-concrete