MIVAN – A Versatile Aluminum Formwork
Construction Technique”
R.S.PANCHAL
Assistant Engineer, R&B Design Circle, Gandhinagar

 What is MIVAN Formwork..?
 History & Background
 When it is Suitable ..?
 Formwork Assembly
 Components of MIVAN Formwork
 Design Aspects of MIVAN
 Work cycle (Speed of Construction)
 Comparison between Aluminium formwork & Conventional
formwork system
 Quality Advantage of MIVAN
 Other Advantage of MIVAN
 Limitations of MIVAN Formwork
 Remedial measures
 Conclusion
 Video on – Aluminum Formwork Construction Technique
OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

 Mivan is the Brand name from far East,Malaysia.
 It is Alluminium Alloy Formwork.
 The system of Aluminium forms (MIVAN) has been used widely in
the construction of residential units and mass housing projects.
 It is fast, simple, adaptable and cost – effective. It produces total
quality work which requires minimum maintenance and when
durability is the prime consideration.
 This system is most suitable for Indian condition as a tailor–made
aluminum formwork for cast–in–situ fully concrete structure.
 Aluminum Formwork system is a comparatively a new technology in
India.
WHAT IS MIVAN FORMWORK?

 Mivan is basically an aluminum formwork system developed by one of
the construction company from Europe. In 1990, the Mivan Company
Ltd from Malaysia started the manufacturing of such formwork
systems.
 Now a days more than 30,000 sq. m of formwork used in the world are
under their operation. In Mumbai, India there are number of buildings
constructed with the help of the above system which has been proved
to be very economical and satisfactory for Indian Construction
Environment.
 The technology has been used extensively in other countries such
as Europe, Gulf Countries, Asia and all other parts of the world.
MIVAN technology is suitable for constructing large number of houses
within short time using room size forms to construct walls and slabs in
one continuous pour on concrete.
 All the activities are planned in assembly line manner and hence result
into more accurate, well – controlled and high quality production at
optimum cost and in shortest possible time.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND

WHEN IT IS SUITABLE ..?
 Mass Housing
 No. of Repetitions Are More
 Typical Floors
 Fast Construction Required
 High Quality
 Column Less Structure
 Highly Suitable To Load Bearing Structure (Shear wall)

 MIVAN aims in using modern construction techniques and
equipment in all its projects. On leaving the MIVAN factory all
panels are clearly labeled to ensure that they are easily
identifiable on site and can be smoothly fitted together using the
formwork modulation drawings. All formwork begins at a corner
and proceeds from there.
Fig.1 – Wall Assembly Details Image Courtesy: Google
FORMWORK ASSEMBLY

Fig.2 – Beam Assembly Details Image Courtesy: Google
 SIMPLICITY – PIN AND WEDGE SYSTEM
The panels are held in position by a simple pin and wedge system that
passes through holes in the outside rib of each panel. The panels fit
precisely, simply and securely and require no bracing.
FORMWORK ASSEMBLY

COMPONENTS OF MIVAN FORMWORK
 The basic element of the formwork is the panel, which is an extruded
aluminum rail section, welded to an aluminum sheet. This produces a
lightweight panel with an excellent stiffness to weight ratio, yielding
minimum deflection under concrete loading. Panels are manufactured
in the size and shape to suit the requirements of specific projects.
 The panels are made from high strength aluminum alloy with a 4 mm
thick skin plate and 6mm thick ribbing behind to stiffen the panels. The
panels are manufactured in MIVAN’S dedicated factories
in Europe and South East Asia. Once they are assembled they are
subjected to a trial erection in order to eliminate any dimensional or on
site problems.
 All the formwork components are received at the site within three
months after they are ordered. Following are the components that are
regularly used in the construction.

BEAM COMPONENTS
Prop Head
Beam Side Panel
Beam Soffit Panel
Beam Soffit Bulkhead
Image Courtesy: Google

DECK COMPONENTS
Deck
Panel
Deck Prop
Prop
Length
Deck Mid –Beam
Soffit Length
Image Courtesy: Google

OTHER COMPONENTS
Internal Soffit Corner
External Soffit Corner
External
Corner
Internal Corner

WALL COMPONENTS
Wall Panel
Rocker
Kicker
Image Courtesy: Google

PIN AND WEDGE SYSTEM
 Pin
 Stub
Image Courtesy: Google

SITE MANAGEMENT
 The essence of the system is that it provides a production line
approach in the construction industry. The laborers are grouped
together to form small teams to carry out various tasks within a
certain time frame such as, reinforcement, fabrication and
erection, formwork erection, concreting etc.
 Scheduling involves the design and development of the work
cycle required to maximize efficiency in the field. The
establishment of a daily cycle of work, which when fully
coordinated with different trades.
 Optimum use of the labour force is made by ensuring that each
trade has sufficient work on each working day.
 The improved coordination and construction management
enables the equipment to be used at optimum speed and
efficiency and speed of the output are outstanding. Thus a
disciplined and systemized approach to construction is achieved.

SPEED OF CONSTRUCTION -WORK CYCLE

SPEED OF CONSTRUCTION – WORK CYCLE
The system usually follows a four day cycle: -
 Day 1: -The first activity consists of erection of vertical
reinforcement bars and one side of the vertical formwork for the
entire floor or a part of one floor.
 Day 2: -The second activity involves erection of the second
side of the vertical formwork and formwork for the floor
 Day 3: - Fixing reinforcement bars for floor slabs and casting of
walls and slabs.
 Day 4: -Removal of vertical form work panels after 24hours,
leaving the props in place for 7 days and floor slab formwork in
place for 2.5 days.

SPEED OF CONSTRUCTION – WORK CYCLE
System for scheduling & controlling the work of other connected
construction trades
Deshuttering of the panels – 12 to 15 hrs
Positioning brackets & platforms on the level- 10 to 15 hrs
Deshuttered panels lifted & fixed on floor-7 to 10 hrs
Kicker & external shutters fixed in -7 hrs
Shutters are erected in 6-8 hrs
Reinforcement – 10 to 12 hrs
Electrical fittings -10 hrs
Pouring concrete

COMPARISON BETWEEN ALUMINIUM FORMWORK &
CONVENTIONAL FORMWORK SYSTEM
Sr No Characteristic Aluminium
formwork system
Conventional
Formwork system
1 Speed of construction Four days cycle per
floor
Ten days cycle per
floor
2 Quality of surface finish Excellent plastering
is not required
Bad
3 Pre-planning of form work system Required Not Required
4 Type of construction Cast in situ cellular
construction
Simple RCC framed
construction
5 Wastage of form work material Very less In great amount
6 Accuracy in construction Accurate
construction
Less than Aluform
7 Coordination between different
agencies
Essential Not necessrily
required
8 Resistance to earthquake Good resistance Less than Aluform
9 Reusage value 250-300 50

DESIGN ASPECTS OF MIVAN
 Buildings are compared as:
1). Conventional RC columns, beams, and slab construction
(RC moment resisting framed structure)
2). RC load-bearing walls and slabs.
 In the case of RC moment-resisting framed structures, the
horizontal forces due to wind or earthquake are resisted by the
frames resulting in the bending moments in columns to resist
bending moment and vertical loads would be more than that
required to resist vertical loads without bending moment. Similarly,
additional reinforcement will be required in beams at supports.
 In the case of RC load-bearing walls, monolithic casting of slab
along with RC walls results in a box type structure, which is very
strong in resisting horizontal forces due to wind or earthquake. In
view of large depth of shear walls, the resulting stresses due to
bending moment and vertical loads are smaller and in many cases,
concrete alone is capable of resisting these forces.

QUALITY ADVANTAGE OF MIVAN
The Advantages of this system are :-
The MIVAN formwork is specifically designed to allow rapid construction
of all types of architectural layouts.
 1) Total system forms the complete concrete structure.
 2) Custom designed to suit project requirements.
 3) Unsurpassed construction speed.
 4) High quality finish.
 5) Cost effective.
 6) Panels can be reused up to 250 times.
 7) Erected using unskilled labor.

OTHER ADVANTAGE OF MIVAN
 Easy to handle.
 Aluminum does not rust like steel; therefore, the Aluminium formwork
can be reused hundreds of times.
 Formwork is made with an aluminium alloy, which has high tensile
strength and is also very hard.
 Saving on overhead expenses due to speedy construction.
 Doesn’t require timber or plywood for construction activities so, it
saves the environment.
 Casting of walls and slabs possible simultaneously.
 Doesn’t require skilled labour.
 Less debris generation.
 Higher scrap value.
 Carpet area will increase.
 Collect the best premium from the customer, because of 100% RCC
buildings.

LIMITATIONS OF MIVAN FORMWORK
 Even though there are so many advantages of MIVAN formwork the
limitations cannot be ignored. However the limitations do not pose any
serious problems. They are as follows: -
 Because of small sizes finishing lines are seen on the concrete
surfaces.
 Concealed services become difficult due to small thickness of
components.
 It requires uniform planning as well as uniform elevations to be cost
effective.
 Modifications are not possible as all members are caste in RCC.
 Large volume of work is necessary to be cost effective i.e. at least 200
repetitions of the forms should be possible at work.

LIMITATIONS OF MIVAN FORMWORK
 Architectural changes not possible on the structure (but some walls
can be of brick work or openings can be entertained).
 Due to tremendous speed of construction, working capital finance
needs to be planned in advance.
 Number of holes will be more in the vertical wall, outer wall which is in
direct contact with the rain, hole should be grouted by Non Shrink
compound.
 Due to box-type construction shrinkage cracks are likely to appear.
 Heat of Hydration is high due to shear walls.

REMEDIAL MEASURES
 In external walls, ties used in shutter connection create holes in wall
after deshuttering. These may become a source of leakage if care is
not taken to grout the holes.
 Due to box-type construction shrinkage cracks are likely to appear
around door and window openings in the walls. It is possible to
minimize these cracks by providing control strips in the structure
which could be concreted after a delay of about 3 to 7 days after
major concreting.
 The problem of cracking can be avoided by minimizing the heat of
hydration by using fly ash.

CONCLUSION
 The intension of this paper is not provide a detailed comparison
or explain the technical features of Mivan formwork system in
depth. Instead of it aims to show the overview, condition &
constraints governing the use of Mivan formwork system under
the typical local circumstances.
 It can be concluded that the modern methods of construction
such as 'Mivan formwork system' are the key to meeting the
demand for efficient, sustainable housing. Also the quality and
speed must be given due consideration with regards to
economy.

ALUMINUM FORMWORK CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE

THANK YOU !
SPECIAL THANKS TO SHRI.S.K.PATEL SIR, SUPERINTENDING
ENGINEER, R&B DESIGN CIRCLE, GANDHINAGAR