Prefabricated Components for Building Construction
Prefabricated components for building construction refer to steel, wood, or concrete building components pre-made in factories or on construction sites, covering a variety of types such as concrete beams, slabs, steel structural frames, and wooden decorative strips.
Advantages of Prefabricated Components
- Shortened Construction Period: There is no need to wait for cement to set on the construction site. For example, the Shaowu Bamboo and Wood Industrial Park uses prefabricated units integrating beams and slabs, directly halving the construction period.
- Precise Quality: Factory production is carried out by machines, with errors controlled to the millimeter level. For instance, the external wall panels of Fuzhou Construction Engineering can achieve zigzag shapes, which are difficult to achieve manually.
- Improved Seismic Performance: Modern technologies, such as the fully assembled buildings of Broad Homes, use high-strength bolts and grouting techniques to connect nodes, with seismic capabilities reaching levels six or seven. After adopting this method, the dormitory building of Beijing Oriental University was constructed quickly and stably.
- Wide Application: Prefabricated components are not only used in prefabricated building projects but also in municipal bridges, subway stations, pumped-storage power stations, highway expansions, and subway station entrances and exits.
Main Types and Technologies of Prefabricated Components
Prefabricated components are mainly divided into panel-type assembly, box-type assembly, and frame-type assembly. The technologies cover prefabricated concrete structures and steel structures, with components including prefabricated products such as beams, slabs, walls, and columns. Specific products such as external wall panels, internal wall panels, prefabricated columns, prefabricated beams, prefabricated balconies, and stairs each have their own characteristics:
- Prefabricated Columns: The longitudinal and transverse reinforcement are accurately positioned, allowing for various shapes to meet different requirements, with good seismic performance.
- Prefabricated Composite Beams: Accurate dimensions and reinforcement positioning, with good seismic performance.
- Prefabricated Infill Walls: Lightweight, easy to install, with good sound insulation and fire resistance.
- Prefabricated Sandwich External Wall Panels: Good thermal insulation effect, enabling scaffold-free construction and preventing wall cracking and insulation detachment.
Development History of Prefabricated Component Technology in China
China's prefabricated concrete technology began in the 1950s and was initially applied in factory and residential construction. In the 1970s, driven by the policy of "industrialization, standardization, and mechanization" in construction, technical systems such as large-panel structures and box structures were formed. In the mid-1980s, it stagnated due to cost and quality defects. After the 21st century, it recovered due to production efficiency and environmental advantages. In August 2020, nine departments including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the "Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Building Industrialization," promoting standardized production and quality management of components.
