Housing Concrete Prefabricated Panel

Housing concrete prefabricated panels are commonly used floor components in early 20th-century architecture. They are concrete prefabricated parts processed and formed in prefabrication yards and directly transported to the site for installation and use.

Manufacturing Process and Types

When manufacturing prefabricated panels, a hollow mold is first made using wooden planks. Reinforcing bars are then arranged inside the mold, and cement is poured in. After drying, the wooden planks are knocked off to form the panel. Based on structural differences, there are two types: solid panels and hollow panels. Hollow panels achieve lightweighting by reducing the concrete in non-load-bearing parts, lowering material usage while ensuring load-bearing capacity, making them suitable for construction scenarios sensitive to weight.

Application Scenarios and Specifications

Prefabricated panels have a wide range of applications. In addition to floor slabs, they can also be used as ditch covers beside highways and roof insulation layers. Their dimensions vary depending on the purpose:

• Span: The longest span for residential use is 4.2 meters, meeting the floor span requirements of ordinary residences.
• Width: Mainly 500mm and 600mm, facilitating construction and splicing.
• Thickness: Commonly 120mm and 150mm, selected according to load-bearing requirements.
• Live Load Ratings: Divided into Class I (1kN/m²) and Class II (2kN/m²). Due to special geological conditions in the southwest region, a minimum of Class IV (4kN/m²) is specified to enhance safety.

Technological Alternatives and Existing Issues

With the development of construction technology, cast-in-place concrete and prefabricated buildings are gradually replacing traditional prefabricated panel houses. Prefabricated buildings use modular factory-prefabricated components. For example, CMC (Composite Modular Construction) buildings enhance seismic resistance through integrated steel-concrete pouring, shortening the construction period by 30% compared to traditional methods. Existing prefabricated panel houses generally have the following issues:

• Weak Seismic Resistance: Simple node connection methods make it difficult to meet modern seismic design requirements.
• Poor Sound and Thermal Insulation: Hollow structures or thin panel designs result in insufficient sound insulation and thermal insulation performance.
• Limited Service Life: Approximately 30-50 years, far shorter than the durability of cast-in-place structures.

Policy Adjustments and Market Status

Since 2022, China has implemented renovation policies, focusing on repair and renovation of prefabricated panel houses and only demolishing buildings that meet the criteria for dangerous houses to balance residential safety and resource utilization. Although traditional prefabricated panel houses are gradually exiting the mainstream market, concrete prefabricated panels still maintain technological vitality in China's construction sector. Chinese companies have comparative advantages in steel structure and concrete prefabricated panel routes. Among them, concrete prefabricated panels, due to their closeness to traditional living experiences and high acceptance in the domestic market, perform outstandingly in the export sector. For example, in the first four months of 2026, enterprises in the Guangzhou Customs area exported movable houses worth 1.4 billion yuan (a year-on-year increase of 38.1%), and exports from Shenzhen ports reached 1.68 billion yuan (a year-on-year increase of 19.6%), indicating that this field still has competitiveness in the global market.