Nowadays, self-climbing formworks are commonly used in the construction of concrete buildings with a great height, such as high-rise buildings, silos, and bridge piers. A regular formwork can be improved to have more functions, e.g., the formwork itself can climb to the desired construction site. Climbing characteristics of the formwork as well as opening and closing characteristics of the formwork shell are essential criteria for evaluating the performance of a self-climbing formwork. The effective ones were mentioned in different studies, where most of them were published in patents of countries, e.g., the United States and China. Dissimilar from these studies, this paper presents several improvements for some certain groups to enhance the features of a hydraulic self-climbing formwork. Based on the analysis of the composition and the working principle of the actual climbing formwork types, a new opening and closing method of the formwork shells and a new rail clamping device are suggested. They are applied to design a self-climbing formwork with the shell’s working size of 4 m x 3 m. Their load capacity, as well as the flatness of the concrete surface after casting, are assessed. The proposed solutions can result in various advantages, e.g., the shorter initial alignment time, the increase of the quality concrete surface, and the maximal automation for construction operations.
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