Concrete slab panel forming, reinforcing, joint sealing and edge protecting framing system
A device for forming, reinforcing, joint sealing and edge protecting of a concrete slab panel, wherein the concrete slab panel having a volume, a length, a width, and a surface. The device comprising of an elongated post having a body, a top end and a bottom end with a plurality of elongated grooves extending along the body; a mounting frame has a length, a width and a thickness. The mounting frames having a connecting means to connect the mounting frame to the posts. The present invention eliminates the needs for saw-cut lines for crack inducement and acts as a joint sealer for the concrete slab to relieve the tensile stresses.
1. A method of constructing, reinforcing, joint sealing and edge protecting of a continuous concrete slab over a surface area, wherein the continuous concrete slab having a thickness, the method comprising the steps of:
a. determining a joint-spacing-length for said continuous concrete slab based on a predetermined factor of said thickness of the concrete slab;
b. choosing a polygonal-concrete-shape to prevent concrete curling after curing process;
c. determining a polygon-side-length for said polygonal-concrete-shape based on the joint-spacing-length;
d. subdividing said subgrade surface area into a plurality of said polygons using a plurality of mounting frames, wherein said mounting frames are connected and held on said surface area by a plurality of perpendicularly placed mounting posts having means to connect said mounting frames, wherein said means to connect said mounting frames comprises of a plurality of elongated grooves designed in a body of said post to engage with said mounting frames, wherein each said mounting frame having a frame-length, a frame-height, a frame-thickness, a frame-bottom end and a frame-top end, forming a stationary polygonal web, and
e. pouring concrete onto said stationary polygonal web until the concrete reaches to said frame-top end,
whereby the mounting frames assembly subdivide the continuous concrete slab into a plurality of said polygonal-concrete-shapes by inducing formation of fine cracks along the frame-bottom end of said mounting frame and wherein said mounting frames act as saw-cuts and joint fillers between said concrete-pattern-shapes.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the joint-spacing length (feet) is equal to 2.5 times the thickness of the continuous concrete slab (inches).
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said polygonal-concrete-shape being selected from the groups consisting of a triangle, a square, a rectangle, a pentagon, a hexagon, a heptagon, an octagon and a decagon.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said frame-length is substantially equal to the polygon-side-length.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said mounting frames are reinforced by connecting a plurality of circumferential reinforcement bars to one another to keep said mounting frames in a proper position during the concrete pouring process.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said concrete-pattern-shape is an equal side hexagon.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said polygon-side-length in units of feet is between the ranges of 1 to 2 times of the thickness of the continuous concrete slab in units of inches.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said polygon-side-length is equal to:
a polygon-side-length (feet)=1.25×said thickness of concrete slab (inches)/sin(a polygon half angle),
wherein said polygon half angle is the half of the angle between two adjacent polygon sides.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said frame-length being approximately between 1 foot to 25 feet.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein frame-height is at least one-quarter of the thickness of said continuous concrete slab.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said mounting frames connects to said elongated groove on said post in a variable height to provide leveling.