The Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) is poised to advance its research standing with an $80 million nanotechnology center that will bring together the physical and biological sciences in a unique fusion of disciplines. The Marcus Nanotechnology Building (NRCB) will feature two cleanroom facilities that fuse a unique waffle slab deck design builtusing custom fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) dome forms to provide the load rigidity and airflow requirements essential to next-generation nanotechnology research operations.

Figure 1: Waffle Slab and Retaining Wall

The NRCB, which broke ground in August 2006 and is scheduled for completion in summer 2008, is comprised of two separate areas split by an expansion joint, a 5-story lab/office area, and a 30,000 sf, tri-level design cleanroom. Approximately 20,000 sf of cleanroom space will be dedicated to nanotechnology physical sciences and engineering, adjacent to a 10,000 sf facility dedicated to biological and biomedical nan-otechnology research.

The project’s architectural firm specified the unique waffle slab design for the NRCB cleanrooms to optimize airflow and utility (gas/water) exhaust services throughout the flooring system. The design’s end-result was to provide cleanroom filtering by pushing air through the building with uniform velocity and minimum turbulence. Additionally, the dome configuration was specified very deep to ensure the slab’s load per square foot strength to support the cleanrooms’ end-use equipment load requirements.

DOME DESIGN
The general contractor enlisted the project’s concrete trade contractor to source the unique formwork solution for the waffle slab. Having eliminated wood and steel options, the trade contractor awarded the bid to a company that manufactures a complete range of custom one-piece fiberglass reinforced plastic(FRP) forms that could provide a stronger, flexible design that could meet the unique configurations, reduce labor, and had the added benefit of re-usabilityfor use on future projects.

According to the manufacturer, “the domes’ custom design focus was the depth of the forms; they had to be very deep and narrow for the size of voidrequired for the floor. We produced three, rectangular shaped sizes of formsranging from 44" deep 18" wide 38" long and smaller.” Additionally,they noted, “Because there would be a lot of contact surface the strippingwould normally be difficult, however these forms wouldn’t have that problemdue to the physical properties of the FRP material combined with a chemicallyactive release agent called Nox-Crete™ PCE. Additionally, the concreteis finished 2" below the top of dome, so workers simply knock-down out ofthe bottom with a sledge hammer with no need for blow-plug air devices.”