New flatness standards for concrete floors
September 5th 2003

The latest edition of the Concrete Society’s Technical Report 34, the principle guide to the design and construction of concrete industrial ground floors in the UK, includes new floor flatness standards designed to improve the efficiency and safety of fork lift truck operations in very narrow aisle VNA) warehouses

TR34 has included standards for floor flatness in defined movement areas since first publication in 1988. However, these standards only covered the across-axle tilt measurement and the short wave characteristics of the outer two wheel tracks. It did not include measurement of the positions of wheels or a long wave-length control

The Concrete Society set up a working group to consider this issue following representations from fork lift truck manufacturers that the existing standards were adversely affecting the performance of their equipment. Truck users were finding that, although the floor complied with the specification, the equipment was experiencing excessive movement and vibration, resulting reduced operational speeds and increased maintenance

Appendix C of the new edition TR34 includes maximum values for differences in levels laterally and longitudinally for all wheel tracks within defined movement areas and stipulates the rates at which levels change. Values are specified for three fork truck lift heights – to 8m, 8 to 13m, and above 13m

The new edition proposes a new method for surveying defined movement areas, using a profileograph that simulates the dimensions of the trucks to be used

Further information is available from FACE Consultants, member of the Concrete Society working group.

More articles from FACE Consultants: