Photo Credits: Jeffrey J. Pierce
The use of portable steel roll-forming machines to fabricate mobile structures is an emerging technology gaining traction within the U.S. Navy.
Cold-Formed Steel Mobile Factory
The Naval Construction Force has developed the Cold-Formed Steel Mobile Factory (CFSMF) at the Contingency Construction Crew Training facility on board Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Miss.
“The Navy’s priorities are for the Naval Construction Force to be able to build structures anywhere in the world and quickly,” says Justin Richards, senior chief equipment operator at the Naval Construction Group.
For this reason, CFSMF uses steel studs and cladding instead of traditional lumber for its building construction.
“Using steel versus dimensional lumber to frame helps overcome the lack of material availability, high cost, or a wide logistics footprint for the latter,” Richards says. “Plywood and other materials for framing take up a lot of space when embarked, and the elements can easily damage the wood.”
Seabees participated in a two-week class on how to set up and operate the CFSMF on board Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, MS.
Navy Training Changed to Include Steel Framing
According to DVIDS, Seabees from the Naval Construction Group participated in a two-week course last fall. Students used the mobile factory to fabricate materials required to build a small doll house. In the past, this course would have featured traditional lumber. Since Seabees have used traditional wood framing for more than 75 years, the use of CFS framing and roll-forming machines represented significant changes to the program.
“These machines can immensely improve our capabilities across the world,” says Jonathan Wagner, a student who completed the training. “There are advantages for this type of application versus traditional framing methods. The metal structures have a longer life expectancy [and are] significantly more durable.”
The Steel Framing Advantage
Cold-formed steel (CFS) leads the way as the preferred framing material for prefabricated structures for multiple reasons. CFS is:
- A pre-engineered material that can be cut to exact lengths
- Dimensionally stable and does not expand or contract with changes in moisture content
- Lightweight compared to wood and concrete
- Resilient and will not warp, split, crack or creep when exposed to the elements
- Sustainable and 100% recyclable
- Durable and has a high tensile strength
- Non-combustible and is a safeguard against fire accidents
Steel Framing for Disaster Response
The Naval Postgraduate School also assessed the use of cold-formed steel (CFS) for Navy applications by testing FRAMECAD roll-forming equipment in a humanitarian assistance and disaster response scenario, according to CHIPS.
“We are interested in showing the full potential of this machine and using it in a real-world environment, so that we are better prepared for the next disaster,” says Brian Steckler, a lecturer with the Naval Postgraduate School Department of Information Sciences.
“In areas where materials are difficult to gather, this machine is invaluable,” Steckler says. “One roll [of steel coil] can produce a 16-by-32 foot building. Concrete would take a 20-foot Conex box to create the same building. And wood is very bulky, heavy, susceptible to the elements, and hard to get in many countries.”
Construction Reduced from Weeks to a Single Day
According to BU3 Mykael Landstorfer, a crew leader during a recent training operation, steel framing reduced the construction time significantly.
“Normally we work for a 10 percent waste factor, and when the mobile factory is up and running we are at less than one percent,” says Landstorfer.
He adds that working with CFS members makes the construction process much easier.
“The building is laid out in the software, and it should only take minutes to spit out as opposed to days,” Landstorfer says. “It would take a week to do the same project with lumber or concrete, this is a day or less to put up the framing of a building.”
Additional Resources
- 5 Reasons CFS Contributes to Building Resiliency
- GC Turns to CFS Prefabrication to Solve Local Labor Shortage
- Steel, Modular Homes and an Opportunity to End the Housing Shortage