Modular Construction Unit

a structural assembly element comprising part of a building under construction. Modular construction units are utilized extensively in housing construction (bathrooms, rooms, apartments), less frequently in erecting public and industrial buildings (utility areas, transformer substations). The purpose of using modular construction units is to increase the amount of structural components manufactured at plants and assembled at the construction site. In modular-unit housing construction 75–80 percent of all building operations are carried out at plants; this procedure sharply curtails labor expenditures at the construction site, facilitates the shortening of construction schedules, and extends the possibilities for utilizing overall mechanization of operations in erecting buildings.

Reinforced concrete, metal, wood, and plastics are used as materials for modular construction units. Reinforced-concrete modular units have become the most widely used. According to their static performance, such units may be supporting or self-supporting; according to the technology of their manufacture, they may be prefabricated or prefabricated-monolithic. The dimensions of modular construction units depend on the profile which has been adopted for the building; a building’s volume is usually divided in the horizontal plane by its supporting walls and in the vertical plane by the floors. According to their method of manufacture, modular construction units are divided into monolithic (whole-formed) units and composite units (assembled from separate panels). Delivery of modular units from the plant to the construction site is accomplished primarily by truck transport. Tower cranes with increased load capacity are usually used in erecting buildings from modular units. Construction without cranes is also possible; the modular units can be lifted and installed into their fixed positions by means of hydraulic hoists.