On building projects

In building project, there are several kinds of tests that you should expect. Our first project in Dubai was having an approximate area of 119, 000 square meters consists of 9 buildings with one common parking. Here are the quality tests that we have done and you also might conduct these on your building projects.

1. Soil Investigation – The purpose of the soil investigation is to determine the surface and subsurface conditions of the project and the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the ground in order to provide the structural engineer with sufficient information for the design of the most safest and practical design of foundations.

2. Plate load test – This test is sometimes taken on below slab-on-grade or on the foundation, but it would depend on your specification, this is in order to just verify the bearing capacity of soil which have taken from the soil investigation.

3. Soil analysis (Sampling) – This test shall be done prior to compaction test in order to determine the suitability of the soil to be used for backfilling. The sampling test includes atterberg limits, sieve analysis, organic matter.

4. Proctor test – The proctor test result shall be used in the calculation of the degree of compaction or in-situ test report. That is why it is necessary to do first the proctor test prior to compaction test. Here is the meaning of proctor test “It is a laboratory procedure of experimentally determining the optimal moisture content at which a given soil type will become most dense and achieve its maximum dry density.”

5. Compaction test or In-situ density test – Compaction test shall be done at a rate given to this article the-frequency-of-various-tests. Compaction test is a soil quality test used to assess the level of compaction, which can occur in the soil on a construction site. Compaction test for building projects shall be done below footings, tie beams and slab-on-grade, but note; if granular backfill (Engineered fill) is required below slab-on-grade you shall then compact it to 100 percent of maximum dry density.

6. Compression test of concrete – Most commonly the specification says 3 cubes will be taken for 7 days compressive strength test and another 3 cubes to be tested for 28 days to get the specified strength of concrete.

7. Durability test – The durability test commonly consists of; water penetration and water absorption test. The requirement for water penetration is not more than 10mm and the water absorption most commonly require not more than 20 percent.

8. Mechanical and chemical test – This test is for reinforcing bar that you are going to use on your project site which includes bending, tension test etc. Before you use the steel reinforcement, as a quality engineer or an inspector, you shall send the samples of 3 for each diameter to an approved independent laboratory.

9. Compression test for CMU – This test is sometimes mentioned on your specification. The tests include, dimension test and compression test. Three samples of each size of CMU have to be sent to approved independent laboratory.

10. Non-destructive test – This test shall be done on steel structure and it is usually done in the fabrication plant. The non-destructive test consists of Magnetic Particle Inspection, Ultrasonic Inspection and Water Penetrant Inspection. The non-destructive test shall be performed by an independent laboratory approved by the consultant. The non-destructive test should be done if it is mentioned in the specification, if not the tests shall be done internally as per quality standard procedure of the fabrication company.