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 nondestructive 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.