Does your project meet the specified design standards? That can be a difficult question to answer but you know that they need to be met. Otherwise, the client may not get what they paid for (a quality project). One of these checkpoints has to do with the tensile strength and quality of the construction materials being used.
The main objective of materials testing is to ensure that the design standards are being followed by contractors and subcontractors. A prime example of this are concrete standards. If the structural engineer includes concrete standards and then the contractor places concrete that is — for example, 2,500 lbs/sq ft — then this may not meet the standards and will affect the overall project design.
Concrete is just one of many examples.
“Poorly compacted fill mass is almost certainly going to settle (or it will lead to differential settlement). Material that is compacted at 95% or more will settle far less.”
Another issue is compaction verification and testing. This is extremely critical for a building because the structural engineer will specify values on the rate of compaction. In turn, the contractor could be placing the materials that do not adhere to the standards. As a result, there are failing tests and this will affect whatever you put on top of it.
With an experienced partner like GeoWerks Engineering, you will have this information available and ready to go.
