Technical site visit to Andes

Construction site

Name : Mok Po Yi

Student ID : 0318207

Subjects :

Measurement I (QSB60104)

Building Material (BLD62003)

Construction Tecnology I (BLD60104)

Table of content

Introduction

A site visit to Andes construction site was held on 26 th of June 2015 by the programme director, Sr. Ang Fuey Lin. We gathered at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus to take bus and get to the site. Our class was separated into 2 groups so that it is easier for the site visit. My batch is the second batch so our bus left campus at sharp 9.30a.m. We were told to wear proper attire for this site visit due to safety precautions. Long pants and covered shoes or site boots are required, and also the most important is the white helmet. After half an hour, our bus has arrived our site which located around puchong area.

After we arrived destination, we were briefed by the project manager who is Mr. James Siow. He briefly talked about the construction project and site to us. We were separated into few small groups. Then, we had started the tour in the construction site with the guidance of Mr. James and his colleagues.

From the briefing, we knew that the scope of works included site clearance, earthwork, construction of bored pile and pile caps work. Besides, they also work for comstruction for basement slab, beams, retaining wall and ground floor slab including column lift wall, ramp and staircases starter bars from basement to ground. This project will cost around rm21,500,000.00. The project last around 24 months

started from 5th of May 2014.

Entrance of the siteThe briefing session

Objectives

The objectives of this techinical site visit is to :

1. To understand how the construction process go on.

2. To fully understand the machinery used in construction site with the real references such as bar bending machine, cutting machine and so on.

3. To gain more knowledge from the site visit by the guidance of the experienceful professionals when they are giving us information for each station of the tour.

4. To discover the types of construction technologies used in real life.

5. To see and touch the real building material for construction from site that used to construct a building and able to identify the types of building material used in the site.

6. To understand the future job’s scope and role in the industry including reading the drawings and also real site visit for future.

7. To experience the construction site including understanding the safety precautions in the site such as wearing helmet and boots for personal safety.

8. To know more about the teamwork in construction industry by understanding the roles of architects, project manager, engineers, contractor and etc in the construction site. Able to understand how do they work together.

Content / Technical Observations

Types of foundation

This construction site has applied pile foundation. A pile foundation consists of 2 components which are pile caps and single or group of piles. Piles has high bearing capacity to transfers the loads from building structures. Pile foundation is used when the soil condition of the site is not that good. Piles can be made from concrete, wood or steel. The selection of type of pile foundation is based on site investigation report so that it can suggests the type of pile foundation to be used. However, the function of the pile foundation is to control the settlements, increase the factor of safety for heavy loads building since it is reliable and more.

This is the diagram of pile cap and photo of pile and pile cap from what we have seen.

Based on the site visit, pile foundation is used for both block A and block B as well as its depth is more than 3metres below the finishing level. Besides, based on the explaination from the person incharged, the type of pile foundation is bored pile method. Bored pile is used for those tall buildings or massive industrial complexes, which require foundations that can bear the load of thousands of tons, most probably in unstable or difficult soil conditions.

Advatages and disadvantages for pile foundation

Advantages DisadvantagesCan be designed to withstand high bending and tensile stresses

Displacement of soil during driving may lift adjacent piles or damage adjacent structures

Construction operations not affected by ground water

May break during driving necessitating replacement piles.

Almost vibration and noise free Required heavy machinery to process.

Can be driven in ver long lengths Higher cost

Bored pile method is required when there’s heavy buildings with large loads and when there is a risk of damage to surrounding buildings through vibration.

Advantages of bored pile method Can transmit heavy loads Almost noise and vibration free No need to support bore hole as concrete replaces the void created

Disadvantages of bored pile method Large plant needed to excavate earth Require reasonably goof soil content to avoid bore hole collapsing.

Reinforcred concrete grade

Reinforced concrete grade is an index for the compresive strength of the harden concrete depends on the quality and quantity of cement, water and aggregates. Different grades of reinforced concrete would have different workability. From the site visit, we have asked the person in charged about the reinfored concrete grade. We knew that different building structures would have different concrete grade.

Concrete grade : Foundation – Grade 35 Column – Grade 45 Slab , wall and beam – Grade 35

Photos and description

This is the reinforcement bars for the pile cap.

This is the bored pile.

The reinforcement bars for huge pilecap

Scalfolding in the site to enable labours can access the structure easily

The labour was removing the formwork which the concrete is readily harden in 24 hours

Labours are installing formwork with the help of hammer

Concrete cover is done in this way.

This shows how the link perform in the columns with the concrete cover.

The contractor showed us the stirrups.

The machinery – bar bending machine The bent reinforcement bars.

View of the construction site with huge machinery and vehicles

Basically the site is using pile foundation which overally look like this.