Inspection, Quality,

Variation, Statistical Control

and Acceptance Criteria
Dr. J.SUDHAKUMAR
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engg.
NIT, CALICUT
Inspection, Quality, Variation, Statistical Control and
Acceptance Criteria

 INSPECTION AND QUALITY CHECK

 Need and scope of Inspection

 To ensure that work is done in

accordance with the plans,
specifications and good practice,
and to prevent mistakes.
ð The other requirements for the
same purpose include

Intelligent design
Adequate specifications
Reliable construction
Competent inspection
ð The following items are covered by
the inspection of concrete
construction at various stages:

Sampling, Identification, Examination,

and any field testing of materials
Control of concrete proportioning and
the measurement of materials
Examination of the foundation, forms
and other work preparatory to
concreting
Continuous inspection of the
batching, mixing, conveying,
placing, compacting, finishing
and curing of concrete

Testing for consistency of

concrete, and preparation of
any concrete specimens
required for laboratory testing
Keneral observation of
contractor¶s plant and
equipment, weather, working
conditions and other items
affecting the concrete

Preparation of records and

reports
Choice of an Inspector
 An ideal inspector should have
both technical and practical know-
know-
how of the subject. He should
essentially understand the
following:

Bulking of fine aggregate (sand)

Well proportioned mix or not
Whether the mix has desired slump
Whether the forms are sufficiently
tight and braced

Whether the concrete is properly

compacted or not

Whether the forms are removed

early or not
a


 
 

 An authority should be given to the
inspector to :
Prohibit concreting until all
preliminary conditions (such
as completion of forms) have
been fulfilled and inspection
report for concreting has been
provided
Stop the use of materials and
equipment, which do not
comply with the specifications

Stop any work which is not

being done in conformity with
the plans and specifications
Require the removal or repair
of faulty construction or of
construction performed
without inspection and not
accessible to being inspected
later
Normally, the inspector is
authorised to take direct action in
the first three cases above
He should report the matter
immediately to his superior
He should stop the work only as a
last resort, when it is clear that
unsatisfactory concrete will result
from the continuing operations
 | 
 

 Before concrete is placed, the
specification requirements in all
aspects must be fulfilled

Forms should be of proper size

and strength and in their correct
location
Cement, aggregates, water and any
other ingredients should be
inspected
 Batching of materials, time of
mixing, possibility of segregation,
proper curing etc., as this will
influence the properties of
hardened concrete
 Preparation of test specimens
 At least 3 specimens for each 200
m3 of concrete
 Each sample should be from
different points of the structure
 Sampling should not be from the
conveying device
 Taken at irregular times and
without prolonged preparations
 Sample should be placed in a
water--tight non
water non--absorbent
container
 Remixed fast enough to make it
uniform, and then moulded into
specimens
 For compression test, 150 mm
cube moulds are used
 Moulds are filled in 3 layers
 Each layer is compacted with 25
strokes of a 16 mm diameter and
600 mm long, round bullet pointed
steel rod
 After the top surface has been
levelled, the specimen is covered
to prevent evaporation
Flexure specimens are 150 mm
x 150 mm in section. Moulds
are placed with their long axis
horizontal and are filled in 2
layers, each layer being rodded
50 times.
 Quality check on Personnel and
Equipment
 Should have a well trained team,
conversant with different quality
control procedure of inspection,
testing and data analysis
 An adequately equipped field
laboratory for carrying out
routine control tests
 Table 1:

Daily testing programme

and composition of team
( refer notes )
 Table 2:

Degree of quality control

expected under different site
conditions
( refer notes )
 Measures of Variability of Concrete Mix
Design

 Factors contributing to Variability

It is found that strength of concrete

varies from batch to batch
The following are the sources of
variability
 Variation
in the quality of
constituent materials used

 Variation
in the mix proportions
due to batching processes

 Variations
in the quality of
batching and mixing equipment
available
 Quality of supervision and
workmanship
 Variation due to sampling and
testing of concrete specimens

These variations are inevitable

during production of concrete
 Thepurpose of quality control
using statistical means is to
produce concrete of uniform
quality

If a large number of cube strength

test results are plotted on a
histogram, the results are found to
follow a bell-
bell-shaped curve termed
as ³Normal Distribution Curve´
 The arithmetic mean of a number
of test results gives no indication
of the extent of variation of
strength
However, this can be ascertained
by relating the individual strength
to the mean strength and
determining the variation from the
mean, with the help of the
characteristics of the N.D.curve
 Standard Deviation

The root mean square deviation of

the whole consignment is termed
as the µstandard Deviation´. It can
be defined numerically as:

S= ü (x ± -x-)2/(n
/(n--1)
Where

S = S.D. of the test results

x = any value in the test results
_
x = arithmetic mean of the results
n = number of test results
 Coefficient of Variation

An alternate method of expressing

the variation of results about the
mean is by coefficient of variation

This is a non-
non-dimensional measure
of variation
This is obtained by dividing the
standard deviation by the average
value, and is expressed as

V = 100 S / -X-
 where
V = coefficient of variation
S = S.D. in strength
-X- = Mean value in strength

When the C.V. is constant, S.D.

increases with the increase in
strength of concrete
 STATISTICAL CONCEPTS OF
MIX DESIKN

Characteristic strength

This means that value of

the strength of concrete below
which, not more than 5 percent of
the test results are expected to fall
 Target mean strength

ft = fck + K.s
where
ft = target mean strength
fck = characteristic strength
K = a statistical constant, depending on
the definition of fck and is derived
from the mathematics of Normal
Distribution
s = standard deviation
The value of K is equal to 1.65
where not more than 5% of test
results are expected to fall below
the characteristic strength

ft = fck + 1.65 s
 Acceptance Criteria
(IS 456 : 2000)
1. Compressive strength
Both the following conditions
must be met :
a) The mean strength of any four
consecutive test results compiles
with the appropriate limits in
Table 3.
j 
For M15 grade

  
   

 
  




 


fck  0.825 x SD 

fck + 3     


j 
For M20 or above grade
 
   
 

 
  

  


  


fck  0.825 x SD 

fck + 4     


 Acceptance Criteria

b) Any individual test result

complies with the appropriate
limits in Table 3.
j 
For M15 grade




  

  

 
  

  

!ffck ± "
!
j 
For M20 or above grade




  

  

 
  

  

!ffck ± "
!
 Acceptance Criteria

1. Flexural strength
Both the following conditions
must be met :
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