Page 62 - Urban Construction Project Management

Testing and Quality Control 37
Material

The basic material that is used for construction has to meet industry standards. Thus,
structural steel has to conform to an A36 (or higher) standard. In other words, the man-
ufacturer process must produce steel that will have a yield strength of at least 36,000 psi
(pounds per square inch).

Load Capacity
Some materials and components are required to sustain direct loads without failing. An
example is piles, which are used in foundations for buildings. Piles must take the dead
load and live load of the building without failure or settlement. Thus, piles have to be
load tested to make sure that the imposed load meets the building code criteria and load
bearing capacity of the soil and friction of the soil.

Pressures

Some installed building material or components must withstand external and internal
pressures. For instance, a pipe that has water that is being pressurized by a pump must
be examined for proper pipe thickness and proper joint connections so that no leaks or
failure will occur. Usually pipes are tested at 1.5 times the normal operating pressures
specified.

Flow
Enclosures that have air or water flowing through them must be tested for proper flow
capacity. In HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) ductwork, the air flow-
ing through the system must be of sufficient capacity to heat or cool the occupants in a
space. This test is accomplished by measuring the cubic feet per minute (cfm) that exits
at the room’s diffuser (room air outlet). This cfm is then compared to the cfm of the
consulting engineer’s design drawings.

Systems
A system is an amalgamation of independent components performing together as a unit
for a specific function (i.e., speakers, strobes, elevator drops to lobby area, etc.). A good
example is a fire alarm system which is typically comprised of various electrical and
mechanical parts and components that must act together when a fire is detected. This
would include fire and smoke detectors giving off signals, strobes lighting up, elevators
immediately going to the lobby, and turning off of mechanical systems.

Performance

Performance guidelines are established for various parts, components, and systems. For
example, the design team may call for a certain elevator speed to be maintained to
accommodate the building’s tenants without delays.

Each one of these types of tests or a combination of them will advise the project man-
ager (PM) on how well each component is performing. The PM must know how these