If on-site slump test fails, should engineers allow the contractor to continue
the concreting works?
This is a very classical question raised by many graduate
engineers. In fact, there are two schools of thought regarding this issue.
The first school of thought is rather straightforward: the
contractor fails to comply with contractual requirements and therefore as per
G. C. C. Clause 54 (2)(c) the engineer could order suspension of the
Works. Under the conditions of G. C. C. Clause 54(2)(a) - (d), the contractor
is not entitled to any claims of cost which is the main concern for most
engineers. This is the contractual power given to the Engineer in case of any
failure in tests required by the contract, even though some engineers
argue that slump tests are not as important as other tests like compression
test.
The second school of thought is
to let the contractor to continue their concreting works and later on request
the contractor to prove that the finished works comply with other contractual
requirements e.g. compression test. This is based upon the belief that
workability is mainly required to achieve design concrete compression strength.
In case the compression test also fails, the contractor should demolish and
reconstruct the works accordingly. In fact, this is a rather passive way of
treating construction works and is not recommended because of the following
reasons:
(i) Workability of freshly placed concrete is related not only to
strength but also to durability of concrete. Even if the future compression
test passes, failing in slump test indicates that it may have adverse impact to
durability of completed concrete structures.
(ii) In case the compression test fails, the contractor has to deploy
extra time and resources to remove the work and reconstruct them once again and
this slows down the progress of works significantly. Hence, in view of such
likely probability of occurrence, why shouldn't the Engineer exercise his power
to stop the contractor and save these extra time and cost?
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