TUAN JAZLAN BIN TUAN MOOD 12888 CVE

Take Home Test Civil Engineering Design

1. Explain and discuss the preliminaries concept in tender document

Preliminaries are part of the tender documents prepared by (or on behalf of) the client. Preliminaries provide
a description of the project that allows the contractor to assess costs which, whilst they do not form a part of
any package of works, are required by the method and circumstances of the works. Preliminaries should not
be confused with 'preambles' which set out things such as tendering procedures, that will not affect the
contractor's price. Preliminaries may contain:

A general summary.
Method statements.
Pre-construction information.
Details of any alternative options to be put forward by tenderers.
A description of any planning or other conditions that may affect the work to be carried out by
the contractor.
A description of any outstanding statutory approvals that may fall to the contractor to satisfy.
Party wall requirements or other agreements with neighbours (such as rights to light).
Any emergency services obligations.
Relevant reports (such as soil reports).
Perhaps information release schedule.
Quality management procedures.
Labour relations.
A declaration of non-collusion.
Schedules of mock-ups, testing and samples required from the contractor.
The method of sub-contracting.
Requirements for insurance, performance bonds, warranties and product guarantees (for
the contractor and sub-contractors).
Requirement for progress photos to be taken on site during soil investigation works being done.
Dates for partial possession.
Site waste management plan.
Contractor's site preliminaries, such as; staff, welfare provisions, site offices, plant, site waste clearance,
water, electricity, site offices, furniture, ICT and consumables, rates, protection of work, protective
clothing, site transport, setting out, building control fees and so on.

References
http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Preliminaries












TUAN JAZLAN BIN TUAN MOOD 12888 CVE
Take Home Test Civil Engineering Design
2. Term of provisional quantities and recommendation in formulation constituting the
provisional quantity for concrete work.

Quantities can be described as the unit of billing, which is the metre, square metre, cubic metre or
kilogramme. Quantities shall be billed to the nearest whole unit. Fractions of a unit less than half shall be
disregarded and all other fractions shall be regarded as a whole unit. For item that the unit of billing is
tonne, quantities shall be billed to the nearest two places of decimals. For item, where the application of
clauses A 7.1 and 2 would cause an entire item to be eliminated, such item shall be enumerated stating the
size or weight as appropriate. (ISM, 2000)

The term provisional quantities is defined as a quantities provided for work or costs which cannot be
entirely be foreseen, defined or detailed at the time the tender documents are issued. Provisional
quantities is usually estimated by the cost consultant and inserted into tender documents for a specific
element of works not yet defined in enough detail for contractors to price. These, together with a brief
description, allows tenderers to apply mark up and attendance costs within their overall tender price and
make allowance for this element of work in the contract programme. Provisional quantities place either
the contractor or the client at risk of unexpected costs or delays, and can cause tensions in agreeing the
cost of such work or extensions of time that might be claimed. They should only be used as a last resort,
they should not be an 'easy' fall-back position for consultants when designs are incomplete or information
is difficult to obtain, as this can burden the client with considerable unnecessary risk and uncertainty.

An example of a situation where provisional quantities might be appropriate where work is required
underground, or below an existing structure, where the conditions cannot be determined until the work
begins and the existing structure demolished or the ground opened up. Provisional quantities can be
'defined' or 'undefined':

i. Defined provisional quantities are considered to have been accounted for within the contractor's price
and programme. In effect the contractor is taking the risk that their estimate will be sufficient.
ii. Undefined provisional quantities are not accounted for in the contractor's price and programme. This
means that the client is bearing the risk for the works and the contractor may be entitled to an extension
of time and additional payments.
As for the example of provisional quantity in concrete work, let say the construction of a rectangular
reinforced concrete, the amount of the concrete we provide must be calculated as a whole volume for the
whole length of the reinforced concrete i.e. not subtracting the volume for the reinforcement bar. This to
avoid from shortage of concrete amount if we provide only exact volume of concrete after subtracting
volume reinforcement bar which the concrete volume produced or expected to arrive at site may be lesser
than that.

References
ISM. (2000). Malaysian Standard Method of Measurement of Building Works (Vol. 2). Institute of
Surveyors Malaysia.




TUAN JAZLAN BIN TUAN MOOD 12888 CVE
Take Home Test Civil Engineering Design


3. Upon receiving tender document from soil investigation contract, briefly discuss the steps
needed to fully realize the soil investigation at the project site.

After receiving tender document from soil investigation contract these are the steps needed to fully realize
the soil investigation at the project side.

1) Understanding the tender documents
The tender documents need to be fully studied and reviewed. The contractors need to understand
the scope of the work, the needs of the client, and all related items being included in the tender
documents. This is important to avoid any misunderstanding, confusion and more importantly is the
cost of doing the soil investigation

2) Survey and Investigation for site location

The exact location for project needs to be determined before starting the soil investigation work. The
contractor must have been briefed with site & location plan for assessing the road alignment and
overall details of structures & nature of project; loads, bearing capacity, settlement & stability
requirements of slopes, walls, bridges, etc.

Besides that, the contractor might require several types of maps and photos for surveying purposes,
which includes:

- Topology maps for assessing the terrains, access & site/environment conditions.
- Geological maps for assessing the geological formations, characteristics and presence of any
adverse geological discontinuities, etc.
- Aerial photos for assessing the site conditions, land use, etc.
- Other relevant records, data and information.
- An evaluation of performance of the existing road or structure in the immediate vicinity of the
proposed alignment or site, relative to the foundation, material and environment should be carried
out.
- A review of all the available information on the geologic history and formation of rock, or soil or
both and groundwater conditions occurring at the proposed alignment or location and in the
immediate vicinity should be carried out.

These information plus site reconnaissance or walks-over survey by the designer or engineers
involved in SI are crucial to obtain the basic knowledge of site conditions and project concept
designs. The need, purpose and the likely geotechnical issues or problems can then be identified and
subsequently used to plan and determine or design the scope and methods of SI works. Through the
results of SI and other relevant site information, the knowledge of behaviour of the ground and its
spatial variability can be obtained for the necessary geotechnical analysis, design and construction.

3) Planning scope of SI

Scope of SI required for a project depends very much on the experience and local knowledgeof of the
geotechnical designer. After the desk study and walk-over survey, the following information and
issues have to be determined and procured before scope of SI can be planned:

TUAN JAZLAN BIN TUAN MOOD 12888 CVE
Take Home Test Civil Engineering Design
- likely or possible or anticipated geotechnical issues or problems to be encountered in the design &
construction of the proposed road project.
- establish the purpose & need for SI
- what soil properties and other information are required to be known
- extent, areas & depth of ground to be investigated
- fund, time & site constraints
The extent of SI mainly depends on the character and variability of the subsoil and groundwater and
the amount of existing information available. However, it should be noted that the subsoil conditions
of a road alignment are very sensitive to the type of geological formations and so the spacing and
location of boreholes/test pits/types of tests should be more closely related to the detailed geology of
the project area and the geotechnical problem/analysis required to be carried out.

Determine scheme of laboratory testing:
- disturbed samples are mainly for basic & index properties tests. Soil classification tests shall be
carried out for all typical disturbed samples at various distinct strata.
- undisturbed samples are mainly for engineering property tests
- water samples are mainly for chemical tests. At least 3 water samples from river for bridge project
shall be taken for chemical tests (pH, S04, Chloride etc).
- block samples are mainly for engineering property tests and classification tests.
- bulk samples from Test Pits are mainly for compaction/CBR tests plus classification tests, etc.
The proposed scope of SI should be checked or audited by a geotechnical expert registered with
ACEM/IEM before implementation. Ensure reliable/ reputable SI contractor registered with CIDB is
engaged. Check the adequacy and completeness of the method statement, works programme and
ensure all equipment, supervisor and materials proposed by the SI contractor are compled with
relevant specifications and standards

4) Getting approvals for site entrance

Before starting the work, approvals need to be obtained to enter the site. This is important to avoid
any related issues such as insurance, workers permit and liability.


5) Starting the soil investigation work

Boreholes need to be drilled according to the specifications stated in the tender documents contract.
Among the Important data to be acquired through SI are:
- Subsoil profile shows the properties and thickness of various compressible and firm strata,
groundwater Table (WT), etc. Deep Sounding/Deep Boring (DS/DB) plus continuous sampling are
necessary if accurate profile is required. Spacing of DS/DB should be in the range of 60m to 300m.
DS/DB can be supplemented by in-situ vane shear tests such as Geonor Vane tests and some JKR
probes. Usually one or two boreholes plus two or more DS or piezocones should be recommended
to determine the generalized subsoil profile for each stretch of soft ground, especially when
embankment height is more than 6m and ground improvement designs are necessary.
Criteria to terminate the depth of bore holes should be:
(a) until 10 consecutive SPT values exceeding 10 or until 10 numbers of insitu vane shear tests
exceeding 50 kPa if the height of embankment is less than 3m, or
(b) until 5 consecutive SPT values exceeding 20 or 5 numbers of insitu vane shear tests results
exceeding 75 kPa if the height of embankment is 3m to 5m, or
TUAN JAZLAN BIN TUAN MOOD 12888 CVE
Take Home Test Civil Engineering Design
(c) until 2 consecutive SPT values exceeding 50 or 2 consecutive SPT values exceeding 40 (for
depth exceeding 30m) if the height of embankment is more than 5m, and
(d) preferably at least one borehole along the soft stretch should be extended until 2 consecutive
SPT values exceeds 50 or until 1.5m rock coring, whichever comes first.

- Compressibility soil properties for settlement analysis (Cc, Cv, Mv, Pc, etc,) can be obtained from
the 1-D consolidation tests or hydraulic cell using quality undisturbed samples obtained by
stationary piston samplers or and supplemented by correlation values from DS or piezocones tests,
etc.

- Shear strength parameters for stability and bearing analysis or ground improvement design (Cu
from in-situ vane shear tests or undisturbed samples, C & from triaxial tests using quality
undisturbed samples, etc.)

- Index properties (LL, PL, PI, M/C, sieve analysis, organic contents, etc) for soil classification and
engineering property correlations, etc.

6) Submitting the SI report

After the samples of soil have been analyzed, SI report needs to be submitted to the client. The SI
factual report submitted by the SI Contractor registered with CIDB should be checked and endorsed
by a qualified Professional Engineer to ensure the following items are included and complied:

The factual SI report should be prepared, checked and certified by a suitably qualified geotechnical
engineer or engineering geologist to ensure compliance with the specification and standards. SI
Interpretation Report containing analysis and interpretations of SI results should be prepared by the
geotechnical designer before detail geotechnical design. It should include but not limited to the
following details.

INTRODUCTION
State for whom the SI works was done, the nature & scope of SI, purpose of SI and period on time
over which SI was done. Approved Method Statement of Works shall be included in the Appendix.

SITE DESCRIPTION
Describe access, terrain, vegetation, land use, geological information etc. about the site. Photos
showing these conditions should be included.

FIELD WORKS
Account for SI methods, testing, procedures, types and models of equipment used (quote standards
used).
Problems encountered in testing & sampling; date & time of SI.
Weather conditions.
Photos showing site & testing process/conditions/typical soil & rock samples should be included.
Plan showing the site & accurate and identifiable locations of boreholes/testing locations.

BORE LOGS (field borelogs should be corrected & checked after classification tests)
Title of SI/project.
Location reference or coordinates of borehole, etc.
Name of Supervisor/driller. (Only qualified CIDB registered driller is allowed to operate & record the
boring & testing)
Date of boring, type of boring, make of plants/tools used.
TUAN JAZLAN BIN TUAN MOOD 12888 CVE
Take Home Test Civil Engineering Design
GL/RL; Depth to ground water and raising or lowering of level including dates and times measured.
Type, size & depth of casing; drilling fluid.
Size, type and design of core bits, core barrel & reaming shell used.
Types of insitu testing, sampling and rock coring details (R/r, RQD, types of sampler).
Depth, date and time of boring disruptions and termination of boreholes.
Any change to drilling fluid or drilling fluid return.
Legends & symbols for subsoil profile.

Soil/rock description of each stratum & thickness/levels shall be made in accordance to BS 5930.
A typical engineering borelog is shown in Appendix G1.
Summary of all important lab. test results for each borehole with reference to sample NO & RL.
Generalized subsoil profile along the road alignment - Drawing.
Appendix - plan/drawing; photos for site conditions, plant/machine set up, typical rock samples,
typical soil samples, etc.

4. You are the project engineer in charge of development of KLCC shopping centre in 1996.
Discuss the various type of submission to the local authorities and commend the reasons for
such submission requirement.