HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No. 16 Issue No.

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HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No. 16

Construction Materials Test Category Accreditation of Foundation Tests 1 Introduction 1.1 This Supplementary Criteria is an amplification and interpretation of the requirements of HKAS 002 and HOKLAS 003 for the accreditation of foundation tests under the Construction Materials Test Category. The foundation test covers the following methods:

Sonic Logging Test (SOLT) Pile Integrity Test Pile Dynamic Test Static Loading Test Plate Loading Test (PIT) (PDA) (SLT) (PLT)

Ultrasonic Echo Sounder Test (UEST) Rapid Loading Test (RLT) Base Loading Test (BLT) Instrumented Pile Test 1.2 (IPL)

Organizations for foundation tests shall operate under a quality system complying with HOKLAS 003. This document gives specific requirements with respect to personnel, equipment, calibration, test methods, handling of testing items and measurement uncertainty. For aspects not mentioned hereinafter, reference should be made to HKAS 002 and HOKLAS 003. Organizations shall also note that complying with this document may not necessarily meet the requirements of all test standards. Individual test standards and specifications may have specific requirements which must be met when conducting the tests.

Personnel 2.1 Organizations must have an adequate number of competent staff. Staff members

HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No. 16 Issue No.3 Page 2 of 9 in combination must have sufficient understanding and skill in performing the tests included in the proposed scope of accreditation. They must also be capable of operating the organization in accordance with the documented quality system. 2.2 The approved signatory with responsibility for the operation of the accredited foundation tests should have the necessary qualifications, experience and technical knowledge to ensure that clients, testing standards and HOKLAS requirements are met. A person holding a recognized engineering degree or an equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline (e.g. civil, geotechnical or structural) and having relevant and accountable experience satisfies these requirements. Alternatively, a person with eight years directly relevant technical and managerial experience may be considered acceptable in lieu of formal qualifications. Each organization must have at least one approved signatory for an accredited test. HOKLAS endorsed reports and certificates shall be signed by an approved signatory. HKAS evaluates nominees for signatories according to 5.2.H of HOKLAS 003. 2.3 Testing personnel should normally be supervised by a suitably qualified supervisor having the necessary qualifications, experience and technical knowledge not less than that of the testing operator. Testing personnel should have the necessary qualifications, experience and technical knowledge. A person holding a recognized technician certificate or equivalent technical qualification issued by a Technical Institute or equivalent organization and having relevant experience satisfies these requirements. Alternatively, a person with four years directly relevant technical testing experience may be considered acceptable in lieu of formal qualifications. HKAS evaluates the testing personnel on technical competence and keeps a list of approved testing operators who are permitted to perform the test and sign the worksheet. Approval may be limited to specific tests, or may be granted for all tests for which that organization is accredited. As approvals are granted in the context of the tests being performed by a particular organization, they are not to be considered as personal qualifications. Pile capacity interpretation personnel (for CASE, CAPWAP, TNOWAVE or other equivalent methods) should have the necessary qualifications, experience and technical knowledge to ensure that the interpreted results from the pile tests are accurate, reliable and credible to their clients. A person holding a recognized engineering degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. civil, geotechnical or structural) and with at least two years relevant experience satisfy these requirements. To be in possession of an advanced level certificate of foundation quality assurance and testing issued by any recognized certification schemes (e.g. a scheme run by Foundation QA Examination in conjunction with the

2.4

2.5

2.6

HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No. 16 Issue No.3 Page 3 of 9 American Deep Foundations Institute) would be a reinforcement of the interpretation skill possessed by the approved pile capacity interpreter. 2.7 HKAS evaluates the pile capacity interpretation personnel based on technical and professional competence and keeps a list of approved pile capacity interpreters who are permitted to interpret the pile test result and sign the endorsed pile capacity interpretation report. Approval may be limited to specific methods (for CASE, CAPWAP, TNOWAVE or other equivalent methods), or may be granted for all methods for which that organization is accredited. As approvals are granted in the context of the interpretation methods being performed by a particular organization, they are not to be considered as personal qualifications. (Note: More trials are necessary before the launching of this accreditation.)

Equipment and calibration 3.1 As part of its quality system, an organization is required to operate a programme for the maintenance and calibration of equipment used. The organization will normally use only equipment that is owned by, or on long term lease or loan to the organization. Equipment should be properly stored and maintained. Suitable environment must be provided for storage. When handling heavy hydraulic testing equipment on site, organizations should comply with any relevant construction site safety regulations for their testing personnel. Equipment that is moved from one location to another should, where relevant, be checked before use. Precautions should be taken to ensure that, after transportation to a site, testing equipment remains in a serviceable state and in calibration. Appropriate checks should be performed on site to confirm calibration status before testing commences. Equipment records should be maintained up-to-date and include a list of all reference and working equipment held. Where the organization has the necessary reference equipment and expertise, calibrations may be conducted in-house. Nevertheless, the organization should have the necessary resources consistent with the accuracy required, and with any standards relevant to the calibration concerned. Operators conducting the in-house calibrations must be trained and calibration procedures must be documented. The calibration of reference measuring equipment used for in-house calibrations should be carried out by a competent calibration body as defined in Clause 5.6.H(d) of HOKLAS 003. General requirements on equipment calibrations are given in the HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No.2. Specific requirements on equipment

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3.3 3.4

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HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No. 16 Issue No.3 Page 4 of 9 calibration/verification and equipment calibration/verification intervals for various foundation and related tests are given in Appendix A of this document. These requirements should be complied with unless overridden by more stringent testing specifications. 4 Test methods 4.1 The organization should carry out tests based on published standards, and preferably national or regional standards rather than industrial standards. HKAS may accept applications for accreditation for tests conducted in accordance with any test standards, e.g. BS, EN, ASTM and ISO etc. whenever there are needs in the industry and demands from the interested organization. Sometimes, accreditation will be carried out for a test standard of different year versions and with or without any necessary amendments to suit that organizations needs. 4.2 Organizations should have copies of all test standards covered in the scope of accreditation, including all reference documents mentioned in those standards. Testing staff members should have ready access to these documents. 4.3 The test standard may be amplified to become a test procedure. In writing such test procedures, care should be taken to avoid drifting away from the requirement, method and intent of the original standard. 4.4 The organization may carry out the test in accordance with a government specification in which test procedures and acceptance criterion are stipulated. HKAS may accept applications for accreditation for tests performed in accordance with government specifications provided that the organization complies with the stipulated specification requirements in full without any modifications to the test procedures and acceptance criterion. 4.5 The organization may conduct the test based on an in-house method if there are no national standards or government specifications available. In such cases, the organization has to validate and verify the test procedure in accordance with a well established method or a similar standard method. 5 Handling of test items 5.1 Piles to be tested should be identified such that traceability is maintained throughout the test and records on the traceability of tested piles are kept. Identification should be such that the piles or ground areas specifically tested can be identified against test results. Sophisticated devices may be required such as a global positioning system (GPS) in accordance with a government specification or specific clients requirement 5.2 The method of identification should be sufficiently permanent such that

HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No. 16 Issue No.3 Page 5 of 9 identification of tested piles for post-testing inspection by the client can be carried out. 6 Measurement uncertainty 6.1 Measurement uncertainty is to be determined for the equipment and procedures used but may also be affected by parameters such as variability of the ground conditions and piling material. 6.2 Foundation tests involve an element of natural intrinsic variability of the ground conditions and it is not, therefore, easy to give guidance on measurement uncertainty for the different test methods covered in this document. 7 Proficiency testing 7.1 One of the best ways for an organization to monitor its performance against both its own requirements and the performance of other organizations is to participate regularly in proficiency testing schemes. HKAS recognizes the benefit of these schemes and requires accredited organizations to participate in proficiency testing as an integral part of their quality assurance requirements. In addition, organizations are required, if possible, to conduct their own within-operator and inter-operator comparisons regularly as a means to continuously monitor the skill and competence of their testing operators. Accredited organizations should refer to Clause 9.2.5 of HKAS 002 in respect of the HOKLAS proficiency testing requirement.

HKAS Executive May 2004

HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No. 16 Issue No.3 Page 6 of 9 APPENDIX A SPECIFIC CALIBRATION REQUIREMENTS This Appendix lists the current recommended specific calibration requirements for equipment of foundation and other related tests.

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Type of equipment

Recommended maximum period between successive calibrations/verification Sonic Logging Test Ultrasonic Echo Sounder Test

Calibration/verification procedure or guidance documents and equipment requirements

Oscilloscope or cathode ray tube (CRT) or frequency analyzer (Reference device for calibration of signal recording apparatus)

5 years

By a competent calibration body

Sonic logger/echo sounder signal 2 years recording apparatus (Check time base over the measuring range, e.g. 20 s to 600 s for sonic logger, check designated frequency for echo sounder) Sonic logger/echo sounder depth measuring device 1 year

By a competent calibration body or calibrate using reference oscilloscope, CRT, frequency analyzer or any reference measuring device

Calibrate using a reference rule (weight of the equipment to be taken into account Check against plumb-weighted measuring device Calibrate using a reference rule (weight of the equipment to be taken into account)

Before test on site Plumb-weighed measuring tape 1 year

Verification of sonic logger to known anomalies

3 months or every ten series of Verify by means of known defects (e.g. site testing, whichever is more voids, honeycomb, weak layers, sand stringent lens, etc) concrete panel. The sonic path distance between two access tubes should be practicably comparable to the maximum distance used for site testing 1 year Verify by means of known profiles of different geometrical characteristics (e.g. distances, roughness, curvatures and inclinations, etc) in various physical models and known fluid properties

Verification of echo sounder to known profiles and fluid properties

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Pile Integrity Test Low-g Accelerometer (i) Reference (ii) Working

5 years 2 years

By a competent calibration body By a competent calibration body

Load cell or load transducer (Housed in the instrumented hammer) PIT data logger and display unit (Check time base over the measuring range e.g. 20 to 450ms)

2 years

By a competent calibration body

2 years

By a competent calibration body

PIT data logger coupled with the Before test low-g accelerometer

Check the displayed signal against a bar of known length. The bar should be composed of low stress wave velocity material.

Pile Dynamic Test High-g accelerometer (i) Reference (ii) Working

5 years 2 years 2 years 4 years 2 years

By a competent calibration body By a competent calibration body By a competent calibration body By a competent calibration body By a competent calibration body

Multimeter (Reference) Micrometer head (Reference) PDA data display unit (Check time base over the measuring range e.g. 20 to 450ms) PDA strain gauge

2 years

By a competent calibration body or calibrate using appropriate reference voltage and displacement devices. Verify by means of hand calculation based on numerical integration of acceleration into velocity in appropriate finite intervals

PDA logger (Check accuracy of the digital conversion of acceleration into velocity)

1 year

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Static Loading Test/Plate Loading Test Rapid Loading Test/Base Loading Test Reference load measuring device Force-measuring device (e.g. Load cell or load transducer) 2 years By a competent calibration body

By a competent calibration body Each time before a test or a series of tests on the same site. (Calibration after testing is required in some government specifications) 4 years By a competent calibration body

Micrometer head or gauge block (Reference device) Displacement measuring device (i.e. LVDT, digimatic gauges, dial gauge, laser type or any transducer type devices) 1 year By a competent calibration body or calibrate using appropriate reference device One-point check using a reference gauge block or any appropriate reference device By a competent calibration body Two pegs test for level. One point check for staff using appropriate reference device By a competent calibration body

Before use

Settlement measuring device (Digital level with bar code staff, optical level with graduation staff, for checking the settlement of the reference beam for pile settlement measurement in a loading test)

1 year Before use

2 years Temperature measuring device (i.e. thermocouple or any transducer type)

Instrumented Test Before use Strain gauge (vibrating wire, optical sensor or any other types) Pile Capacity Interpretation CAPWAP or TNOWAVE method CASE method Each interpretation Each interpretation Based on comparison from static load test Based on a Jc value determined from a static load test as well as geological and ground conditions By a competent calibration body