Civil Engineering Knowledge for All

Bill of Quantities for a Tower Construction A BOQ for a telecommunication tower use for Civil Engineering works is shown in figures below. Normally in a construction of a telecommunication tower, the Civil work contractor has to undertake site clearance, access road preparation, fencing, plinths for other equipment like BTU or generators, Meter compartments if any, Foundation of tower, etc. and the installation of tower by using Rigger teams.

Final Acceptance Test (FAT) for Telecommunication Towers A quality check on the erected Tower (steel on concrete footings or other means) will be conducted by the civil construction engineering team, prior to install the telecommunication antennas and prior to handing over to the telecommunication engineering team. Basically the tightness of steel members, verticality of tower, foundation condition, plinths for other equipment, earthing work, etc. will be checked and ensured all are in order based on a check list. A Sample check list is shown below.

Roof Top Towers in Telecommunication Normally in telecommunication tower construction, there are different types of towers design & built in the world depending on the height, location, weight of antennas or some other factors. Normally the towers ranging from 6m to 80m or more. The smaller towers like 6m - 12m basically design as poles (cylindrical sections/ tubes with a foundation)  which erected on roof tops of buildings or other possible locations mainly in urban areas. And 12m - 30m smaller towers which also erected on top of roof of buildings. 30m and above are normally constructed as Greenfield towers, except other than in special cases. 

Quality Assessment of a Greenfield Telecommunication Tower A collapse in tall greenfield steel tower used in telecommunication or transmission work will result a serious damage to the nearby properties or people. Hence it is essential to monitor the quality of the towers periodically. In a quality check the assessors have to asses the quality of foundation for any decay or settlements, quality of  the steel members and the connections, quality of earthing of tower, quality of the equipment mounted, etc. Sample assessment report on the verticality and the quality of foundation is shown below.

Foundation for a Greenfield Telecommunication Tower Normally in telecommunication tower construction, there are different types of towers design & built in the world depending on the height, location, weight of antennas or some other factors. Normally the towers ranging from 6m to 80m or more. The smaller towers like 6m - 12m basically design as poles (cylindrical sections/ tubes with a foundation)  which erected on roof tops of buildings or other possible locations mainly in urban areas. And 12m - 30m smaller towers which also erected on top of roof of buildings. 30m and above are normally constructed as Greenfield towers, except other than in special cases. Greenfield or tall telecommunication tower in steel can be either self supporting or guyed mast types. In Guyed mast towers, the stability of the tower is ensured by the cable guides provided. And in the self supporting type towers, the stability is maintained by the foundation and the tower itself. Normally...

                             Mass concrete is defined as "any volume of concrete with dimensions large enough to require that measures be taken to cope with the generation of heat from hydration of cement and attendant volume change to minimize cracking." [ ( ACI Committee 207–Mass and Thermally Controlled Concrete ) Mass concreting can result in high temperatures in concrete core during hydration process. Which can result thermal cracking of concrete in a severe way. Basically the temperature variance (in different locations of the concreted element) or the temperature gradient will cause the thermal cracking.

Ground vibration monitoring using a  Geo-phone Ground borne vibration  is a technical term basically used to describe mostly man-made  vibrations  of the ground, in contrast to natural vibrations of the Earth studied by  seismology . Vibrations caused by mining, blasting activities, construction works (in foundation work and heavy machinery movement), railway and road traffic, machinery and plants operating in industries, etc. are falling under this category. It was recognized that, though the manmade ground vibrations can be severe and damaging, the levels of the ground strain involved usually much smaller than those associated with the strong motion of earthquakes.  A considerable ground born vibration induces during the construction work. And becomes annoying for the neighboring communities. Hence the governments and the different engineering or policy making bodies of countries around world has introduce and certain limits for ground borne vib...

Boring Record in Bored Cast In-situ Piling  Boring record is use for the recording of data during pile boring/ drilling process. Normally the recording starts from the initial setting out for temporary/ permanent casing installation based on the design coordinates of pile in layout. Start time, end time, duration, penetration rate, tools used, soil/ rock type, sample numbers, etc. are recorded in the data sheet for engineer review, by the Drilling Rig operator/ helper or by the supervisory staff. Details recording until the cleaning process of the pile bore using a cleaning bucket. A Sample boring record sheet is shown below. Company Name    and/ or    Company Logo   PILING WORK FOR PROPOSED ………………………………(Project Name/ Details) PILING WORK CONTRACT NO :                          ...

Main elements of a bored piling installation process Preliminary survey & setting out of pile point using coordinates (using Total Station) Driving temporary steel casing Pile boring (soil/ rock boring) Preparation of the reinforcement cage Cleaning or flushing pile toe Concreting Bored Pile Temporary c asing extraction  Pile Hacking Testing of Pile