Quantification of Construction Materials Quality via Frequency Response Measurements: A Mobile Testing Station

Abstract

In construction, ensuring the quality and compliance of materials with specified requirements is often challenging, especially at construction sites. Conventionally, this process necessitates transporting samples to well-equipped laboratories, incurring significant time and financial costs. This article proposes a novel approach through a cost-effective mobile test station, enabling on-site measurements and immediate evaluation results, regardless of the testing conditions. The foundation of our testing methodology lies in the Impulse Excitation Technique (IET), which capitalises on measuring the frequency response of samples while considering their mass and dimensions. By applying this technique, we can effectively determine crucial elastic properties, such as the Young Modulus and Poisson Ratio. These obtained values can then be cross-referenced with established material tables to verify the material’s compliance with the specified order. In this study, the developed universal and mobile test station demonstrated versatility by successfully evaluating three samples of typical construction materials, showing the method’s reliability on some real case measurements. The results substantiate its potential as a reliable mobile quality assurance station. Moreover, the station’s adaptability empowers its use on site, in laboratory settings, or even during material transportation when necessary. This innovation promises to revolutionise material quality assessment, streamlining the construction process and expediting decision making.

Digital Technologies for Quality Assurance in the Construction Industry: Current Trend and Future Research Directions towards Industry 4.0

“…The evolution of Industry 4.0 and its promotion in the construction industry has a higher chance of facilitating and improving the QA processes towards achieving project quality. Integrating digital technologies into QA practices/processes has made data collection efficient and retrieved inaccessible data from critical parts of construction projects [19,[57][58][59]. For instance, VR/AR adoption for QA can ease the work of quality auditors/engineers by scanning through an ongoing building project to collect data from a single location by reducing the number of times to be on construction sites [60].…”

Quality Risk Assessment of Prefabricated Steel Structural Components during Production Using Fuzzy Bayesian Networks

“…The utilization of advanced technologies has led to the widespread use of innovative inspection methods and equipment in the quality control of on-site construction. For instance, the mobile test station [11] employs the impulse excitation technique (IET), which is an effective and cost-effective means of inspecting components in the field. This approach is suitable for a multitude of situations, including storage, and has proven to be a useful tool in quality control.…”

“…The processing of raw materials during production fails to meet industrial standards, leading to various defects and deficiencies A11 Poor precision in production Insufficiency in precision and meticulous execution in production activities A12 Poor maturity of the process The manufacturing and processing methods of steel structure components production have not reached a high level of precision and optimization A Poor conditions for finished product storage…”