RBCT Chapter 915: Sampling
Chapter 915: Sampling
Upon exiting the airport, two SUVs were already waiting. The six of them boarded the vehicles and headed to their first stop, Enqiu County.
Having already eaten lunch on the plane, the group did not stop during the journey and did not arrive in Enqiu County until after 8 p.m. That night, as arranged in the itinerary, the six of them stayed in a three-star hotel in the county, which was also the best hotel in the county.
During dinner, Ji Chonghao discussed tomorrow's work arrangements with Sun Jianqiu and Qian Xing: "Professor Sun, Engineer Qian, you'll have to work hard starting tomorrow. You two are experts in building structures, so we'll follow your advice. Tomorrow, we'll first re-inspect the structural strength of the Jiachuan Township Central Primary School."
The group came out for this very reason, and the Sany Foundation offered a generous reward and promised to provide Sun Jianqiu with some research funding. Sun Jianqiu and Qian Xing naturally complied.
The next morning, after having breakfast at the hotel restaurant, the six of them boarded a bus and headed to Jiachuan Township.
Two off-road vehicles were winding and rugged along the mountain road. Zhai Yong was already suffering from severe motion sickness. The vehicles were winding through the mountains, and there was a cliff on one side of the road. He was already slightly afraid of heights, and after just one look, he felt terrible.
Zhu Yunzhu, on the other hand, was completely unharmed. Looking at the scenery outside, she sighed, "The mountain roads here are really difficult to walk on."
At this moment, Fu Ying, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, chimed in: "That's why our foundation chose to donate and build a school here, so that these children in the mountains don't have to walk for hours on mountain roads to go to school every day."
Zhu Yunzhu looked thoughtful as she gazed at the endless mountains. She discussed professional matters with Fu Ying: building a school in such a mountainous area requires higher structural design standards, including earthquake resistance, landslide resistance, and foundation treatment—none of which can be taken lightly.
Fu Ying smiled and said, "I don't understand your majors, so I'll have to rely on you guys later. You'll be the main force, and I'll be here to provide logistical support."
About two hours later, the two off-road vehicles arrived at Jiachuan Township. The township's central primary school is located on a relatively flat slope. It is obvious that a lot of earth and stone had been excavated to build the school, and a small part of the hillside had been moved.
The township's central primary school is the most modern-looking building in the township, with two three-story teaching buildings with white walls and blue tiles standing there, as well as two dormitory buildings, a teachers' dormitory, and a canteen.
A flagpole stands tall on the side of the playground, and the bright red national flag flutters in the wind.
Several people were already standing at the school gate. As soon as the car came to a stop, a man in gray clothes greeted them with a smile.
"Welcome, welcome. I am Zhou Xiaogang from the County Education Bureau, here to accompany the Sany Foundation and experts on their inspection."
Ji Chonghao stepped forward and shook hands with him: "Director Zhou, thank you for your help."
"What's the trouble or not? You're all doing this for the children's good." Zhou Xiaogang then introduced the people behind him to the group. "This is Principal Li Wei of the current Central Primary School in the township. This is Mayor Wang Weiwen of Jiachuan Township. Mayor Wang, and this is General Manager Xu Penghan of Guiwu Construction Company, the company that built this primary school."
Ji Chonghao, Sun Jianqiu, Qian Xing and others shook hands with each of them.
The group was ushered into the school's conference room, where a pile of documents had already been laid out on the table in accordance with some of the assistance requests mentioned in the letter from the Trinity Foundation.
Principal Li distributed the documents to Ji Chonghao and his group: "These are the project approval document, geological exploration report, construction drawings, revised materials, material testing report, and completion acceptance filing form. All the documents are here."
Qian Xing first found the structural construction drawings, glanced at them, and found no problems. He then pushed the drawings in front of Sun Jianqiu: "Professor Sun, you are an expert in this field, please take another look."
At this moment, Zhu Yunzhu had already opened her laptop, which contained the original CAD drawings. She compared the drawings on the table with the CAD drawings and found no problems. Then she randomly picked up the construction drawings of another teaching building, and there were no problems there either.
She nodded to Sun Jianqiu: "Teacher, according to the information, the construction is being carried out according to the blueprints."
Sun Jianqiu also carefully reviewed the drawings and found that there were indeed no problems.
At this point, Qian Xing asked Principal Li for other documents: "We need to see the material arrival record and the test report."
"Yes, yes." Principal Li handed a file box to Qian Xing.
The document review took a whole morning, after which Sun Jianqiu proposed to conduct an inspection of the building.
"We need to randomly select several points to conduct a rebound test on the concrete strength and a rebar scan."
"No problem, we'll do our best to cooperate with whatever you need." Zhou Xiaogang immediately agreed.
Soon, the testing began. Zhou Xiaogang, Li Wei, and Wang Weiwen accompanied them throughout the process. Wang Weiwen also brought in two staff members from the township to help move the testing equipment and tools.
Sun Jianqiu and Qian Xing randomly selected eight points and had Zhai Yong tap the concrete at these eight points with a rebound hammer. Zhu Yunzhu was responsible for recording the rebound values. After recording the values, she also had to calculate the concrete strength according to the conversion table.
"The C25 concrete, after rebound value conversion, has a strength between 28 and 32 MPa, which meets the requirements," Zhu Yunzhu said immediately after quickly calculating the result.
After testing, the concrete rebound values at all eight locations met the requirements of the building codes.
After this step is completed, the next step is to scan the steel bars. Zhai Yong will still be in charge of the operation, and Zhu Yunzhu will be in charge of recording and confirming the data.
Zhai Yong used a scanner to inspect the walls, columns, and beams at designated locations to confirm the position, spacing, and approximate specifications of the internal steel bars.
"The spacing between the reinforcing bars is 150 to 155 millimeters, which meets the requirements of the drawings."
"The rebar specification shows it to be 8mm threaded steel."
While conducting the tests, Zhai Yong reported the data to Zhu Yunzhu, who was in charge of recording. The test results showed that they all met the design requirements proposed by the Sany Foundation.
Seeing that the testing was nearing its end, Zhou Xiaogang asked with a smile, "Professor Sun, Engineer Qian, how are the results?"
Sun Jianqiu smiled and said, "From the current perspective, it's not bad, but we still need to take a few concrete core samples back to the laboratory to conduct compressive strength tests."
Seeing that Zhou Xiaogang didn't quite understand, he explained, "The rebound method has certain limitations; sampling testing is more accurate."
Zhou Xiaogang finally understood: "Oh, I see! No problem, then go ahead and get it!"
At this point, Qian Xing added, "Director Zhou, please rest assured, the diameter of the core sample we take is very small, and professional personnel will repair it afterwards. There will be no safety hazards whatsoever. Please don't worry about that."
"You are experts in this field, so we can rest assured."
Soon, Zhai Yong and Zhu Yunzhu drilled several core samples from the concrete components of several non-critical parts as specified by Sun Jianqiu and Qian Xing. They put these core samples into a special box, labeled them, and would bring them back to the Shanghai Laboratory after the entire trip was completed.