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Construction Inspection for Concrete Pavement & Loading Dock

PRI Engineering has been working for the last few months on the rehabilitation of an existing warehouse facility taking place in Calgary, to upgrade the functionality and productivity at the warehouse.

Project Scope of Work

The final construction scope of work which PRI oversaw included removal of the existing pavement structure, subexavation works for the proposed entrance and exit ramps into the building, construction of proposed pavement structure in an existing landscaping area.

PRI’s Scope of Work Included:

  • Approval of subgrade surfaces for pavement construction, including management of frozen and organic materials.
  • Oversite of reinforcement steel placement for ramp and pavement structures.
  • Oversite of granular fill placement and approval of construction works.
  • Oversite of concrete placement in cold temperatures, including the installation of thermocouples to verify concrete did not freeze during first 72 hours of curing.
Using Combigrid® 40/40 GRK 4 C to reinforce the poor subgrade
Typical rebar reinforcement for ramp footings and walls

Pavement Subgrade

This project is under construction and we have a fulltime representative overseeing the construction of the concrete pavement structure. First task included approval of the subgrade, which contained a significant amount of organic and deleterious materials.

Analysis of pavement structures
Example of poor organic subgrade

Prior to construction PRI completed a geotechnical investigation of the existing pavement structure of the existing loading dock and pavement areas to develop a pavement design for the proposed delivery and warehouse operation traffic as well as the existing slab-on-grade to ensure that it could handle the proposed interior traffic.

Cold Weather Construction Challenges & Concrete Pavements

Since the project needed to be completed during the winter to meet the substantial construction deadline of April 27, 2020 for turnover to the operations team.

cold weather related problems in concrete pavements
Example of curing measures for loading dock foundation

Several challenges were involved with not only the site conditions but also managing the cold-weather conditions. Initial pavement structures were to be a flexible asphalt pavement, this design was changed to concrete since asphalt is generally not used in Canada from approximately November 1 to May 2 (region dependant).

Concrete vs. Asphalt Requirements

While concrete is temperature sensitive like asphalt, it requires much lower working temperatures of the material. Asphalt should be placed and compacted between the range of 140℃ to 160℃ whereas concrete should be placed at approximately 15℃ to 25℃ and should not be allowed to freeze for the first 72 hours of curing to ensure it properly develops strength.

Subgrade Improvements and Reinforcement

The landscaping area has buried organics which extended to a depths which would add additional time to the schedule if removed, therefore a Combigrid® 40/40 GRK 4 C to reinforce the poor subgrade. The site was successfully handed over to the operations team on the project deadline.

geotechnical investigation in Calgary
Using Combigrid® 40/40 GRK 4 C to reinforce the poor subgrade

For more details of our inspection services please feel free to reach out to us at info@priengineering.com or message us.

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