TABLE OF CONTENT

BIL

ITEM

PAGES

1.1

INTRODUCTION.

1.2

SITE INVESTIGATION.
STAGES OF SITE INVESTIGATION.
GROUND IMPROVEMENT.
-

DEEP FOUNDATION.

GEOTEXTILE.

SOIL REPLACEMENT.

1.3

SITE LAYOUT.

1.4

BENEFITS OF SITE VISIT.

1.5

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

1.6

APPENDIX

1.1

INTRODUCTION

On 24th November, We went for a site visit at Bandar Pendidikan Pagoh. This
visit are based on three subject of learning which is site investigation, site management,
and building construction. The objective of this site visit was mainly to familiarize
ourselves with the operations at the real construction site while at the same time learning
new things. This had given a good experience for us to explore and understand more

about their work progress and at the same time to feel the real situation in workplace and
challenges faces during construction process. During the site visit, we were exposed to
various construction method, machineries and also had chance to observe the
construction work. Thus, we are able to know the types of ground testing and ground
improvement used in this project. Also understand the role of surveying during
construction.
Site investigation is most important in construction. The purpose site investigation is
1. Information to determine the type of foundation required (shallow or deep).
2. Information to allow the geotechnical consultant to make a recommendation
on the allowable bearing capacity of the soil.
3. Sufficient data/ laboratory tests to make settlement and swelling predictions.
4. Location of the groundwater level.
5. Information so that the identification and solution of excavation problems
can be made.
6. Information regarding permeability and compaction properties of the
encountered
Site investigation progress usually take time for about two month, starting from site
exploration, ground testing and evaluation data.

1.2

SITE INVESTIGATION

Based on Construction of Bandar University Pagoh the most important phase of

work before construction is to known the condition of subsurface at a site. It may be
relatively uniform or extremely variable and will largely determine the complexity of the
problems to be faced in both design and construction of the foundations. The subsurface
investigation must be therefore be of sufficient extent to provide enough information for

a thorough understanding of the interaction of proposed foundations and supporting soil

or rock on which to base a safe and economical design.

The site investigation should be carried to such a depth that the entire zone of
soil or rock affected by the changes caused by the building or the construction will be
adequately explored. This may be taken as a depth at which vertical stress induced by
the new construction is smaller than 10% of the existing overburden stress at that level.

Where the depth of investigation cannot be related to background information,

the following guidelines are suggested.

It is good to have at least one carried to bedrock, or to well below the anticipated
level of influence of the building.

For light structures, insensitive to settlement, the boring should be to a depth

equal to four times the probable footing width or to a depth of 6m below the
lowest part of the foundation, whichever is deeper.

For more heavily loaded structures, such as multistory structures and for framed
structures, at least 50% of the borings should be extended to a depth equal to 1.5
times the width of the building below the lowest part of the foundation, and

Bedrock should be proved by coring into it to a minimum depth of 3m.

a) Stages of site investigation.

Site investigation is usually performed in several stages, i.e., during feasibility

and planning stage, before construction and during construction (if required).These
are termed as:
1. Preliminary investigation

2. Detailed investigation;
3. Supplementary investigation and construction control.

b) Ground Improvement.

Upon our journey to the site office, we had saw many familiar activity that might related
to the subject. So as we had our talk with the project manager. We had ask several
question related to this field, that type of Ground improvement used in this project.

i.

Deep foundation (Piling Test).

This construction involve the use of deep foundation. A deep foundation is a type
of foundation which transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface
than a shallow foundation does, to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. Piling process
is used as the deep foundation. Piling involve the use of pile. Pile is a vertical structural
element of a deep foundation, driven deep into the ground at the building site. A pile is
basically a long cylinder of a strong material such as concrete that is pushed into the
ground to act as a steady support for structures built on top of it.

Pile foundations normally are used in the following situations:

1. When there is a layer of weak soil at the surface. This layer cannot support the
weight of the building, so the loads of the building have to bypass this layer and
be transferred to the layer of stronger soil or rock that is below the weak layer.
2. When a building has very heavy, concentrated loads, such as in a high rise
structure, bridge, or water tank.

The test that they used on determining the settlement op piling is the pile test. Pile
testing is done before construction start to test the checking the integrity and continuity
of an installed pile foundation. From the information that we got, most of the area that
involves with the construction are involves with piling and they used piling test or load
test to test their work.

Benefits of test:

i. Detect pile damage or any other shortcoming early on.

ii. Find out the correct pile type that can endure strains in conditions.
iii. Cut down pile length with right end-of-driving requirements.
iv. Avoid pile damage from excess driving

Piling test method at Student

Village area.

Pile foundation is a substructure

working underneath the ground surface.
We dont often pay attention to its
existence when it is transferring loads from a structure to the soil or bedrock safely and
as planned. However, possible shortcomings in the pile design or implementation are

easy to observe when settlement occurs. Unfortunately, at this point, correcting those
shortcomings are already too late or, at the very least, expensive.

For a safe foundation to perform as desired the ultimate strength of each pile
must fulfill both structural and geotechnical limits present. A pile load test is a direct
method of determining the ultimate geotechnical capacity of a pile. Dynamic load testing
(PDA-measurement) is a fast and reliable way to evaluate the bearing capacity of a pile.
In addition to pile capacity, the dynamic load test provides information about structural
integrity, driving stresses and hammer efficiency. If a dynamic load test is out of the
question then a static load test can be performed to identify the pile behavior under a
static load.

In challenging projects, a preliminary test pilling together with a dynamic load

test can help you to pick the right pile type for the job, one which withstands the strains
focused on the pile during driving. Guidelines usually give cautious end-of-driving
requirements, which lead to unnecessarily long piles. With a PDA-measurement, it is
possible to assign each pile rig with an individual end-of-driving requirement for a
specific project and therefor cut the cost of overlong piles.

Possible structural defects from the pile installation can be detected afterwards
with an integrity test carried out by Inspecta using either low strain or ultrasonic
methods. This is an essential part of your quality control for both precast and cast-inplace concrete piles. Our services also include pile wave equation analysis and
acceleration-based quality control for dynamic soil compaction where the impulse
inflicted from the impact is recorded from the drop weight and then analyzed. (This is
important especially when the required threshold value is hard to reach or if theres a
doubt concerning the soil compaction.)

All of Inspectas pile testing services are carried out by experienced and skilled
personnel who have demonstrated their competence in dynamic testing with a Dynamic
Measurement and Analysis Proficiency Test.

ii.

Geotextiles. (Geomembrane.)

This construction also involve the use of Geomembranes as their ground improvement
method. Geomembranes are relatively thin sheets of flexible polymeric materials that are
by nature impermeable thus providing a barrier to movement of water and fluids or other
materials of soluble nature. Geomembranes is also, predominantly high-density
polyethylene (HDPE), have been used as bottom liners in landfills for almost 30 years.
Membranes have been utilized in landfill operations for decades, but the choice of
membrane and its method of employment can have far-reaching effects on the stability
and safety of landfill sites.

They have also been used as caps and, more recently, for floating covers on
leachate ponds. Generally they have performed extremely well but, not unexpectedly,
there have been a few exceptions that have guided us in developing even better systems.
We are firstly know about geomembranes went we going for our site visit at Pagoh
education HUB which was introduce by Mr Rusli who that was a construction manager
at that site. The most best thing that we was in introduced more deeply about
geomembrane and we can look by our own eye that membrane used at that site. Before
embarking on a detailed review of what is happening in this field, let us begin by
defining the terms:

i)
ii)
iii)

Liner the barrier layer on the floor and sides of a containment facility
Cap the barrier layer on top of a solid waste containment facility
Floating cover a geomembrane floating on contained liquid that is
sealed to the bottom liner around the edges of the pond and that rises
and falls with the liquid level.

Therefore, a geomembrane liner contains valuable product and/or protects the

groundwater, a geomembrane cap contains landfill gas and prevents precipitation
becoming leachate, and a floating cover prevents odour emissions and prevents
evaporation/contamination of a valuable resource such as potable water.

The evolution of HDPE use in the early 1980s HDPE essentially displaced PVC
as the geomembrane of choice because of its broad chemical resistance, its high strength,
its relative inherent flexibility achieved without additives, its weathering resistance that
allows it to be left uncovered, and its ability to be integrally fusion-welded by thermal
methods rather than by using solvents and adhesives. At that time PVC seams could be
peeled apart, HDPE seams could not.
It was soon found, particularly in cold environments, that when HDPE contracted
at low temperatures the tensile stresses induced in the liner could generate brittle stress
cracking (SC) a phenomenon that had previously been experienced and studied in HDPE
natural gas distribution pipes. Stress cracking is a brittle cracking that occurs at a
constant stress lower than the tensile yield or break stress of the material. It was found
that SC is a function of the formulation of the resin and therefore can be quite different
in HDPEs from different geomembrane manufacturers. However, formulations have
been improved over the years to the point where SC now rarely occurs in materials from
the established international HDPE resin and geomembrane manufacturers.
Because of this susceptibility to SC it is a standard design objective that
geomembranes function as a barrier only and not as a load bearing member of the lining
system hence the requirement that a geomembrane liner be fully supported. While this

can be achieved easily on a drawing it is very difficult to achieve in practice due to the
high coefficient of thermal expansion of HDPE. Wrinkles occur that are very difficult to
eliminate in practice. Therefore HDPE geomembranes are unavoidably stressed when
covered. Partly because of this, double lining systems were developed using the
secondary (lower) liner as a safety back-up. This worked very well provided the leachate
detection system (LDS) between the two geomembranes was not allowed to fill with
leaked liquid. Avoiding the hydraulic head on the secondary liner would result in the
lining system not leaking. Both primary and secondary geomembranes have a similar
number of unavoidable defects, but provided the liquid leaking through the primary
(upper) liner is not allowed to accumulate over the few flaws in the secondary liner the
double system does not leak into the subgrade.
Landfill capping
To minimize the amount of primary leachate that has to be treated and disposed
of, geomembranes have also been introduced to cap landfills, both to prevent the ingress
of precipitation and to capture and remove landfill gas (LFG). While HDPE has also
been used in caps, the preferred material is often linear low density polyethylene
(LLDPE) or another more flexible material such as PVC or flexible polypropylene (fPP)
that will better accommodate the strains and resultant stresses that are associated with
differential settlements within the waste. Thus, the geomembrane must be able to
conform to the profile of the differential settlement without inducing stresses that could,
for instance, initiate stress cracking. The less crystalline materials such as LLDPE and
fPP are not susceptible to SC in the as-manufactured condition. This requirement also
clearly demonstrates that the ductility of a geomembrane is far more important than its
strength in relation to long-term performance. Strength is only of importance in being
able to handle the rigours of installation.

Installation

Geomembranes are impermeable membranes used in conjunction with rocks or

earth to block fluid migration in man-made structures. In most cases, they are made of
synthetic polymers. Unlike other methods of controlling fluid movement, such as using
clay, asphalt, or sand stabilized with cement, these membranes have almost no
permeability if there are no holes in the material. Due to their flexibility, they can
accommodate ground settling and shifting. Geomembranes may also be called synthetic
liners, polymeric membranes, or flexible membrane liners.

Geomembranes are most often made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), mediumdensity polyethylenes, chlorosulfonated polyethylene, or a similar kind of material. Due
to their ability to block fluids, they can help to prevent the dispersal of contaminants,
and may be used with soil liners or geotextiles to create a composite lining system that
provides added security. Geotextile fabrics, made from polyester or polypropylene, are
used with soil to provide filtration, reinforcement, or drainage in many civil engineering
applications such as embankments, canals, and railroads.

These membranes are mainly used as liners in landfills to help prevent chemicals
or other dangerous leachate from polluting the surrounding area. When a landfill reaches
its maximum capacity, a geomembrane final cover is often placed over it to prevent the
escape of gases and the intrusion of rain. These membranes have many other
applications, however, and are useful wherever liquid movement needs to be controlled
or prevented. They may be used for something as simple as building a decorative pond,
or as potentially hazardous as containing a spill from a chemical storage tank. They may
be used in mining to help contain chemical solutions or to reduce the loss of metals that
are leached out of ore.

When preparing an area for geomembrane installation, the soil must be freed of
all sharp objects such as sticks that could puncture the lining; if necessary, geotextiles
can be placed below to reduce the risk of tears. Panels of geomembrane lining are

usually bonded at adjacent seams, using extrusion welding, hot-wedge seaming, or hotair welding. Generally, hot-air welding is used as a temporary measure to immobilize the
lining before an extrusion weld is applied. Seams are subsequently tested to ensure that
there are no leaks and that they are properly joined.

Geomembranes are used by many companies and contractors in an effort to

minimize the effect of human development activities on the environment. Thus, although
geomembrane liners used in many applications, they are especially important for waste
containment. They are manufactured from highly durable materials, often with an
expected lifetime of hundreds of years. They must be resistant to chemicals and to wear,
so that the passage of time and corrosion do not affect the integrity of the lining and the
environment is protected.

iii)

Soil replacement(Soil Exchange).

The Pagoh construction also involve of altering the soil. When planning the design
and construction of a building, architects and engineers must first consider the existing
conditions of the site. So, the process of replacing of poor soil with a better soil is done.
In this method, the poor soil lay underground is removes and being replace with other
soil. The weak soil are excavated as stated in the plan and then replace with a more
suitable material and then compacted. And soil that removed are store and used at the
last of the construction as a landscape soil.

Soil improvement is used to increase bearing capacity and stability of soil which is
to avoid failure. Also this method is used to reduce the post construction settlements. But
normally in construction process method of soil replacement is not always being used
even thought is requested in a lots of tender. It is because of uneconomical, timeconsuming process associated with high costs. This means that tax money and resources

are wasted and expensive landfill space is required. But in this project the removes soil
is reused back as they last landscape area.

Based on detailed technical and economic analysis this was decided to apply the soil
exchange concept as the major soil improvement technique for all peat areas except for
one deep peat area. Similar geology and geotechnical conditions at all sites and the semiliquid state of organic soils enabled the dredging of the organic material, helped by the
application of an overload fill, which induced the push out process of the organic
deposits. In the case of 4 smaller and shallow peat areas (depth 2-4 m) the simple
dredging technique was applied. After removing all organic soils the new mineral fill
was constructed in layers with compaction of each ca.40 cm layer. All the exchange and
compaction works were executed in dry conditions, with the ground water table lowered
to below the bottom of organic deposits. In the case of deeper peat areas, generally
exceeding the depth of 4 m, the dredging and push out technique was applied. After
completion of dredging and pushing out, all organic deposits were replaced by a sandy
fill of very low density. The mineral fill, composed of non-cohesive granular material,
had to undergo a surface and deep compaction process. The whole soil improvement
operation was carried out in 3 phases.

Phase 1:
The replacement of organic soil by dredging and the push out process was
induced by an overload fill. The push out of organic soils was possible due to its very
low vane shear resistance in the order of 1020 kPa, and to the semi-liquid state of the
deposits. The height of the overload fill was calculated so that the peat could be pushed
out ahead of the fill. Before this stage of work, all trees and bushes were removed and
the top-surface layer of peat was also removed. Building the overload fill was generally
carried out in 2 or 3 directions. In order to speed up the push out process the elevated
masses of peat were continually removed from the head of the fill. The fill formed in the
space after peat replacement was designed to be 8 m wider on each side compared to the

designed motorway embankment. This enables future widening of the motorway to the
3-lane system. After the soil replacement process was finalized a number of control
boreholes were executed in order to check the effectiveness of the process, and to
identify zones where peat was still present. Dynamic or static cone penetration tests
were also executed to determine the compaction and density index of newly formed fill.
It is important to state that the applied method does not always guarantee total
replacement of organic soils and sometimes does not allow sufficient compaction of the
newly made granular fill which is in most cases is partly or totally saturated (submerged
under water).

Phase 2:
Deep compaction of the mineral fill, which in most cases was below the existing
ground water level. The mineral fill placed in the space after peat and gytia removal is
always of a very low density, compaction index was in the order of 0.15-0.25, therefore
it had to undergo a compaction process that guaranteed the increase of the average
compaction index (ID) to at least 0,50-0,55 (Proctors index above 0,94). In shallow
areas, where mineral soil layers were placed in dry conditions a surface compaction
method was applied (each ca. 40 cm layer of soil was compacted by vibrating rollers or
heavy vibro plates). In cases where the newly formed fill was below ground water table
a deep vibro compaction method was chosen. In cases where some organic soils
remained and were detected, by control boreholes, it was decided to form gravel
columns by a bottom fed vibro flot by application of the vibro exchange method. In
areas where all organic deposits were removed the newly formed fill was only
compacted by simple vibro compaction technique. Generally sand and gravel columns of
ca. 0.80 m in diameter and diverse length were formed with spacing varying from 2.0 m
to 2.4 m. The length of sand and gravel columns was designed so that each column
penetrates at least 0.5 m into the mineral bearing soils underlying organic deposits. In
zones with soft cohesive soils the sand and gravel columns were at least 1.0-1.5 m
longer.

After finalizing the deep compaction process several dynamic or static cone
penetration tests were carried out to verify the effectiveness of the compaction process.
The compaction tests were carried out in space between columns. In all 10-peat areas
where the vibro method was applied the verifying compaction test proved that the vibro
technique was very efficient. The Average index of density (ID) determined for the
newly formed fill exceeded the value of 0.60, the Proctors compaction index was above
0,95.

Phase 3:
Leveling of the surface of newly formed fill and surface compaction by a
vibrating roller. On top of the compacted mineral fill a gravel layer of 40 cm thickness
was constructed. This was the foundation for further construction of the road
embankment. After the construction of the embankment settlements of the whole
structure were observed for at least 3 months after work completion. The average
settlements of the top of the gravel layer, for all measured sites, were in the range of 2-4
cm and practically stopped within the time of observation (3 to 4 month).

After finishing the deep soil exchange process, the unsuitable soil from the
excavation on the construction side, usually needed to be dump at soil dumping place
because this type of soil contain the organic substance which can degrade and create the
settlement on the building in a future. Because of its rich of organic substance, it also
will promote the termite colony which is eventually will endanger the building. The
unsuitable soil is actually have its own function for example we can mix the unsuitable
soil with the other soil for landscaping work. Its eventually will promote the growth of
the landscape plant or tree.

1.3

SITE LAYOUT

Project of Bandar University Pagoh is ahead of schedule. Site layout is one factor of
successful in construction.
The controlling contractor must consider many factors when laying out a site to
support construction operations:

Site and building size and configuration.

Location of adjacent roads, buildings, and utilities.

Soil conditions and excavation requirements.

Construction sequence and schedule.
Location of underground utilities.
Equipment requirements.
Material quantity, storage, and delivery.

Worker parking.
Tool and equipment storage.
Construction operations facilities and trailers.
Sanitary facilities.

 Site plans usually include existing site conditions, adjacent roads, and topographical
information.

 Above is an example of a site plan that is included in the project drawings.

The picture shows the location of the building to be constructed.

The goal of site layout is to optimize erection processes.

The number of crane locations is kept to a minimum.

Laydown areas should be as close as possible to the structure.
This is all dependent on site size and crane specifications.
The entire structure shown above was able to be erected with the crawler crane
located in one position on the left side of the building.

1.4 BENEFITS OF SITE VISIT

The world of a construction site is unlike any other. It's exciting, wondrous, startling,
and informative. There many benefit for us that we can get as a civil engineering
technologies student regarding to this site visit. First of all, we were able to gather as
much input as we can in order to improve our understanding in construction work during
this visit. We know what exactly the technology and technique of construction that have
been implemented to this project.
Next, we are informed and briefed about this project and its relation to UTHM
more thoroughly. Besides, we also know how this construction manager from Sime
Darby planning and scheduling their work progress. After that, site visit also gave us a
chance to see how a site functioned and how important it is to manage risks when
thinking about building in new develop area. It would be great if in the future, when the
site was nearing completion, or completed, if we were able to see how much it has
changed since we last saw it. At the same time, we are able to ask question regarding to
the work involve in this construction which is basic to this subject of site investigation.
Such as how their geotechnical investigation on site are done before the building and
construction begin, type of solution they use, and how they overcome the situation. We
learn to handle pressure smartly.
In addition, we also liked how the tour of the site was varied. We got the chance
to look at what it is like to be a site engineer and how the different aspects of

construction combine together on site. For example, how the woodworkers on site were
preparing building materials and learning about how these would be used in the
building. I particularly found the explanation of how the Industrial Building System
(IBS) would be fitted into the building to be very interesting.
As a conclusion, these site visits really give us more understanding about the
things that really used to be during construction progress. With that, we know what the
important aspect that we need to strengthen up in order to be a successful engineer in
future.

1.5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.

As a conclusion, the objective of this site visit was mainly to familiarize

ourselves with the operations at the real construction site while at the same time learning
new things is achieved. This is a good experience for us to explore and understand more
about construction work progress and at the same time to feel the real situation in
workplace and challenges faces during construction process.

During the site visit, we were exposed to various construction method,

machineries and also had chance to observe the construction work. Thus, we are able to
know the types of ground testing and ground improvement used in this project. Also
understand the role of surveying during construction. There many benefit for us that we
can get as a civil engineering technologies student regarding to this site visit. This site
visit teach us and help us to relate the theory and practical involved in the subject we
learn.

As a recommendation, this type of site visit should been done more to exposed
student with related field. It is a good bridge for student to improve our knowledge
regarding the skill and apply the theory that had been learn. Thus this would help us to
identify the skill and responsibilities as technologist on site. This also should be an
integral part of the subject.

1.6

APPENDIX

The project manager of Higher Education Hub Pagoh give briefing about the project and
all progress of the construction of the UTHM building.

The progress of construction and its details.

3D model of Higher Education Hub Pagoh from the plan view.

Scaffolding is used in the construction of UTHM building.

The progress of construction of UTHM building so far.