COMPETENCY DEMONSTRATION REPORT (CDR)

NAME SURNAME
D.O.B. XX XX 19XX

All statements of fact in this report are true and correct and I have made claims of acquired competencies
in good faith. The report is my own work and is a true representation of my personal competence in
written English. I confirm that I understand that members of the engineering team in Australia are
required to display a commitment to exercising professional and ethical responsibility in all aspects of
their work.

Printed Name: NAME SURNAME

Signature: ____________________

Date: ____________________
 Career Episode 1

Introduction

1.1 The following career episode is based on a construction project of a building named “New
Interpretation Centre”. This project took place in XX, XX while I was doing my internship in the
company “Túnel XX” and finishing my studies at the XX. I did my internship from XX until XX in
the Site supervisor role.

Background

1.2 The “Túnel XX” was inaugurated in 1969 and as the main link between two provinces of XX. This
tunnel is considered one of the most important communication routes of the region due its
location and its capability to allow vehicles to cross a wide river such as the Paraná.

1.3 It was the company’s interest to build the “New Interpretation Centre” to develop social and
cultural activities. It is located on Paraná’s side of the tunnel nearby the offices. It has easy
access to the public and it provides a broad view of images taken 50 years ago of the tunnel in
construction. This building was projected following the architecture of the already built main
structures of the tunnel to match the aesthetical view using concrete structure.

1.4 As Civil Engineer student and intern of the company during the construction of the
Interpretation Centre was to perform the following duties:
 Inspection and supervision of the construction site.
 Coordinate activities with the contractors.
 Evaluate and propose solutions against problems during the construction.
 Elaborate payment certificates, computations, and technical documentation in general.
 Making daily reports about progresses to my superior.

Personal Engineering Activities

1.5 My goal as an intern was to supervise the methods of construction and the technical
specifications of materials. Hence, one of my first tasks was to study the documentation and
building scope like aerial photography (See Fig. 1), architectural plans (See Fig.2), and project
schedule (See Fig.3). The construction jobs started on the day 5 th of June of 2019 and was
planned to last six months; it was built by the contractor company named “Tino
Construcciones” according to the workplan the first couple of months was for the preliminary
construction jobs such earthworks, foundations, insulating layers, subfloors, electricals, and
sanitary facilities. My main aim at this point was to record everything that happened during
working hours and make a daily report. Every job has its importance in the project and deserves
to be supervised.
 Fig.1 Aerial photograph of the Interpretation Fig.2 Architectural plan of the Subfluvial Tunnel
Center and surroundings. (Project Documentation) Interpretation Center. (Project Documentation)

Fig. 3 Project Schedule of building construction of Interpretation Center. (Project Documentation)

1.6 I supervised the first works of location and delimitation of the work area, an initial cleaning of
the land. I verified the installation of restrooms for construction personnel and the making of
electrical power and water service connections. The excavation works for foundations and the
extraction of the superficial layer of 10 [cm] followed. The following picture belongs to the
foundation’s excavation, extraction of the vegetal superficial layer for the sidewalk, placement
of the workshop and toilets for personnel use and the fence, building around the construction
area. The volume of earth from the excavation was deposited in a nearby place that I looked for
without hindering the carrying out of the work or the free runoff of surface water. I destined
this material later for fillings. See Fig. 4.

Fig .4 Excavation works for foundations and extraction of the superficial layer of 10 [cm].
1.7 When the foundation ground level was reached, I Fig5. Measuring levels. (Project Documentation)
corroborated it following the technical documents,
this level was 1.40[m] from the level +0.00 which
was an already known point on the surface of the
existing office building next to the construction site.
To do this, I used a metric level strategically placed
to take readings of both points of interest: the
known one and the level at the foundation. See Fig.
5 Having both lectures I calculated the real level of
the foundation ground.

1.8 After I double-checked the level, the ground was cleaned, and mechanically compacted, and
the foundations' excavations were ready to be filled with Lean Concrete H-8 quality. Once the
concrete was poured it was compacted properly to avoid any kind of defects such as air
trapped. I checked only 10[cm] of lean concrete was calculated to be poured, its purpose was
to help leave a flat and clean surface to ease the placement of the steel reinforcement at the
level -1.30[m] for the foundations concreting. Ver Fig.6.

Fig. 6 Concrete poured (Project Documentation)

1.9 I ensured that the reinforcement bars were properly ensembled as shown in Fig. 7, using the
correct diameter bars, leaving the calculated space between bars and being properly jointed.
Also, I verified the use of 200 microns of polyethylene film in all the exposed surfaces to avoid
modifying the humidity of the earth slopes to guarantee its cohesion and stability, see Fig.8.
Once the film and the foundation steel reinforcement were correctly placed on the ground it
was time to overlap the vertical steel reinforcement that belongs to the wall and to build the
formwork for the subsequence concreting.

Fig. 7 Ensemble of reinforcement bars Fig.8 Placing of polyethylene film.

1.10 It was my duty to check the conditions, everything was placed before pouring the concrete in
the following aspects:
 Surface cleaned and with no dirt/mud or objects left on it.
 Steel reinforcements were placed correctly.
 Formwork well joined and built.

Once I checked that the surface was perfectly cleaned of water, mud, or any other non-
desirable substance, the steel reinforcements were correctly placed, and the formwork was
properly built. I agreed to proceed to the next stage and concrete the foundations with
Concrete H-21 quality (210MPa), and concrete in plant of H21 quality for foundation beams.
With sections of 180 [cm] x 30 [cm] for the longitudinal beams and 60 [cm] x 30 [cm] for the
cross beams. (See Graph 1). The concreting was carried out by pumping, pulling approximately
60m3. See Fig. 9. After every time concrete was poured, I coordinated the taking of the
samples for further tests to verify the quality of the concrete purchased. I ensured that
standard samples were taken following the technical documentation. The concrete was
subjected to tests to corroborate its quality: slump test and compressive strength test. The
slump test is conducted on-site with fresh concrete, and it determines its consistency and
reveals the water-cement ratio and its workability.

Graph 1 Design of beams (Project Documentation).

Fig. 9 Pouring Concrete process (Project Documentation)

1.11 To proceed with the Slump test, a standardized cone (called Abram’s cone) was used. It was
placed on a flat smooth surface. It was filled with concrete in layers and each layer must be
compacted with a standardized steel bar which was carefully dropped from the same height 25
 times. Once the three layers were done and the cone was filled and levelled, it was slowly
lifted and placed next to the slump. The difference in height between the slump and the cone
was measured and the values determined the consistency of the concrete. (See Fig. 10). The
compressive strength test was conducted in a laboratory. The concrete samples were poured
on site into a standardized cylinder mould of 300[mm] height and 150[mm] diameter. See Fig.
11. Once it was dried it is taken to the laboratory, taken out of the mould, and placed into a
tank filled with water to cure the concrete.

Fig. 10 Pouring the concrete samples. Fig.11 Concrete cylinders mould

The samples were tested in a compressive press at 7, 14 and 28 days to ensure that the
concrete compressive strength was adequate for each period. Under my supervisor, I told the
contractor to take 12 samples to have a better average result of the tests for 7, 14 and 28 days.
(4 samples for each period). Once the concrete had dried the formwork was taken off.

1.12 After stripping the formwork of the exterior walls and leaving them exposed, I could see that
the surfaces did not meet the expectations (See Graph 2) due to cracks on the finished
concrete. See Fig. 12. Because of this, I requested the contractor to correct them on the final
walls. Luckily, they were able to fix it and it did not delay the construction planning.

Graph 2 Wall Design Dimensions (Project Documentation)

Fig. 12 Verification and marking of walls with compaction defects.

 I verified the appropriate isolations for the structures below level +0.00 were applied. These
require an increase in impermeability treated with an instant and definitive waterproofing
that also gave it a structure to withstand water pressures that exceed 1000 [kg/m2]. These
structures needed a higher water resistance due the direct and permanent contact with the
ground. The impermeabilization was done with a waterproof coating of cementitious SikaTop
Seal 107 Flex and it was applied directly on the structure’s surfaces. The product affected the
concrete porosity obstructing the water getting in. At this point the next stages were very
similar, concreting the walls of the building. They were done in 4 stages of concreting:
 Level -1.00 to +0.00
 Level +0.00 to +1.00
 Level +1.00 to +2.00
 Level +2.00 to +3.00

1.13 Formwork and steel reinforcements were the main activities on these stages and my
responsibility was to check everything before each concreting phase. Samples were taken
every time the concrete was poured. Slump test and concrete compressive strength test were
done for each stage. When the wall level reached the +0.00 some earthwork had to be done
to fill the ground and start the underfloor jobs in parallel with the wall concreting. These jobs
were compacting and leveling the ground, concreting the walkthrough and some others
including the set up for electricals and sanitary connections. In this stage, the formwork for
the sub wall partition is also prepared, which belongs to the first stage of concreting the
partitions, from level -1.00 [m] to +0.00 [m] corresponding to the subfloor level. The
placement of the formwork, previously painted with a release material, of the partitions is
finished, leaving the passes for the installations. See Fig. 13. The first section of the 35 [cm]
thick partition is concreted (up to level +0.00m, subfloor level), pouring approximately 30m 3 of
H-30 quality reinforced concrete.

Fig.13 Formwork and steel reinforcements. (Project Document).

Before concreting the underfloor with an 8[cm] layer of H-8 quality concrete, a high-density
flexible polyethylene film for concrete (Tyvek) had to be placed covering all the surface and it
had to be overlapped between film at least 25[cm]. It must be 100% water, oxygen, vapour,
and dust resistant. The set-up must be perfectly done to ensure the proper conservation of
the film and its quality over time. Also, a steel reinforcement was needed. A 25[cm]*25[cm]
mesh with 6[mm] diameter bars was placed on top of the isolation film. Sanitary and
electrical PVC tubes and electrical boxes were placed before concreting following the technical
documentation.

1.14 After a couple of heavy rain days, I found out that on the trajectory of the walkthrough, a lot
 of water was stuck in a few delimited spots. (See Fig. 14) It was needed to be solved before
concreting it. I suggested two possible resolutions to this problem. The first one was to fill the
walkthrough with soil and elevate its level. At first, it sounded like a viable solution hence, this
would prevent the water from getting stuck but thinking it thoroughly it might generate a new
spot of water on the sides. The second option was to leave space for drains in the walkthrough
every certain distance, this wouldn’t prevent the water from getting stuck, but it would let the
water follow it natural course to the river without flooding the walkthrough.

Fig.14 Walkthrough
with water.
After deliberating about the solution with my supervisor and co-workers, the decision was to
build 1[m] drains every 10[m] all along the walkthrough. The drain was built with a PVC tube
with holes to allow the water to get in at the bottom and topped up with stones covered with
a geotextile film that will prohibit any solids from obstructing the PVC tube. It was finished
with concrete at the top. (See Fig. 15&16). The work to finish the structure was the concreting
of the last section of the partition on the east side, the beams, and the ceiling slab. From here,
smaller work groups can be carried out and attack several fronts at the same time in masonry,
plastering and emplaced, carpentry, roof covering, coatings, installations, and complementary
works.

Fig.15 Walkthrough covered with geotextile film.

Summary

1.15 I made the inspections of the construction site to be aware of the civil work details and ensure
that everything was getting done as projected. I collected the technical documentation I made
including a lot of studies, activities, and calculations to build safely and successfully during the
process. There have been a few unexpected problems that I solved in the best possible way
after considering many options to do it.

Reference
[Link]