One Day Seminar

On
Industrial Flooring
14th Sep 2019

FLOOR SURFACE
REGULARITY SURVEYS
AND TESTING

Er Samit Singhai
Indian Concrete Institute
 Agenda
• Requirements of good floor
• Myths about Concrete Floor level and aspects
• Parameters for floor measurement
• Standards of Floor Surface Measurements
• Instruments for floor parameter measurement
• Testing of Sub Base Modulus of Reaction
• Testing of abrasion resistance of Floor
• Parameters and Testing of Polished Concrete
Flooring
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 Concrete Floor Requirements
Functional requirement from Flooring
Serviceable to the desired application
• Should be strong enough to sustain abuse such as point
loads, dynamic loads, without deflection, cracking,
settlement or damage to joints
• Joint layouts should be robust and should not crack during
movement of goods
• The floor surface should have suitable surface regularity.
• The floor surface should have suitable abrasion, chemical
and slip resistance, if any.

Structural -- Functional --- Aesthetic

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 Myths about Concrete Flooring
• A complete zero-zero Level Floor
• VDF Method provides good compacted levelled
concrete floor
• Levels are only the outcome of workmanship
• Difference between regular and Floor Concrete
Mix
• Expansion Joints are always used at 40 or 50 mtr
for concrete floors
• Use of Round Bar dowels is also good enough

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 Types of Floor Classification
• Free Movement Floors
– The movement on floor is not fixed
– Ex – warehouses with wide aisle racking installations,
factories, retail outlets, low-level storage, marshalling
zones and food distribution

• Defined Movement Floors

– The movement on floors is fixed such as aisles of
warehousing, ASRS, etc
– Ex - high-level storage racking
– with very narrow aisles (VNAs) in warehouses

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FREE MOVEMENT FLOOR

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Defined Movement Floor

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 Surface Regularity
Surface regularity – Generic term to describe the departure of a floor
profile from a theoretical perfect plane

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 Surface Regularity
Two properties are considered to evaluate the surface regularity

• Flatness :Surface
tolerance over short
distance 300 mm

• Levelness : Surface
tolerance over long
distance 3 m.

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 Static Lean
• Level diff between
two wheels = 3 mm

• The difference at top

at a height of 10 m
would be much
greater than 3 mm,
which is known as
static lean

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 Standards for Floor Measurement
• TR34 4th Edition
– Measures Flatness as Property F and Levelness as
Property E
• ASTM E1155
– Measures Flatness as Property FF and Levelness as
Property FL
• BS 8204
• DIN 18202
• ICI TC 09
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 Surface Regularity : Levelness
Property E: To control levelness, the elevational difference between fixed points
3m apart.

LEVELNESS

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 Surface Regularity : FLATNESS

Property F: The elevational difference in mm between two points 300mm apart

FLATNESS

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 Measuring Levelness
• Auto Level with min
20 series i.e min 32x
magnification and
accuracy of 0.5 m for
1000 mtr survey with
parallel plate
micrometre for
surveys

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 Measuring FLATNESS:
Profilometers or Deflectometers

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TR34 (Fourth Edition) : Free Movement Floors
95% OF Property
Floor Class Typical Floor Use F
E (levelness)
(flatness)
Where very high standards of flatness and
levelness are required.
FM 1 Reach trucks operating at above 13m without side
4.5 1.8
shifts
Reach trucks operating at 8 – 13m without side
FM 2 shifts.
6.5 2.0

Retail floors to take directly applied flooring.

Reach trucks operating at up to 8m without side
FM 3 shift.
8.0 2.2
Reach trucks operating up to 13m with side shift.
Retail floors to take applied screeds.
FM 4 Workshops and manufacturing facilities where 10.0 2.4
MHE lift heights are restricted to 4m.
Note – Side shift is the ability of a truck to adjust the pallet transversely to the fork direction

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 Defined Movement Parameters
• X = Distance between front
and rear end axle of MHE
equipment. Its fixed as 2 mm
• dx = Elevational diff between
centre of front and rear end
axle

• Z = Distance between centre

of two front wheels
• dz = elevational difference
between centres of two front
wheels

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 Defined Movement Parameters
• dz =.Elevational diff
between centre of
front wheels

• d2z =The change in dz

in mm over 300 mm
movement along
wheel track

• Zslope = Cross aisle

slope between centre
of front wheels

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 Defined Movement Parameterts

• d2x =The change in dx in mm over 300 mm

movement along the wheel track

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 Defined Movement Parameters

Floor Classification Racking Height X Property Z Slope dx Property d2X dz Property d2Z

Calculation Fixed in mm mm per m X x Zslope x 1.1 Fixed Values Z x Zslope dZ x 0.75

DM1 Over 13 m 2 1.3 2.9 1.5 Z x 1.3 Zx1
DM2 8-13 m 2 2 4.4 2 Zx2 Z x 1.5
DM3 upto 8 m 2 2.5 5.5 2.5 Z x 2.5 Z x 1.9

95% values should fall within the parameter to pass

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 Bumpiness Coefficient BC
• BC = Characteristics waviness in the line of
wheels track

95% values should fall within the parameter

to pass
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DM measurements

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 Floor Flatness with Time
• Floor flatness is initially measured within 72 hours after concrete placement using
F-numbers as it decreased as time pass by. The concrete, however, will continue to
undergo change ( e.g. shrinkage , curling, creep, etc ) over time.

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BS 8204 : Surface Tolerance

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Levelness measurement Run Rules
• Levelness can be surveyed for the whole area by
making 3 m x 3m grid and measuring the same
with optical Auto Level
• However, the points should not fall within min 1.5
mtr of slab boundary, construction joint, isolation
joint, block out, penetration or similar
discontinuity
• Can cross all control joints
• Cannot be parrallel to each other closer than 1.5
mtr.
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 Flatness measurement Run Rules
• Cannot measure less than 11 running ft in length
(4 m)
• Total number for point Nmin = Area in Sq ft/30 or
total run aggregate length as 1/10 of total area.
• Cannot measure less than 320 sq ft. Ideal should
be min 2000 sq mtr to 8000 sq mtr
• No sections should interact
• Shall not cross a construction joint
• Shall have a margin of 1.5 mt from isolation and
walls

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 Preferred Runs
• Perpendicular and parallel to longest
boundary.
• Same number of lines in each direction
• Runs are of equal “aggregate” length in both
directions
• Cannot use both the methods together

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Optional Run : Smaller width less than
8 mtr
• 45 degree to longest sectional boundary

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Polished Cocnrete Floor

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 DENSIFICATION ANDPOLISHING
• Densification - makes the concrete
harder and denser.
• Silicates react with the free limes
(Calcium Hydroxide-CaOH) in concrete to
form calcium silicate hydrate (CSH).
• The formation of CSH makes concrete
denser and prevents dusting.

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- Surface Abrasion Resitance
- Will increase upto three points measured on Mohr’s Scale after
densification and polishing
- Surface Gloss
- Gloss is determined by projecting a beam of light at a fixed
intensity and angle onto a surface and measuring the amount of
reflected light at an equal but opposite angle.
- should be in range of 50-70

- Distincion of Image
- Distinctness of Image (DOI) is a measure of how crisp and
sharply a reflected image appears.
- Should be above 70 when mesured by Gloss and DOI Meter

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www.concria.com
 ABRASION RESISTANCE TESTING
Concrete slab abrasion resistance tests can be conducted
using the Abrasion Resistance Testing Machine to carry out
tests in accordance with EN 13892-4.
• It checks for compliance with the limits in BS 8204 Part 2,
in order to determine the BS ‘Classification for Abrasion
Resistance’ for a specified slab surface.

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 Take aways
• Should specify flooring tolerance as per the actual
requirement (Defined or Free Movement ) and by
taking racking, aisle width, MHE specifications etc.
• For Flatness survey, its impossible to survey the
complete area in all directions hence selection of run
path along with total number of points to be surveyed
should be followed.
• Areas around 1.5 mtr of wall, column or foreign
element to be eliminated for reports
• Survey should be scheduled as early as possible to
judge the workmanship
 Thank You.

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