1979. Report on prestressing steel: 4. Principles of quality assurance with respect to prestressing steels. (PDF)

Quality control, statistical interpretation of inspection data and quality assurance are no new “inventions” in the world of concrete construction. As Mr. O.C. Binnekamp points out, these procedures have already been in use for many years in other branches of industry.

Standards which describe the techniques for estimating means and standard deviations, and for determining tolerance intervals, have even been published by ISO and several national standardization organizations.

However, it is a regrettable fact that in the world of manufacturers and users of prestressing steels, there is no general acceptance of the procedures connected with quality assurance. Therefore, this report is extremely important; it clears away all the mysteries and misunderstandings surrounding the new approach to establishing the properties of construction materials in general.

I hope that it will contribute to a better understanding on all sides of the subject of quality assurance and to a general acceptance of the described techniques, which are so closely related to the codes prepared by FIP, CEB and others.

In the meantime, of course, critical remarks and comments on the contents of the report will be gratefully accepted and studied.

As Chairman of the FIP Commission on Prestressing Steels and Systems, I am very grateful to Mr. Binnekamp for this accomplishment. This is his second report prepared for our Commission which has been considered of sufficient importance to be published. I would also like to express my gratitude for the comprehensive and objective way in which he has approached a very complex problem.