QEST Platform 5.5 Documentation
Applies to QCS

Data entry methods for concrete strength test results using the QEST Crush Station for AU customers, and others using AU test methods.

Overview

Like the QEST Weigh and Measure Station (QWS), the QEST Crush Station (QCS) is a separate module from the main QESTLab program.

For users with the appropriate equipment which can be interfaced to a PC, it provides an efficient means of getting the concrete testing data from the equipment into the software and calculating the strength results.

Structure of the QCS Worksheet

Set Up Fields

Laboratory Field

Field Prompt	Expected Information
Lab	Select a laboratory from the dropdown list of available laboratories.

Equipment Fields

Equipment

For equipment to be available for selection in equipment dropdown boxes, the equipment item must first be created in QESTLab's Equipment list. Refer to article Creating Equipment.

Equipment details for each specimen can be recorded using the following fields.

Equipment Prompt	Expected Information
Testing Machine	Select a testing machine from the dropdown list of available testing machines.
Steel Square	Select a steel square from the dropdown list of available steel squares.

Search Fields

The QCS supports three different methods of searching for concrete specimens to measure.

By Test Date - Select a date from the Test Date drop-down. All concrete specimens due for test on the specified date at the selected laboratory will be listed in the Next Specimen ID drop-down.
By Date Cast - Select a date from the Date Cast drop-down. All concrete specimens which were cast on the specified date assigned to the selected laboratory for testing will be listed in the Next Specimen ID drop-down.
If the specimen ID is known, it can be directly entered into the Next Specimen ID drop-down.

Duplicate specimen IDs

Unexpected behaviour can result if duplicate specimen IDs are found.

Specimen Fields

These fields are read-only and contain data imported from the Concrete Sample (AU) screen.
It is expected that most, if not all, of this information would have been entered as part of the sample registration process.

Specimen Grid

Specimen Registration Fields

For most specimens, these fields will normally contain all the required information prior to the date of testing, as part of the sample registration process.
These fields are locked in QCS.

Sample Registration

The QEST Crush Station does not provide a means of registering a new concrete samples or specimens. If required, this will need to be done using QESTLab or QESTField.

Test Data and Results Fields

These fields are locked in QCS and any data that can be entered has to come from the interfaced testing machine.
For further details on these fields, refer to the Concrete Sample (AU) screen, as they are otherwise identical to the corresponding fields there.

Administration Fields

These fields are applicable to all specimen types and are locked in QCS.

Field Prompt	Expected Information
Charge To Plant	Contains Yes or No to determine whether this specimen will be charged to the plant instead of the client for this sample group. This requires that the plant have an entry in the QESTLab client list. Default = No. Changing the value If this field needs to be edited, use the Concrete Sample (AU) screen in QESTLab.
Crushed By	The name of the person who crushed (tested) this specimen. This is added automatically when the load value is accepted and will normally be the person who started the QCS session.

Field Prompt

Expected Information

Charge To Plant

Contains Yes or No to determine whether this specimen will be charged to the plant instead of the client for this sample group.

This requires that the plant have an entry in the QESTLab client list.

Default = No.

Changing the value

If this field needs to be edited, use the Concrete Sample (AU) screen in QESTLab.

Crushed By

The name of the person who crushed (tested) this specimen.
This is added automatically when the load value is accepted and will normally be the person who started the QCS session.

Calculated Fields

These fields are not visible on the screen but are calculated from data entered into the grid and stored in the database. They are typically used when it becomes time to generate reports and can also affect the appearance of values in the specimen grid.

When sufficient raw test data is entered, QCS calculates the strength result for each specimen and displays these values in the grid.

Additionally, the following are calculated:

Sample average strength - The average strength results for specimens of a certain type and age are calculated and stored in the database (eg. the average 28 day strength for COMP100 specimens). This is done for each sample.
Pair difference - The difference in strength results between two specimens of the same type and age is calculated and stored for each sample.

The sample average and pair difference calculations are done for predetermined ages present in a sample. (Typically, 7, 28, 56 and 90 day). If these differences exceed required tolerances (as per AS 1379 for Australia) then the results are highlighted in red.

Additional Fields

Options

The option discussed in this section is a general system option in the QEST Platform. This type of option affects the operation of the system as a whole where changing the option changes the functionality for everyone using an instance of the QEST Platform. As a result, the ability to change these options is limited to users with the System Administrator right.

Field Prompt	Expected Information	Category
Apply Corrcn	Apply Correction. Select Yes or No to determine whether the strength results for this specimen will be corrected based on the Height/Diameter ratio. Default = No The global option Show Strength Correction Option for Specimens of Type activates this field for the selected specimen types. Options are: (COMPCOR, COMP100/COMP150/COMPCOR, None). Default = COMPCOR The option can be accessed via QEST Admin Console >> Lab >> Configuration >> Options >> Concrete/QCS/QWS	Test Data

Field Prompt

Expected Information

Optional Features

Options

The options discussed in this section are general system options in the QEST Platform. These affect the operation of the system as a whole where changing the option changes the functionality for everyone using an instance of the QEST Platform. As a result, the ability to change these options is limited to users with the System Administrator right.

These options can be accessed via QEST Admin Console >> Lab >> Configuration >> Options >> Concrete/QCS/QWS

Be aware that most of these options will also affect QWS, if applied to QCS.

Option	Description
Automatically Interface QCS/QWS Specimens	Controls whether QCS specimens are automatically interfaced or not., when selected. True QCS specimens are automatically interfaced False/Default QCS specimens are not automatically interfaced
Disable QCS Strength Error	When equipment interfacing is used to measure the concrete cylinder dimensions, the dimensions will be compared against a pre-defined set of tolerance ranges for the diameter and height. These tolerance ranges must be setup on the measure station's Calibration Interface tab - see Configuring Equipment Interfacing. True The check will be disabled and no error will be reported if the measured value falls outside the tolerance range. False/Default If either of the diameters or the height falls outside the configured tolerance ranges for the measuring station, an error will be reported to the user.
Full Screen QCS and QWS	Controls how the QCS application appears on the screen at start up. True Start in full screen mode, that is, QCS occupies the whole screen. False/Default Start in reduced screen mode, that is, QCS only occupies part of the screen.
QCS Specimen Ordering	Sets the order of specimens in the QCS specimen list dropdown, by using configuration text. The rules for this text are: Set a field, matching a concrete database field, to order the specimens, by entering the field name inside square brackets, e.g. [AgeDays]. A concrete field can be sourced from the specimen or the sample. Denote which, by prefixing the field with the letter S or C, respectively, followed by a full-stop, e.g. S. or C. A field can be made to order the specimens in reverse order by adding DESC after the field name. A field that contains only numerical data in text format can be ordered numerically by adding INT after the field name. Multiple fields can be used to order specimens, with priority from left to right, by separating the fields with a comma. Example S.[AgeDays}, C.[FieldSheetNo] INT DESC The specimens will be sorted by specimen age, with each age group sorted into reverse numerical order based on the concrete sample Field Sheet Number.

Using QCS

Before Starting QCS

Preparing a Concrete Sample

The QEST Crush Station (QCS) does not provide a means of registering a new concrete sample and specimens.
If required, this must be done using QESTLab. See Concrete Sample Registration (elsewhere) for details on registering a new sample.
Once the sample has been registered with one or more specimens, QCS can then be used.

Setting Up Equipment

To be able to use QCS, a testing machine capable of interfacing to a computer is required.
Before use, this equipment item must be configured in QESTLab for interfacing with the software.
See Configuring Equipment Interfacing in QESTLab for details on setting up this equipment.

Starting QCS

Run the QEST Crush Station program (QCS).
The program will prompt the user to enter their login details. These are the same as for QESTLab.

Selecting the Laboratory and Equipment

Once logged in, the user will be presented with the a screen similar to the following.

The following must be selected:

The laboratory at which the specimen is being tested.
An interfaced Testing Machine which will be used to test the specimen(s).
The square used to check the specimen's perpendicularity (if required).

If the testing machine was correctly configured and the software was able to communicate with it, blue lines will appear above and below the drop-down.
If these do not appear, either the machine has not been setup in QESTLab correctly or it's not accessible to the software. See the Troubleshooting section in Configuring Equipment Interfacing for further assistance.

Changing Equipment Selection

Once the Select button is clicked, to select a specimen, the laboratory and the equipment items will become locked for the remainder of the session.
Should it become necessary to change any of these, the QCS application must be restarted.

Selecting a Specimen

It is not possible to select any specimens, unless an interfaced testing machine is selected.

Either,
1. enter the required specimen ID directly into the Next Specimen ID drop-down, or,
  1. select one of the following dates from their drop-downs:
    - Test Date
    - Date Cast
  2. select required specimen from Next Specimen ID drop-down,
Click on the Select button, or press Enter.

Entering Test Data

Once a specimen has been selected, test data can be entered.

Several things will have happened at this point.

The details of the sample to which the specimen belongs (sample ID, client, project, etc.) will be displayed in the background above the grid.
All of the specimens assigned to this sample will be shown in the grid, with the one currently selected highlighted in green.
The Interface button will be enabled.

Place the selected concrete cylinder specimen into the testing machine.

Click on the Interface button to connect to the interfaced testing machine.

A yellow form will appear in the top right corner of the QCS window.

Run the testing machine, increasing the applied load on the specimen until failure occurs, or a maximum load value is achieved.

Recording the Test Load

If the testing machine supports automatic requests, it will transmit the maximum test load for the specimen.
Otherwise, the user must press the appropriate button on the testing machine to return the results to the QCS software.
Once the load value has been received, it will be displayed on the yellow form and the status will be shown as 'Done'.
When the load value is displayed, the user can choose to:
1. Read the load again,
2. Decline (discard) it,
3. Accept it.

Choosing to accept the results will write the load to the QCS specimen grid.

Strength Calculation & Failure Mode

When the load is added to the specimen grid, the strength will be calculated and displayed in the grid for the specimen just tested.
if a required strength value (F'c) exists, the strength result will be compared with it and the result will control what happens next:

A strength result that is less than the required strength is considered a strength failure and the following screen will appear:
1. Selecting an appropriate failure mode and clicking the Ok button will save the corresponding code to the Failure Mode field of the specimen.
2. When this screen closes, it may be replaced by the following:
3. This allows the testing date of subsequent specimens from the same sample to be deferred to a later date, if required.
If the strength result is equal to, or greater than, the required strength, the strength value and the default failure mode will be written to the grid.

If there was an error in the entered value, it can be manually adjusted by editing it in the specimen grid on the Concrete Sample (AU) screen in QESTLab.

If it is necessary to edit values for the failure mode, use the Concrete Sample (AU) screen in QESTLAB.

No Failure Mode shown?

A possible cause for this might be a known incompatibility with QCS and the global option Store E failure Mode into Field set to Failure Mode.
The ability to change this option is limited to users with the System Administrator right and it should be set to None or Marks to fix this problem with QCS.
Be aware that changing this option will also affect the Concrete Sample (AU) screen and the electronic worksheet.
This option can be accessed via QEST Admin Console >> Lab >> Configuration >> Options >> Concrete/QCS/QWS
If only the default failure mode is missing, confirm that a failure mode has been assigned as the default value in the Concrete Failure Mode list.

Next Steps

By this stage, the Next Specimen ID will have been automatically incremented to the next one in the list.

If this is correct, the user need only hit Enter to begin the testing process for this specimen.
Otherwise, to begin testing the next specimen locate it in the list and press Select to re-commence the process.
If a previous specimen from the same sample and with the same age has failed to achieve the required strength, the following window will appear:
1. Clicking the Yes button restarts the testing process.
2. Clicking the No button will automatically increment the Next Specimen ID and the above steps (1 to 3) can be repeated.

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