Troubleshoot Taking Cores for QC/QA Testing

Taking cores may be as easy as lining up the drill on the areas marked by inspectors and contractors, or it could come with some challenges. If you find the core barrel wobbling or acting as if it’s jammed, you may need to do something as simple as realigning the barrel. Here are some easy fixes for simple problems you may encounter when popping cores for quality control/quality assurance testing.

Three Steps Can Improve Your QC

The Problem

If the coring rig experiences binding while cutting a core, you could have one of several problems to address. When you pull the core barrel back up and see flakes of rubber, you could be encountering an old membrane that may have been used between layers. The lab manager for Asphalt Testing Solutions & Engineering LLC (ATS), Rhonda Hale, CPM, shared that ARMI layers were often used between layers and could contribute to stickiness or binding when coring. If you find yourself meeting resistance, you could be encountering some older, thicker pavement with these types of layers or simply have a twisted core barrel. While coring rigs are built to work through tough conditions, Hale offered some suggestions for solving minor problems.

The Solution

• Make sure the core barrel is perpendicular to the pavement.
• Take it slowly and make sure the core barrel is properly lubricated with water and liquid dish soap during the cutting process.
• Watch your core barrel for visible signs of an issue.
• If you feel resistance, back the core barrel out, readjust/realign if you need to, and begin again. Too much pressure will cause the barrel to bind as well.

For more information, contact ATS at (904) 503-5100.