Armenia Engineer Attestation flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Building code hierarchy

In Armenia, legal force descends from the Constitution to laws such as the Urban Development Law, then government decrees, ministerial orders and finally technical norms; a lower act cannot contradict a higher one.

Territorial planning documents

Urban planning proceeds through a hierarchy: territorial plan for the region, general (master) plan for settlements, zoning plan, and detailed plan fixing plots, density and permitted use.

State expert review

Mandatory appraisal of design documentation for large or technically complex objects, checking compliance with norms, structural safety and cost; a negative conclusion blocks the building permit and construction.

Commissioning certificate

An acceptance act issued by the state commission confirming that the completed object matches the approved design and norms; operating a building before this certificate is issued is unlawful.

Licensed design activity

Architectural and engineering design in Armenia requires a licence from the authorised ministry, granted on evidence of qualified staff, office equipment and an operating quality control system.

Urban planning conditions

A pre-design document issued by the local authority stating the permitted use, maximum density and height, setbacks, and connection points for water, sewer, power and gas.

Technical regulation

A legally binding act setting mandatory requirements only for safety, health, environment and consumer protection; compliance is compulsory, while the underlying standards remain voluntary.

AST national standard

A voluntary standard adopted by the Armenian national standards body (SARM); it becomes binding when cited in a technical regulation, a contract or a design specification.

Declaration of conformity

A supplier's documented self-assessment, supported by test evidence, that a product meets the applicable technical regulation; it is registered and replaces third-party certification for lower-risk products.

Partial safety factor gamma-f

A multiplier converting a characteristic load into a design load: about 1.05 to 1.1 for dead load, 1.2 for imposed floor load, and 1.4 for wind and snow in the fundamental combination.

Ultimate limit state

A condition of loss of load-bearing capacity, such as rupture, buckling, overturning, fatigue or collapse; structures are checked so design action effects remain below design resistance.

Serviceability limit state

A condition of loss of function or comfort, such as excessive deflection, cracking, vibration or drift; it is checked with characteristic unfactored loads against limits like span/250 for floors.

Design base shear

Total seismic lateral force V = K·S·W, where K reflects intensity and structural type, S the soil and spectral shape, and W the weight; it is distributed over height proportional to W times height.

Seismic joint width

The separation gap between adjacent blocks, sized from the sum of their computed lateral deflections plus a margin so that pounding cannot occur; no rigid element may bridge the joint.

Soft storey irregularity

A storey markedly less stiff or strong than the one above it, typically an open ground floor; it concentrates inelastic demand and is either banned or requires special three-dimensional analysis and detailing.

Behaviour factor q

A factor reducing the elastic response spectrum to account for ductility and overstrength: roughly 4 to 5 for ductile reinforced-concrete frames, 2 to 3 for infilled frames, 1.5 to 2 for masonry.

Design concrete strength fcd

fcd = alpha-cc times fck divided by gamma-c, with alpha-cc about 0.85 to 1.0 and gamma-c = 1.5 for persistent situations; fck is the characteristic cylinder strength at 28 days.

Column reinforcement ratio

Longitudinal steel lies between the larger of 0.10 times NEd/fyd and 0.002 times Ac, and 0.04 times Ac, with at least four bars and laps staggered between sections.

Bearing capacity of footing

qu = c-prime Nc + q-prime Nq + 0.5 gamma-prime B Ngamma, where Nq = e^(pi tan phi-prime) tan-squared(45 degrees + phi-prime/2); designed with partial factors or a safety factor near 3.

Steel partial factor gamma-M2

gamma-M2 = 1.25 is applied to the resistance of net sections at bolt holes and to welded or bolted connection design, whereas gamma-M0 = 1.0 governs gross cross-section resistance.

Concrete cube test

150 mm cubes, cured and tested at 28 days, give the characteristic cube strength; a set of at least three specimens is taken per batch or per 50 to 100 cubic metres placed.

Compaction coefficient

The ratio of achieved dry density to maximum laboratory dry density; backfill and subgrade are accepted at 0.95 or higher, with 0.98 for road bases, verified by field density tests.

Slump test

A standard cone test measuring concrete workability; the measured slump must fall within the specified target range, usually with a tolerance near plus or minus 30 mm, or the batch is rejected.

Vent stack

A vertical pipe continuing the drainage stack above the roof; it admits air so flowing water does not siphon trap seals and is required on stacks serving several fixtures.

Residual current device 30 mA

A protective device that disconnects a circuit when earth-leakage current exceeds 30 milliamps; it is required for socket outlets and wet areas to prevent electric shock.

Air change rate

The volumetric outdoor air supplied to a space divided by its volume, per hour; dwellings typically need 0.5 to 1.0 per hour, or 20 to 30 cubic metres per hour per person in living rooms.

Overhead and estimated profit

Overhead covers site and company administration not tied to one work item, while estimated profit is the contractor's planned margin; both are applied as percentages of direct cost in the estimate.

Resource method of estimating

Unit prices are built from measured quantities of labour, machines and materials at current market prices, rather than from fixed base-period rates later adjusted by cost indices.

Value added tax in Armenia

VAT is charged at 20 percent on construction works and is added to the estimated cost after direct costs, overhead and profit, forming the total contract price.

Hidden works act

A signed record confirming that concealed work such as reinforcement, embedded services, waterproofing or subgrade was inspected and accepted before covering; without it the work must be opened up.

Author's supervision

Periodic site visits by the designer to verify that construction follows the approved design; findings are recorded in a journal and non-conformities must be corrected by the contractor.

Fall protection threshold

Work at height in Armenian and CIS practice starts at 1.8 metres above the surface; guardrails at 1.1 metres with a mid-rail, or personal fall-arrest systems, then become mandatory.