Unit 4

Selection of Construction Plant and Equipment

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Introduction
• Proper selection of equipment for a construction project is of vital
importance for its speedy and economical completion.
• Selection of Construction Plant basically involves planning the equipment,
careful selection considerations and the basis for selection.
• Problem of equipment selection has become more complicated because
large variety of equipment are being manufactured now a days.
• Records kept for operation, maintenance and actual output obtained
under comparable conditions of previous projects helps in taking decision
for equipment selection.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Introduction
• There are two principal aspects of equipment selection:
1. Technical aspects governed by the performance, and
2. Economical aspects and commercial aspects mainly concerns the
contractor or the equipment hire organizations from a business
sense.
• Selection carried out purely from a technical point of view is not enough, it
is necessary to test the viability of the selected equipment from a
economic or business point of view.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Planning for equipment selection
• Planning involves working out to get the answer to the following
questions
i. What for is the equipment needed ?
ii. When is the equipment needed and for how long? (the duration of
equipment use)
iii. How big equipment is needed? (the capacity assessment )
iv. Which one is preferred based upon the history of performance of
the equipment ?
• Planning can be described as a function aimed at selection from
alternative course of action which will direct an organization’s human and
material resources for future time spans.
ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh
 Planning for equipment selection
• While executing projects with mechanized construction, planning plays an
important role and has a big impact on the ultimate cost of the project.
• A construction plan shall ensure and preserve the balance between the
four objectives of the project: time, cost, quality and safety.
• At the planning stage it is necessary to take concrete decisions on the
method of achieving the ultimate target by utilizing resources (Men,
Machinery, Material & Money) in the best possible way.
• This may be done in the pre tender stage by the contractors by studying
the contract documents, plans and the local conditions.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Planning for equipment selection
• Depending on the type of the project, following survey may be required
before equipment selection:
i. Geological conditions
ii. Weather conditions
iii. Site conditions
iv. Transport facilities
v. Availability of fuel
vi. Availability of labour
vii. Availability of services (electricity, water)
viii. Pollution standards

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Planning for equipment selection
• Once the basic concept is formed, it is necessary to take a decision of the
equipment that could be used.
• During the stage it may be necessary to compare alternative methods and
types of equipment which could be economically used.
• It is necessary to be knowledgeable in the following to prepare a basic plan
a. Types of equipment manufactured in the world and available locally or
in the region
b. Selection criteria of equipment
c. Costs of equipment
d. Safety standards of equipment

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Planning for equipment selection
• It is the project manager who takes the overall responsibility for planning
while the equipment manager takes responsibility for the maintenance of
the equipment and its operation.
• At the end of the planning process, detailed documentation consisting of
who will operate, who will maintain, the storage, the equipment record,
use on similar projects (Multi project usage plan) etc. shall be prepared.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Careful selection consideration
• The following have to be carefully considered before selecting any
equipment:
1. Specially designed
2. Performance in fixed
3. The varying need
4. Combination may be needed
5. Match finding

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Main basis of selection
Some of the factors that need to be considered while selecting construction
equipment are as follows:
1. Identification of task
• Any construction project is a summation of construction tasks.
• Project size is determined by the quantity of work involved in each task.
• It is very necessary to identify the task clearly in the Bill of Quantities
(BoQ) and also it is necessary for the contractor to have a clear
understanding of the tasks when submitting a bid.
• For filling an earth embankment, the following are the main construction
tasks:
a) Clear the area to be filled
ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh
 Main basis of selection (contd..)
b) Clear the borrow area
c) Cutting the earth from borrow area
d) Transport the earth to fill site
e) Spread the earth on layers
f) Compact the earth
2. Quantity of Material
• The quantity of material guides the size and the capacity of the equipment
that should be selected to carryout the task.
3. Unit weight and size

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Main basis of selection (contd..)
4. Changeable Characteristics
• Earth when disturbed expands as the air enters and fills the voids.
• Same thing happens when the earth is used as a fill material.
• This swelling of earth when loosened increases volume thereby affecting
the type and size of handling equipment. This has to be taken in
consideration while selecting the equipment.
5. Haul Distance
• Haul distance is an important factor to be considered.
• Guidance is given by the manufactures in selecting equipment depending
on the haul distance.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Main basis of selection (contd..)
6. Trafficability
• Trafficability indicates the ability of the selected equipment to move in a
terrain.
• When considering the trafficability it is necessary to consider the
following:
i. ability of the equipment /vehicle to travel.
ii. ability of the equipment/vehicle to travel once or twice.
iii. ability of the equipment/vehicle to travel many times.
• As the vehicles and equipment engaged in construction work in a cyclic
manner it is necessary that equipment can travel many times at the site.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Main basis of selection (contd..)
7. Manoeuvrability
• Manoeuvrability is the ability of the equipment to work within the site
without difficulty.
• This factor should be considered especially when equipment has to be
utilized in congested sites or at sites with limited access.
8. Output of the equipment
• Output of equipment is the quantity of work (linear, area, volume) the
equipment could accomplish during a specified time period.
• Normally the output is calculated per hour, per shift, or per day.
• In the construction industry, output is the key factor which decides the
ultimate cost of the accomplishment of the construction task.
ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh
 Main basis of selection (contd..)
• Output of equipment has to be calculated before calculating the unit cost.
• A piece of equipment will not be able to accomplish total volume of work
in the particular construction task in one go. Therefore equipment has to
be used in a cyclic manner when accomplishing construction tasks.
• The output of construction equipment can be calculated using the
following relation:
Q=qxNxE
Q = output per time unit (hour, shift, day): (cu.m. per hour)
q = output per cycle (cu.m. per cycle)
N= Number of cycles per time unit (hour, shift, day)
E= Efficiency factor
ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh
 Main basis of selection (contd..)
There are factors which will effect output of construction equipment. They
are:
i. Type of Material
• Output per cycle depends on the capacity of the equipment to accomplish
a task.
• In a wheeled loader it will be equal to the bucket capacity. Loading of
bucket to occupy the maximum volume will depend on the type of
material being loaded into the bucket.
• Therefore depending on the type of material the theoretical volume has
to be calculated.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Main basis of selection (contd..)
ii. Resistance to movement
• When travelling on the flat ground, the equipment has to overcome the
rolling resistance which depends upon coefficient of friction of the road
surface
• When travelling on inclined ground (or grade) it has to overcome the
grade resistance in addition to the rolling resistance.
• Rolling resistance depends on the ground on which the equipment
travels. The grade resistance depends on the inclination of the road
section the machine has to travel.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Main basis of selection (contd..)
iii. Cycle time
• The construction equipment works in a cyclic manner.
• The number of cycles the equipment can accomplish is related to the time
it takes the equipment to complete one cycle. This is known as cycle time
(CT)
• Cycle time consists of following:
1. Loading time (LT)
2. Hauling time, mixing time (HT)
3. Unloading time (UL)
4. Return time (RT)
5. Spot time, delay time etc. (ST)
ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh
 Main basis of selection (contd..)
Therefore,
CT= LT+ HT+UL+RT+ST
• Number of cycles (N) per unit time (T) is equal to:
N = T/CT
• The time taken for hauling and return for the mobile equipment depends
on the maximum speeds they could achieve.
iv. Efficiency factor
• The peak output can be achieved if the machine is operated during the
full hour without any stoppages.
• But in practical situation, it is necessary to allow for the human factor.
Normally it is around 50 minutes in a 60 minute hour.
ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh
 Main basis of selection (contd..)
• The human efficiency will be 50/60 or 0.83.
• In addition to that factor there is a job management factor which will
depend on topography.
• Efficiency factor on various working conditions are:

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Example
Q. A wheel loader with effective bucket capacity of 1.8 cu.m has cycle time 15
seconds while working on a heap of loose earth. Calculate the output of this
machine if it is working in good job site condition and good management
condition. Attached efficiency chart may be used

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

 Example
Solution:
Here,
Output per cycle (cum per cycle) [q] = 1.8 cum
Cycle Time [CT] = 15 sec.
From the chart,
Efficiency factor [E] = 0.75
Now,
Number of cycles per hour [N]= 3600/15 = 240 cycles/hr.
Therefore, output per unit hour will be,
Q = q x N x E = 1.8 x 240 x 0.75 = 324 cum / hr.

ECM 524 Management of Construction Plant and Equipment Shacheendra K Labh

Thank you!