ECV4702

Construction technology
Week 2 & 3

Dr. Aidi Hizami bin Ales @ Alias

aidihizami@upm.edu.my
03-89466391
Room : 6-34
Presentation outline
• Introduction

• Factors of selecting construction equipment

• Types of construction equipment

• Selection criteria for various construction equipment

Introduction
• What is a good project management
• Efficient utilization of labor, material and equipment
• Usage of new equipment and innovative technology
• Why is the selection of appropriate equipment important?
• Affect the required amount of time and effort, and consequently the
productivity of the project
• Proper use of the appropriate equipment contributes to economy, quality,
safety, speed and timely completion of a project
• Thus, important for site managers and construction planners to be
familiar with the characteristics of commonly used equipment
• 5 Advantages of utilizing the construction equipment

• Increase the rate of output with the most effective and efficient methods

• Reduce the overall construction costs, especially for large contracts

• Carry out activities more economically and rapidly

• Eliminate heavy manual work and eliminates various other hazards and health
issues

• Maintain the high quality standards often required by present-day design and
specifications
• 6 factors behind the selection of construction equipment

• Economic considerations

• Company-specific

• Site-specific

• Client and project-specific

• Manufacturer-specific

• Labor consideration
• Economic considerations

• Owning cost

• Operating costs
• Operating labor costs
• Operating fuel costs
• Operating maintenance costs

• Resale and salvage value

• Company-specific

• The selection of equipment by a company may be governed by its policy on

`owning` or `renting`

• Owning – purchase of equipment of future requirement of projects

• Renting – purchase of equipment with focus on short-term benefits

• Hire-purchase – customers pays an initial deposit, with the remainder and

interest paid over a period of time. On completion, ownership of the assets
transfers to the customers
• Site-specific

• Site conditions, including ground conditions and climatic conditions

• Example, soil and profile may dictate whether to go for a crawler-mounted

equipment or a wheel-mounted equipment

• Example, if there is a power line at or in the vicinity of the site, contractor can go
for a fixed-base kind of equipment rather than mobile
• Client and project-specific
• The owner/client is a certain project may have certain preferences for equipment procurement

• Manufacturer-specific
• Company may prefer to buy equipment from the same manufacturer, or from
the same dealer
• Uniformity in the equipment fleet possessed by the company, or because the
company is familiar with the working style of the manufacturer and dealer

• Labor consideration
• Shortage of manpower may lead to a decision in favor of procuring highly
automated equipment
• May also be governed by the availability of trained manpower
Types of construction equipment and their
selection criteria
• 7 types of construction equipment

• Earthwork equipment
• Concreting equipment
• Hoisting equipment
• Conveying equipment
• Pile-driving equipment
• Tunneling and rock drilling equipment
• Pumping and dewatering equipment
• 6 types of excavating and earth moving equipment

• Power shovel

• Back hoe

• Drag line

• Clam shell

• Scrapers

• Bull dozer
• Power shovel

• To excavate the earth and to load trucks

• Capable of excavating all types of earth except hard rock
• Size varies from 0.375 cu.m to 5 cu.m
• Basic parts of power shovel includes the track system, cabin, cables, rack, stick,
boom foot-pin, saddle block, boom, boom point sheaves and bucket
• 4 application of power shovel

• Suitable for close range of work

• Capable of digging very hard materials

• Can remove big sized boulders

• Used in various types of jobs such as digging in gravel banks, clay pits, digging
cuts in road works, road-side berms, etc.
• 8 factors affecting output of power shovel
• Class of material
• Depth of cutting
• Angle of swing
• Job condition
• Management condition
• Size of hauling units
• Skill of the operator
• Physical condition of the shovel
• Back hoe

• Also known as hoe, back shovel and pull shovel

• Used to excavate below the natural surface on which it rests
• Generally used to excavate trenches, pits for basements and also for grading works,
which requires precise control of depths
• The basic parts are boom, jack boom, boom foot drum, boom sheave, stick sheave,
stick, bucket and bucket sheave
• Application of back hoe

• The most suitable machine for digging below the machine level
• E.g. trenches, footings, basements etc

• Can be efficiently used to dress or trim the surface avoiding the use of manual
effort for dressing the excavated surface
• Drag line

• Named because of its prominent operation of dragging the bucket against the material
to be dug
• Unlike shove, it has a long light crane boom and the bucket is loosely attached to the
boom through cables
• Can dig and dump over larger distances than a shovel can do
• Useful for digging below its track level and handling softer materials
• Basic parts includes the boom, hoist cable, drag cable, hoist chain, drag chain and
bucket
• Application of drag line

• The most suitable machine for dragging softer material below its track level

• Very useful for excavating trenches when the sides are permitted to establish
their angle of repose without shoring

• Has long reaches

• Mostly used in the excavation for canals and depositing on the embankment
without hauling units
• Clam shell

• Named due to resemblance of its bucket to a clam which is like a shell-fish with hinged
double shell
• The front end is essentially a crane boom with a specially designed bucket loosely
attached at the end through cables as in a drag line
• Capacity of a clam shell is usually given in cubic meters
• Basic parts are the closing line, hoist line, sheaves, brackets, tagline, shell and hinge
• Application of clam shell

• Used for handling loose material such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, coal etc

• Main feature is vertical lifting of material from one location to another

• Mainly used for removing material from coffer dam, sewer main holes, well
foundations etc
 • Comparison between different types of equipment
No Items of comparison Power shovel Back Hoe Drag Line Clam Shell

1 Excavation in hard soil or rock Good Good Not Good Poor

2 Excavation in wet soil or mud Poor Poor Moderate Moderate good
good
3 Distance between footing and digging Small Small Long Long
4 Loading efficiency Very good Good Moderate Precise but slow
good
5 Footing required Close to work Close to pit Fairly away Fairly away from
from pit pit
6 Digging level Digs at or Digs below Digs below Digs at or below
above footing footing level footing level footing level
level
7 Cycle time Short Shortly More than More than other
more than power shovel equipment
power
shovel
• Trenching Machine

• Used for excavating trenches for laying pipelines, sewer, cables etc
• Operation is quick, giving the required depth or width
• Two types of trenching machine
• Wheel type
• Ladder type
• Scrapers

• Unique machine for digging and long-distance hauling of ploughable materials

• Self-operating machine
• Not dependent on other equipment
• Wheels of machine cause some compaction
• The basic parts include bowl, apron and tailgate or ejector
• Bulldozer

• The heavy blade attached to the tractor pushes the material from one place to
another
• Can be of the crawler or wheeled type
• Classification of bulldozer
• Position of blade
• Bulldozers with the blade perpendicular to the direction of movement
• Angle dozers with the blade is set at an angle with the direction of movement

• Based on mountings
• Wheel mounted
• Crawler mounted

• Based on the control

• Cable controlled
• Hydraulic controlled
• Application of bulldozer

• For spreading the earth fill

• For opening up pilot roads through mountainous and rocky terrains

• Clearing construction sites

• Maintaining haul roads

• Clearing land from trees and stumps

• Back filling trenches at construction sites by dragging the earth from one place
to another
• Tractors

• Multipurpose machines used mainly for pulling and pushing other equipment
• Can be classified as
• Crawler type – used to move bulldozers, scrapers. Can be very effective even in the case of
loose or muddy soils
• Wheel type – engine is mounted on four wheels. The main advantage is higher speed, used
for long distance hauling and good roads
• Comparison between crawler and wheeled tractors
Crawler type
1. Slow speed
2. More compact and powerful and can
handle heavier jobs
3. Costly
4. Cost of operation and maintenance is
high
5. Stick control for steering
6. Moves on rough roads only
7. Used for short distances
8. Requires skillful operation,
maintenance and repairs
Wheeled type
1. Greater speed
2. Can only handle lighter jobs
3. Cheaper
4. Operational and maintenance cost is
less
5. Wheel steering control
6. Moves on rough roads as well as good
roads
7. Used for longer distances
8. Lesser skills required for operations,
maintenance and repairs
• Earth compaction equipment

• Smooth-wheel rollers

• Sheep-foot rollers
• Ordinary sheep-foot roller
• Convertible roller
• Turn foot roller

• Pneumatic-tyred rollers
• Smooth-wheel roller

• Plain steel rollers

• Self-propelled type
• Weighing from 5 to 15 tonnes
• Used for ordinary rolling work where deep compaction is not required
• The rear wheels being usually larger in diameter and the front being winder
• Weight of rollers may be increased by filling water or sand ballast in hollow cylinder
• Effective in compacting granular soils, such as sand, gravel and crushed stone
• Sheep-foot rollers

• For compacting earthwork where compaction deep into the layer of earth is
required
• Gives best result when the soil is clay or predominantly cohesive and impervious
• May weigh up to 15 tonnes or more
• Travel at a speed of 25 km/h
• As the roller moves, the feet penetrate the soil to produce a kneading action
and a pressure to mix and compact the soil from bottom to top layer
• With repeated passages of the roller, the penetration of feet decreases
• Pneumatic tyred rollers

• Consists of a base or platform mounted between two axles

• Most suitable for compacting fine-grained soil and well graded sands
• Ballasting is done using either water, sand or pig-iron in order to increase the
self weight
• Major advantage of pneumatic tyred roller is the ability to control the
ground contact pressure by:

• Altering the weight of the machines

• Increasing the number of wheels

• Increasing the tyre width

• Changing the contact area of the tyre by altering the contact pressure
• Hauling equipment

• Equipment used for transportation of material are known as hauling equipment or

simply haulers

• May operate on roadways or railways

• It involve:
• Transportation of building materials
• Carriage and disposal of excavated earth
• Haulage of heavy construction equipment

• Classification based on the method of dumping:

• Dump trucks
• Side or rear dump trucks
• Bottom dump trucks
• Dumpers
• Dump trucks
• Used for earth moving purposes
• The selection of the type of dump trucks for a specific job depend on the soil
condition

• Side or rear dump trucks

• Heavy duty trucks with strong built body which is hinged on the truck chassis at the rear end and
one side respectively
• Suitable for use in hauling wet clay, sand, gravel, quarry rocks etc.
• Bottom dump trucks

• Similar to semi-trailers in which their front is supported on the rear of the

hauling tractor and their rear is resting on their own wheels
• The body of the truck remains in the same position and the discharge of the
material takes place through its bottom after opening of two longitudinal gates
• The gates are hinged to the side of the body
• These trucks are suitable for use in hauling free flowing material, such as sand,
gravel, dry earth, hard clay etc.
• Dumpers

• High speed pneumatic wheeled trucks

• Short chasis
• Strong bodies
• Loading, hauling and dumping is done very fast as compared to other
equipment
• Suitable for short hauls on rough roads
• 4 selection criteria for earthwork equipment

• Quantities of material to be moved

• The available time to complete the work

• The prevailing soil types, the swell and compaction factors etc

• The job conditions including factors such as availability of loading and dumping
area, accessibility of the site, traffic flows and weather conditions at site
• In order to plan for the number of earthwork equipment needed, the
planner first need to determine:

• The suitable class of equipment for earthwork. For example, if the soil to be
excavated is loose and marshy, and bulk excavation is involved in the project,
one may opt for a dragline

• The appropriate model of equipment based on different characteristics, such as

payload of bucket and speed required. For example, draglines come in different
capacities ranging from 0.38 cum to 3.06 cum; scrapers in capacities ranging
from 8 cum to 50 cum and so on.

• The number of equipment needed for the project to carry put the given quantity

• The number of associated equipment required to support the main equipment

Concreting equipment
• 7 types of concreting equipment

• Concrete batching and mixing plant

• Concrete mixers
• Concrete transit mixers
• Concrete buckets
• Concrete conveyor
• Concrete pumps
• Concrete vibrator
• Concrete batching and mixing plant

• Mainly used for weighing and mixing large quantity of concrete constituents.
• Capacity ranging from 20 cum/hr to 250 cum/hr
• Concrete mixers

• Mainly used for mixing small quantities of concrete constituents

• Capacity ranging from 200 liter/batch (small mixers) to 750 liter/batch (large
mixers)
• Concrete transit mixer

• Mainly used for transporting concrete from the batching point

• Capacity ranging from 3 cum to 9 cum
• Concrete bucket

• A type of pail attached through structural tower

• Used to send the concrete materials from the mixer to the area being concreted
• Concrete conveyor

• Common conveyor system usually mobilized to be used at construction sites

• Based on one conveyor belt to transfer the concrete from the mixers to the area
being concreted.
• Can be made up of a few conveyor system
• Concrete pumps

• Used for horizontal and vertical transportation of large volumes of concrete in short
duration
• Capacity ranging from 30 cum/hr (ordinary construction) to 120 cum/hr (specialized
construction)
• Concrete vibrator

• Consisted of a motor and pipe that are used to make vibration in the concrete
• General selection criteria for concreting equipment

• Involved a significant number of issues that have to be analyzed

• The following factors are noteworthy:

• Site characteristics such as boundary conditions, noise limitations and other restrictions
• Equipment availability – local availability of equipment, whether the contractor owns that
equipment
• Continuity of operation
• Effect of permanent work
• Weather conditions
• Temporary works
• Time restrictions
• Concrete specifications
• Concrete-placement equipment selection depends on factors such as
the:

• Capacity of the vehicle

• The output of the vehicle
• The site characteristics
• The weather conditions
• The rental costs and the temporary haul roads
• Hoisting Equipment

• The lifting of a weight from one location and moving it to another location
which is at a reasonable distance

• Includes jacks, winches, chain hoists and cranes

• Can be further classified into two types

• Hoists – e.g. boom hoists, chain hoists and electric hoists

• Cranes – e.g. Derrick cranes, mobile cranes, tower cranes

• Boom hoists

• Used to lift weights on the hooks that are attached to the special metal ropes
designed to bear maximum loads
• Mostly used as industrial machine where I loads the weight on containers
• Chain hoists

• Common example of hoist system and can be seen at most of the construction
site
• Consists of chain rope and pulley that is used to move the load
• Electric Hoists

• Modernized form of chain and boom hoist mostly used in the industries for fast
working
• More popular for material handling because it saves labor costs by handling
maximum loads at a time with no damage threats
• Tractor hoists

• Consists of a boom that is attached with base of tractor and a hook with rope is
installed on this boom
• Can be operated by driver
• Cranes

• Considered to be one of the most important equipment used in construction

due to their key role in performing lifting tasks all over the construction site

• Usually fall into three categories

• Derrick cranes

• Mobile cranes

• Tower cranes
• 5 factors affecting selection of cranes
• Building design
• Building height
• Project duration
• Capability
• Power supply
• Load lifting frequency
• Operators visibility
• Safety
• Initial planning and engineering
• Economy
• Cost of moving in, setup and moving out
• Cost for rent
• Productivity
• Site conditions
• Soil stability and ground conditions
• Access road requirement and site accessibility
• Operating clearance
• Mobile cranes

• Adequate for all types of structures (up to 107 m)

• Used for shorter project duration (less than 4 months)
• Not considered to be very safe due to lack of safety devices and limited switches
to prevent overloading
• Can operate in muddy terrain but requires good ground condition
• Needs adequate operating clearance
• Tower cranes

• Preferable for high-rise (over 107 m)

• Used for longer project duration
• Considered to be very safe due to the presence of limit switches
• Can operate where ground conditions are poor
• Does not need adequate operating clearance
• Can be self climbing type of tower crane
• Derrick cranes

• Preferable for high rise and apartment buildings

• Can be used for both long term and short term projects
• Cheaper than mobile and tower cranes
• Not considered to be very safe
• Used when clearance is inadequate for the other units and sufficient space is
unavailable for the erection of a tower foundation
• Conveying equipment

• Transporting material from one place to another over a stationary structure

• Carries material in continuous stream with its distinct feature such as endless
chain or belt

• Can be horizontal, vertical or inclined

• When the equipment does horizontal conveying, it is known as conveyor and

when it does vertical, it is known as elevator

• In construction industry, conveyors are mainly used for concreting purpose

• Advantage of using conveyors:

• Increases the output

• Facilitates continuity in operation

• Results in time saving

• No waiting periods
• Some of the popular conveyors

• Belt conveyor

• Screw conveyor

• Bucket conveyor

• Aerial transport
• Belt conveyor

• Used when large quantities of materials have to be conveyed over long distances at fast
speed
• Consists of a belt running over a pair of end drums or pulleys and supported at regular
intervals by a series of rollers called idlers
• These idlers are supported on a conveyor frame
• The middle sag provided in the belt prevent the spilling of material
• Generally, rubber is most commonly used as conveyor belt
• Advantages of using belt conveyor

• Can handle light as well as heavy materials, dry or wet, fine or coarse etc

• Can convey several thousand tonnes of material per hour for big distances

• Can carry material horizontally or vertically

• Lighter in weight than other conveyors

• Gives controlled discharge of material and discharge can be controlled by the

speed of the belt
• Screw conveyor

• Widely used for handling granular or pulverized material

• The quantity of material conveyed and the price is less compared to belt
conveyor
• Consists of a helix mounted on a bearing at the ends and at intermediate points
and is driven by a motor from one end
• The material enters through one end and is carried to the other end by screwing
action of helix
• Bucket conveyor

• Buckets in the shape of `V` which are open at the top

• May be feeder loaded or may drag in a vertical movement or along an incline
• Mostly used in coal handling where bucket elevators carry the material vertically
• Aerial transport

• Aerial transportation through cableways, rope-ways and tram ways

• Often used for transportation of material in hilly regions
• Reducing the distance of transportation as well as cost of transportation
• The load being passed over intermediate towers or stations for long distances
• Pile driving equipment

• The process of pile driving involves lifting the piles into position, holding it to
refusal or to a specified depth

• Driving is accomplished through hammering the pile top with a hammer

• Equipment are so designed for effective driving at an economical cost

• Major pile driving equipment are

• Pile driving hammers
• Pile driver
• Accessory tools