Heavy Duty and Construction Equipment

(Meng-5383)
 INTRODUCTION
• Construction equipment refers to tools, machines and
vehicles which are specially designed for execution of
construction works.
• The equipment to be used can be either a standard type
equipment which can be used for a number of situations or
can be a special type which meets the requirements of the
particular project.
ADVANTAGES
• Increase the rate of output through work progress with the best effective and
efficient methods.
• Reduce the overall construction costs especially for large contracts.
• Carry out activities which cannot be done manually or to do them more
economically and much faster.
• Eliminate the heavy manual work by human thus reducing fatigue and eliminates
various other hazards and health issues.
• Maintain the planned rate of production where there is a shortage of skilled or
unskilled labor.
• Maintain the high quality standards often required by present-day design and
specifications (technical standards).
DISADVANTAGES
• If the machine breaks down, it can cause delay of construction work.
• Electric tools can cause short circuit, which may result in fire.
• Only skilled labors can operate the equipment.
• Special assistance is required to operate them as it may harm people
on the site.
• Contractors in small projects create issue over buying or renting of
equipment and may charge high charges.
Classification
Construction equipment can be broadly classified as under:
1.Earthwork equipment:
• Earth cutting and moving equipment: Bulldozers, Scrapers, Front-end
loaders, Motor graders.
• Excavation and lifting equipment: Backhoes, Power shovels, Draglines,
Clamshells.
• Loading equipment: Loaders, shovels, Excavators.
• Transportation Equipment: Tippers, Dump trucks, Scrapers, Conveyors.
• Compacting Equipment: Tamping foot rollers, smooth wheel rollers,
Pneumatic rollers, Vibratory rollers, plate compactors.
2.Concreting Plant and equipment:

• Production Equipment : Batching plants, concrete mixers.

• Transportation equipment : Truck mixers, Concrete dumpers.
• Placing equipment : Concrete pumps, Conveyors, Hoists, Grouting
equipment.
• Concrete Vibrating equipment: Needle vibrators, Plate compactors.
3.Material Hoisting equipment:

• Hoists: Fixed, Mobile, Fork lifts.

• Mobile cranes: Crawler mounted, self propelled rubber tyred, truck
mounted.
• Tower cranes: Stationary, Travelling type.
4.Special Purpose heavy construction plant and equipment:

• Aggregate production equipment: Crushing plants, Rock blasting equipment,

Screening plants.
• Concrete paving equipment: Concrete paver finishers.
• Pile driving equipment: Pile driving hammers.
• Asphalt mix production and Placement equipment: Asphalt plants, Asphalt
pavers.
• Tunneling equipment: Drill Jumbos, Muck hauling equipment, Rock bolters,
Tunnel boring machines.
5. Support & Utility services Equipment:

• Pumping and Dewatering equipment.

• Pipe laying equipment.
• Generators.
• Welding equipment.
The Role of Construction engineer in construction industry:
• The role of engineer on the job is required to match the right machine
or combination of machines to the job at hand.
• For this purpose, he is required to identify the construction
equipment for executing project tasks, assessing equipment
performance capability, forecasting date wise requirement of
numbers and types of equipment.
• The proper emphasis is required to be given by the engineer on
reduction of down time, achieving optimum utilization, increase in
production at minimum cost through right selection.
• He is also expected to coordinate with various wings of the project in
discharging his job of equipment planning, balancing, selection of
equipment, its deployment and preventive maintenance
 Bulldozer
• Bulldozer, also called Dozer, powerful machine for pushing earth or rocks, used
in road building, farming, construction, and wrecking; it consists of a heavy,
broad steel blade or plate mounted on the front of a tractor. Sometimes it uses a
four-wheel-drive tractor, but usually a track or crawler type, mounted on
continuous metal treads, is employed. The blade may be lifted and forced down
by hydraulic rams. For digging, the blade is held below surface level; for
transporting, it is held at the surface level; and for spreading, it is held above the
surface level, as the tractor moves forward.
• Bulldozers are used for shallow digging and ditching; short-range
transportation of material; spreading soil dumped from trucks; rough
grading; removing trees, stumps, and boulders; and cleaning and leveling
around loading equipment. A bulldozer alone can do many types of
excavation, and it is useful in combination with other machinery in most
excavation work.
Grader
Grader, is a precision finishing vehicle for final shaping of
surfaces on which pavement will be placed.

Between its front and rear wheels a grader carries a broad

mechanically or hydraulically controlled blade that can be
extended from either side.

Either end of the blade can be raised or lowered. Graders may

be used for shallow ditching, but most models are used to
assist other earth-moving equipment and to smooth roads,
fills, and cuts.
 Tractor loader
Tractor loader, carrying a front-mounted bucket that can be raised,
lowered, and tilted forward and backward hydraulically.

It is forced into the digging by forward motion of the tractor and

retracted and swung by backing and steering the tractor.

Tractor loaders are used primarily for loading trucks, digging

basements, and doing bulldozer work. They also transport material over
moderate distances.
Excavating machine (Excavator)
• Excavating machine, any machine, usually self-powered, that is used in digging
or earth-moving operations of some kind; the power shovel, bulldozer, and 
grader are examples.
• Power shovel, digging and loading machine consisting of a revolving deck with
a power plant, driving and controlling mechanisms, sometimes a
counterweight, and a front attachment, such as a boom or crane, supporting a
handle with a digger at the end. The whole mechanism is mounted on a base
platform with tracks or wheels. Power shovels are used principally for
excavation and removal of debris.
Backhoe
It's used to dig up hard, compact material, usually earth, or to lift
heavy loads, such as a sewer box. It can lift this material and drop it
in a pile to the side of the hole. Basically, the backhoe is a big,
extremely powerful version of your arm or finger.
1. Cab
2. Tractor
3. Front Loader
4. Backhoe
5. The Boom
6. Dipper arm
7. Bucket
 Grouting
•  In civil engineering grouting refers to the
injection of pumpable materials into a soil or
rock formation to change its physical
characteristics. Grout may also be used in the
formation of pile foundations, ground anchors,
under-reaming, underpinning, in
road construction, dam construction, and other
applications.
• Grout is usually a mixture of cement, sand, and
water or chemicals that are used to fill gaps.
They are used in repairing concrete cracks, filling
seams and gaps in tiles, gaps for sealing and 
waterproofing, and for soil stabilization.
 Draglines
• Draglines or continuous excavators, which are used to strip the overburden
from the lower seams, are large pieces of equipment and require large, level
areas from which to work. Draglines and continuous excavators have dig
depth limitations.
• draglines are the most productive and versatile machines in the mining
industry. Utilized in a similar fashion as cranes, draglines are used primarily
for open-pit operations to dismantle and transport materials. In strip mining
operations, draglines are used to remove overburden from mines.
 Scraper
Scraper, in engineering, is machine for moving earth over
short distances (up to about two miles) over relatively smooth
areas. Either self-propelled or towed, it consists of a wagon with
a gate having a bladed bottom. The blade scrapes up earth as
the wagon pushes forward and forces the excavated material
into the wagon. When the wagon is filled, the gate is closed, and
the material is carried to the place of disposal. The scraper is
the dominant tool in highway construction.
 Trenching machine
• Trenching machine, also called Ditcher, or Digging Wheel, excavation machine
 employing a wheel fitted with rim buckets, or with a boom or ladder on which
an endless chain of buckets or scrapers revolves. The machine is self-propelled
on rubber tires or crawlers (continuous metal treads driven by wheels). As the
machine moves forward, it rotates the ladder or wheel so that the buckets dig
at their forward edge. They dump onto a conveyor belt or a chute that piles the
cuttings on either side. Trenching machines can be equipped to cut hard
ground and even soft rock, but they encounter difficulty with boulders.
Identification Code
Areas
1.On front facing panel
in operator’s area.
2.In operator’s area, on
instrument panel,
control console, or seat
pedestal.
 Rollers
• Rollers are the construction equipment used for the compaction of soil,
gravel, sand, crushed stone layers, etc.  Roller working principle is based on
vibration, impact loading, kneading and by applying direct pressure on the
respective layer. The four most commonly used rollers are;
1. Vibratory Roller
2. Tamping roller/ sheep foot roller
3. Smooth wheel rollers
4. Pneumatic tired roller
 1. VIBRATORY ROLLER
• Vibratory type rollers have two smooth wheels/ drums plus the vibrators. One
is fixed at the front and the other one is on the rear side of vibratory roller. Both
wheels/drums are of the same diameter, length and also of same weight. 
• Vibratory roller covers the full area under wheel. To make vibratory roller more
efficient, vibrators are also fixed with smooth wheel rollers. Vibration of
vibrators arrange the particles by first disturbing even the arranged ones. On the
other hand weight of wheels exerts direct pressure on the layer. Vibrators are
turned off during the reversed motion of roller. In that time only static
weight directly acts on the soil layer.
• Vibration is to reduce the air voids and to cause densification of granular soils.
During vibration of soil layer, rearrangement of particles occurs due to
deformation of the granular soil because of oscillation of the roller in a cycle.
VIBRATORY ROLLER
2. SHEEP FOOT ROLLER/ TAMPING ROLLER
• Sheep foot roller also named tamping or pad foot roller. Front steel drum of
consists of many rectangular shaped boots of equal sizes fixed in
a hexagonal pattern. Coverage area of sheep foot roller is less i.e., about 8-
12% because of the boots on drums. Sheep foot roller done compaction
by static weight and kneading of respective layer. This makes
tamping roller better suited for clay soils. Contact pressure of sheep foot
roller varies from 1200- 7000Kpa.
• Tamping foot roller of four wheels and on each wheel kneading boots/feet
are fixed. Such tamping roller has more coverage area i.e., about 40- 50%.
Contact pressure of tamping roller varies from 1400 – 8500KPa. It is best
dedicated for fine grained soils.
SHEEP FOOT ROLLER/ TAMPING ROLLER, FOUR
WHEEL TYPE
 3. SMOOTH WHEEL ROLLER

• Smooth wheel roller and vibratory rollers are the same. Both have the same
characteristics. Only the difference in both is vibratory equipment.
• Smooth wheel roller has no vibrator attached with the drum. This makes
smooth wheel roller best suited for rolling of weaker aggregates, proof rolling
of subgrades and in compacting asphalt pavements.
• Compaction of clay or sand is not a good choice to done with smooth wheel
roller. This is so, because there are many empty voids in clay soil and sand,
which cannot be minimized without vibrators.
• There are generally two types of smooth wheeled rollers: 
single and double drum roller. They are also known as static rollers.
• Double Drum or Tandem
• The tandem, or double drum roller, has one steel drum in the front and one
in the back. As the two drums move, this moves the roller. The efficiency of
the tandem roller comes from the two drums — entire sections of a
highway can be flattened and paved quickly and efficiently.
• These rollers are great for flat or gradual surfaces like asphalt, but because
they have very little traction, they’re not recommended for anything
specialized.
• Single Drum or Three-wheeled
• Three-wheeled or single drum rollers are some of the most common pieces
of heavy-duty machinery. When people think of road rollers, they typically
picture a three-wheeled roller. They typically have a steel drum in the front
and two special wheels in the back that can prevent most flat tires from
happening.
• Single drum rollers can work in tighter spaces and more specialized projects
due to their smaller size. They’re great for creating foundations for buildings
and paving highways or sidewalks, but because of the extra weight in the
front, they won’t roll over some surfaces.
• One thing to note is that single-drum can also refer to other rollers, such as
the padfoot or smooth roller. Understanding that aspect can help
differentiate exactly what you need.
4. PNEUMATIC TIRED ROLLER

• Pneumatic tired roller has a number of rubber tires at the front and
at the rear end.  Empty spaces left in between the two tires that make
80% coverage area under the wheels. Pneumatic roller has the ability
to exert contact pressure ranges from 500 – 700Kpa. Pneumatic tired
roller can be used for highways, construction of dams and for both
fine grained and non-cohesive soils. It is also used for smoothening of
finishing bitumen layer on highways, roads, streets etc.
Pneumatic rollers, sometimes called pneumatic tyred
rollers, are a type of large, ride-on roller with several
rows of rubber tires on the front or rear end. The rubber
tires provide an 80% coverage area and uniform
pressure throughout the width of the tires.
They are typically used for pavements and can help
smooth out and polish a project, but are also great for
cold-laid bituminous or cold mixed pavements and layers
of loose soil.
 Other Types of Compactor Equipment

• Rollers aren’t the only construction tools used for compaction work. Other
types of compactor equipment include the rammer and the vibratory plate.
• Rammers are handheld and are best used for small jobs in tight areas. Due
to their comparatively lightweight, they can be hand or machine operated,
which allows deep vibratory compaction.
• Vibratory plate compactors are used to increase the density of a variety of
soils and fill any voids. Because they are walk-behind compactors and are
smaller in size, these compactors are best used for tight spaces where large
equipment can’t reach.
Rammers
Vibratory plate compactors
 Crushers
• A construction crusher signifies a piece of equipment that is
intended to reduce the size of large rocks or gravel, for
construction purposes. Crushers can also be utilized to
transform the shape of waste matter for simplicity in
disposal, or recycling. Crushers are also employed for
reducing the raw materials mix size for their differentiation,
and segregation.
• Crushing involves transmission of a force that is significantly
increased, by using other materials with a greater bonding
strength. These added materials being strong resist deformation,
and the required substances are crushed easily. The crushing
mechanism holds the material to be crushed between solid
surfaces. A force is applied that brings the surfaces close to each
other. Energy is generated within the materials to be crushed, and
cause the separation of the molecules. The ancient crushers were
stones held by hands. The stone weight enhanced the human
energy being used.
• The raw materials of different sizes are brought to the hopper
by trucks, or other means of transportation. A feeder
mechanism regulates the speed of materials entrance at the
crusher. A screening machine prevents the smaller parts from
reaching the crusher. Main crushing decreases the size of
larger pieces for easy management by the crusher. Some
crushers can manage rocks, asphalt, and concrete into desired
shape and dimensions by breaking, or compressing the
materials.
• Crushers are normally classified by the size limit of the
materials that can be processed by the crusher. Crushers
reduce the particle size for further processing by grinders.
 Asphalt plants 
• Asphalt plant is equipment that is designed to produce hot mix asphalt (HMA).
It uses aggregates, sand, bitumen and filler material in specific proportions to
produce HMA also known as asphalt concrete or black top. The main feature of
an asphalt mixing plant is that it will heat aggregates and then mix them with
bitumen and other adhesive substances to prepare hot mix asphalt which is a
paving material. Aggregate here can be a single sized material or it can be
combination of various materials of different sizes with a combination of fine
and coarse particles with or without addition of a filler unit.
 Types of hot mix plants

• There are two basic types of hot mix plants available in the

market today, batch mix plants and drum mix plants.

• Both fulfill the basic purpose of producing HMA. The key

difference will be in the operation of each type of plant.
Depending on the choice of buyer the asphalt mixers can be
stationary type or portable type.
 BATCH MIX PLANT:

• The asphalt concrete batch mix plant consists of a number of components.

• The first component is the cold aggregate feeder bins where the aggregates
are stored/fed in separate components as per their sizes. There are auxiliary
feeder belts below each bin and gathering conveyor that runs below all the
bins. This conveyor will transfer all the aggregates to another inclined
conveyor belt that will take all the materials into the drying drum. Before the
materials are transferred to the inclined conveyor belt, they aggregates have
to pass through vibrating screen so that oversize materials are removed.
• The next component is the drying drum. It is fitted with a burner unit for
moisture removal and heating of aggregates are carried out to achieve
proper mixing temperature. These aggregates are them carried to the top of
the tower unit by an elevator.
• The tower unit consists of 3 main units: vibrating screen on top then
we have the hot bins and mixing unit is below the hot bins.
• As the aggregates are carried to the top of the tower unit, they are
made to pass through the multi deck vibrating screen (usually four
screens are there) so that aggregates are separated as per their sizes.
After separation they are temporarily stored in different
compartments called as hot bins. This section of hot bins is just below
the screening unit. Hot bins will store the aggregates in individual bins
and then release the same into the mixing unit below as per the
weight set in the control panel. At the time when aggregates are
weighed and released into the mixing unit, bitumen and optional
mineral filler is also weighed and released into the mixing unit. After
proper mixing, the mixture is released into waiting trucks of into the
storage silo.
• For environmental protection, air pollution control
devices are equipped. These devices in most of the
cases are bag filter units. The fines are made to pass
through the bags present in the bag filter and the dust
is trapped by the bags. This dust collected can also be
reintroduced into the aggregate elevator.
 Drum Mix Asphalt Plant
• Asphalt drum mix plant is one type of asphalt plant that
produces hot mix asphalt in a continuous process.
Continuous asphalt mixing plant is low on running cost,
maintenance and high on production. With strong agitation
performance and quick installation, it is suitable for projects
such as highways that require mobile work.
• Drum mix asphalt plant is composed of portable drum mix
unit (with integral aggregate system, drum mix unit, knock-
out box and wet scrubber), drag conveyor with hopper,
bitumen tank and control house.
 Asphalt Pavers
• The asphalt paver is a self-propelled formless laydown machine with a
floating screed.
• HMA is loaded in the front, carried to the rear by a set of flight feeders
(conveyor belts), spread out by a set of augers, then leveled and compacted
by a screed. This set of functions can be divided into two main systems:
1. Tractor: The tractor contains the material feed system, which accepts the
HMA at the front of the paver, moves it to the rear and spreads it out to the
desired width in preparation for screed leveling and compaction.
2. Screed: The most critical feature of the paver is the self-leveling screed unit,
which determines the profile of the HMA being placed. The screed takes the
head of HMA from the material delivery system, strikes it off at the correct
thickness and provides initial mat compaction.
• The screed helps control the amount of material extruded onto the base
course, flattening the asphalt on the ground. It also assists in offering a level
surface for compaction regardless of the condition of the base course.
However, the base course needs to be reasonably level in order to prevent
future cracking.
 What is a Concrete Mixer?
• A concrete mixer mixes cement, aggregates and water and produce concrete
mechanically. There are various types of concrete mixers available which makes
concrete production quick and economical.
• Types of Concrete Mixers
• There are two broad types of concrete mixers:
1. Batch mixers
Drum Types Mixer
• Tilting drum mixers
• Non-tilting drum mixer
• Reversing drum mixer
Pan Type Mixer
2. Continuous mixers
 1. Batch Concrete Mixers
• Batch mixers are widely used machines for concrete mixing. Concrete mix
obtained by this mixer is collected batch by batch and time by time. So, it is
called as batch mixer.
• After pouring all the materials into pan or drum, it mixes all of those for
some time and finally discharges. This process is repeated until required
amount of concrete mix is obtained.
• In general Batch mixers are two types.
1. Drum type mixers
2. Pan type mixers
Drum Type Mixers
• In Drum type mixers concrete ingredients are mixed
in a drum which is actually in double conical frustum
shape.
• Drum types mixers are classified into three types:
1. Tilting drum mixers
2. Non-tilting drum mixers
3. Reversing drum mixers
Tilting Drum Mixers
• Tilting drum mixer means the drum will discharge concrete by tilting
downwards. It is rapid discharge process and used for larger projects. Rapid
means it delivers concrete by gravity that is tilting the drum downwards
because of this the concrete mix obtained will be not subjected to
segregation.
• Low workable concretes which contains large sized aggregates of size greater
than 7.5cm are also mixed efficiently with this tilting type mixers.
But the mixing efficiency depends on some of the factors as follows:
• Shape of the drum
• Angle of the drum
• Size of blades
• Angle of blades
• The only disadvantage of this
mixer is sticking of concrete to
bottom of drum. To overcome
this a method called buttering
of mixer is applied in which
some amount of cement
mortar is mixed in the mixer
before mixing first batch of
concrete.
Non-Tilting Drum Mixers
• Non- tilting drum mixers are not allowed to tilt and the drum
rotates about its horizontal axis. For the discharge of concrete
a chute is arranged in inclined position which will receives the
concrete mix from drum and discharges out.
• In this case, the drum is opened at two ends and consists
blades inside, when materials are poured through one end
and mix is collected through another end.
• Rapid discharge of concrete is not possible in this case. Due to
this delay, the concrete may be vulnerable to segregation.
• The larger size aggregate is not discharged easily with the mix. So,
size of aggregate not more than 7.5cm is preferable for this type of
mixers. So, this type of mixers are generally used for small projects.
 Reversing Drum Mixers

• Reversing drum mixers are similar to non-tilting type mixers

but in this case reversal of rotation takes place for different
action.
• The drum has two openings, one end is for pouring materials
and other end is for discharge of mix. The drum rotates about
its horizontal axis. The rotation of drum takes place in one
direction for mixing and in opposite direction for discharging.
• Two different set of blades are arranged for mixing and
discharging. They are suitable for dry concrete mixes.
 Pan Type Concrete Mixers
• Pan type mixers consists a circular pan in which concrete is mixed. The mixing
is done by blades which are arranged in star shape inside the pan.
• There are two types of pan mixers are available. In one case, the circular pan
is constant and only star blades rotate about vertical axis of pan. In the other
case, circular pan rotates while the blades are at static position.
• But in both cases, the mixing is efficient and concrete mixture is collected
through central hole provided in the pan. The rotating star blades contains
special blades called scrapper blades which will make concrete not to stick to
the pan.
• The blades can also be adjusted in height so, there is no room for concrete to
store in the pan. We can say among the all types of batch mixers pan type
mixer are more efficient.
 Continuous Concrete Mixers
• Continuous mixer, the name itself telling its duty that the loading, mixing
and discharging of mix is continuously done until the work is complete or
work break occurs. The loading of materials is done continuously by screw
feeders.

• Continuous mixtures are used for very large projects such as dams,
bridges, construction of high rise buildings, etc.