WOLLO UNIVERSITY

KOMBOLCHA INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

 CENG 5102 –
CONSTRUCTION EQUPMENT

INTRODUCTION
 Introduction
The nature of production tasks that can be performed with
equipment include excavating, hauling, transporting,
compacting, grading, hoisting, concreting, pre-casting,
plastering, finishing, trenching, pipe-laying, cable-laying,
etc. In addition, the support equipment at the project site
consists of generators, pumping sets, treatment plants and
other utility services equipment
Equipment produce output at an accelerated speed and
enable the completion of tasks in a limited time. They
replace manpower, which is becoming scarce, costly and
more demanding day by day. Equipment improve
productivity, quality and safety.
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 Introduction
Equipment planning scope covers—identifying the
construction equipment for executing the project tasks,
assessing the equipment performance capability,
forecasting the date-wise requirement of numbers and
types of equipment and participating in the selection of
the equipment to be acquired.

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 Construction Equipments and Plants
Equipment types used in a construction project is
largely dependent on their
Direct input to unit prices or not
Type of work or trades
 Scope of work
 Mobility
 System of control and
 Availability

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 Generally equipment types can be classified into
based on their direct input to unit prices into two
major categories
Productive equipments
 are those units that alone or in combination lead to an
end product which can be recognized as a unit for
payment
Support equipments
 equipments which are required for operations related to
the placement of construction such as movement of
personnel and materials, and activities that influence the
placement of environment
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 Classifications of equipments and plants

Earth work equipments,

Hauling and Hoisting equipments and
 pumping equipment,
construction plants namely,
aggregate production plants,
Asphalt mixing plant and
Concrete Batching plants

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 Earth Work Equipments
 Earth Moving Equipments:
Definition: ‐Earth work is a process of moving soil or rock from
one location to the other and processing it, so that it meets
construction requirements of location, elevation, density, moisture
content, etc.
 General Soil Characteristics
As earth moving equipments are mostly related to woks related to
soil, important aspects of soil shall be reviewed
Trafficability ‐ property that shows the ability of soil to support
repeated traffic loading
 Loadability ‐ property that tells the ease or difficulty of
excavating and loading
 Soil Volume Change ‐ property that is related with volumes of
soil samples on different
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 Soil Volume Change Characteristics
There are three principal conditions or states in which
earth moving material may exist: bank, loose, and
compacted. The meanings of these terms are as follows:
Bank State ‐ This is the state when the material is in its
natural state i.e. before disturbance. Often referred to as
‘’in – place’’ or “in situ.’’
 Unit‐ Bank cubic meter [Bm3]
 Loose State ‐ This is the state after the material is
excavated or disturbed.
 Unit‐ Loose cubic meter [Lm3]
 Compacted State ‐ ‐This is the state after the material is
compacted.
 Unit‐ Compact cubic meter [Cm3]

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 Relationships between the three states

Swell: ‐ an increase in volume of soil due to

excavation
Swell (%) = Loose Volume – Bank Volume x 100

Bank Volume
Shrinkage: ‐ this is a decrease in volume of soil due
to compaction
Shrinkage (%) = Bank Volume – Compacted Volume
x100
Bank Volume

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 Load and Shrinkage Factors:
 it is important to convert all material volumes’ to common
unit of measure. Although the bank cubic meter is most
commonly used for this purpose, any of the three volume
units may be used.
 Load factor: ‐ is the ratio of bank volume to loose volume.
fL (load factor) =VB/VL
fL = 1__
1 + swell
 Shrinkage factor: ‐ is the ratio of compacted volume to
bank volume.
fs (shrinkage factor) = VC/VB
fs = [ 1‐ shrinkage ]

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 The common activities in earthwork are Excavating,
hauling, loading, placing (damp &spread), grading,
compacting and finally finishing. Equipments used for
this purposes are explained as follows
Excavating and Loading
Hauling Equipments
Hoisting Equipments
 Compaction and Stabilization Equipments
 Pile – Driving Equipments
 Pumping Equipments ‐ Water

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 Excavating and Loading

 These are construction equipments used to

excavate and load earth materials for various
purposes. The major types of excavator
equipments used in earth moving operations
include hydraulic excavators and the member of
the cable – operated crane shovel family (Shovels
draglines, hoes, and clamshells). Dozers, loaders and
scrapers serve as excavators. Most of the excavators
and loaders are used as loading equipments in earth
moving operations.

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 Crane shovel Family
is a group of excavators having the following common
features
Mounting they are mounted on crawlers, wheels or trucks. The
crawler mounting provides excellent on – site mobility, and its low
ground pressure enables it to operate in areas of low trafficability
 Super structure or Control Room
 Front end attachment
The equipments under this family include:
 A. Face Shovel
 B. Drag Line
 C. Backhoe
 D. Clamshell

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 Face Shovel
Face shovel is
equipment used mainly
in quarries, pits and on
construction sites to
excavate and load
blasted rock. These
equipments are more
effective for excavations
above the wheel or
grade level

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 Optimum depth of cut: The optimum depth of cut is
that depth which produces the greatest output and at
which the dipper comes up with full load without
undue crowding. The depth varies with the class of soil
and the size of the dipper.
The output of a shovel is affected by numerous factors,
including the following: Class of material, depth of
cut, angle of swing, job conditions, management
conditions, size of hauling units, skill of operator and
physical condition of the shovel.

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 Drag Line
Draglines are used to
excavate earth and load it
into hauling units, such as
trucks or tractors pulled
wagons, or deposit it into
levees, dams and spoil
banks near the pits from
which it was excavated.
These equipments are
more efficient for
excavation below the
grade level
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 Back Hoe
Backhoes are used
primarily to excavate below
the natural surface of the
ground on which the
machine rests. They are
adapted to excavating
trenches, pits for basements,
and general grading work,
which requires precise
control of depths.

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 Clamshell
Clamshells are used
primarily for handling
loose materials such as
sand, gravel, crushed
stone, coal, etc. and for
removing materials from
inside cofferdams, pier
foundations, sewer
manholes, sheet‐lined
trenches, etc.

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 Hydraulic Excavators
Hydraulic excavators have largely replaced the cable
operated crane shove family; functionally similar
hydraulic machines are available including front
shovel and backhoe. The advantage of hydraulic
excavators over cable – operated machines are faster
cycle time, higher bucket penetrating force, more
precise digging, and easier operator control.

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 Loaders
 A tractor equipped with a
front – end bucket is called
a loader, front end loader or
bucket loader. These are
equipments used primarily
to load excavated materials
to a hauling unit, excavate
soft to medium materials,
loading hoppers,
stockpiling materials,
backfilling ditches, and
moving concrete and other
construction materials.
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 Dozers
 A tractor equipped with a front –
mounted earthmoving blade is
known as a dozer or bulldozer. A
dozer moves earth by lowering
the blade and cutting until a full
blade load of materials is
obtained. It then pushes the
material across the ground
surface to the required location.
The material is unloaded by
pushing it over a cliff or into a
hopper or raising the blade to
form a spoil pile. Both rubber
tire (and wheel) and crawler (or
track) dozers are available.

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 Grader
Grading is the process of
bringing earth work to
the desired shape and
elevation (grade). Finish
grading involves
smoothing slopes,
shaping ditches, and
bringing the earth work
to the required elevation.
Such operation are
usually carried out by a
Grader or Motor Grader
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 Choice of Equipment
In order to increase job‐site productivity, it is beneficial to
select equipment with proper characteristics and a size
most suitable for the work conditions at a construction site
factors that could affect the selection of excavators include:
1. Size of the job: Larger volumes of excavation will require
larger excavators, or smaller excavators in greater number
2. Activity time constraints: Shortage of time for
excavation may force contractors to increase the size or numbers
of equipment for activities related to excavation.
3. Availability of equipment: Productivity of excavation
activities will diminish if the equipment used to perform them is
available but not the most adequate.

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 Choice of Equipment……….
4. Cost of transportation of equipment: This cost depends on
the size of the job, the distance of transportation, and the means
of transportation.
5. Type of excavation: Principal types of excavation in building
projects are cut and/or fill, excavation massive, and excavation
for the elements of foundation. The most adequate equipment
to perform one of these activities is not the most adequate to
perform the others.
6. Soil characteristics: The type and condition of the soil is
important when choosing the most adequate equipment since
each piece of equipment has different outputs for different soils.
Moreover, one excavation pit could have different soils at
different stratums
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 Choice of Equipment……..
7. Geometric characteristics of elements to be
excavated: Functional characteristics of different types of
equipment makes such considerations necessary.
8. Space constraints: The performance of equipment is
influenced by the spatial limitations for the movement of
excavators.
9. Characteristics of haul units: The size of an excavator
will depend on the haul units if there is a constraint on the
size and/or number of these units.

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 Choice of Equipment……..
10. Location of dumping areas: The distance between the
construction site and dumping areas could be relevant not
only for selecting the type and number of haulers, but also
the type of excavators.
11. Weather and temperature: Rain, snow and severe
temperature conditions affect the job‐site productivity of
labor and equipment.

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