Construction Equipment and

Machinery

Lecture 1
Definitions
• Machinery refers to the collection of machines that operate together in order to accomplish
a single task.
Or
• Machinery is any mechanical, electrical or electronic device designed and used to perform
some function and to produce a certain effect or result.
• A machine is an appliance that is used to manufacture something in order to fulfill the
orders.
• Equipment refers to the tools that are used while performing the task in order to complete
it.
Or
. Equipment is any tangible personal property used in an operation or activity
Introduction
❑ In the case of huge construction projects, proper use of the appropriate
equipment contributes to;
• economy,
• quality,
• safety,
• speed and
• timely completion of a project
❑ Equipment are used for highway projects, irrigation, buildings, power
projects, etc.
❑ 15% to 30% of total project cost has been accounted towards equipment and
machinery
Operations involved in construction of any project
1. Excavation
2. Placement
3. Compacting
4. Leveling
5. Grading
6. Hauling
7. Paving
8. Concrete work
9. Plastering
Classification of Construction Equipment
1. Earth-moving equipment
2. Hauling equipment
3. Hoisting equipment
4. Conveying equipment
5. Aggregate and concrete production equipment
6. Pile-driving equipment
7. Tunneling and rock drilling equipment
8. Pumping and dewatering equipment
9. Paving equipment
Excavating and Earth Moving Equipment
1. Power Shovel (excavator)
2. Wheel loader
3. Back hoe
4. Drag line
5. Clam shell
6. Trenching Machine
7. Scrapers
8. Bulldozers
9. Tractors
10. Motor Grader
11. Earth Compacting equipment
Power Shovel (excavator)
Description
• To excavate the earth and load the trucks
• Capable of excavating all types of soil except hard rock
• Size varies from 0.375 cubic meters to 5 cubic meters
• Basic parts of power shovel include the track system, cabin, cables, rack,
stick, boom foot –pin, saddle block, boom, boom point sheaves and bucket.
Excavators are used in many ways:
• Digging of trenches, holes and foundations.
• Material handling
• Mining, especially, but not only open-pit mining
• River dredging/desilting
Power Shovel (excavator)
• Driving piles, in conjunction with a Pile Driver
• Demolition
• General grading/landscaping
• Heavy lift, e.g. lifting and placing of pipes
Power Shovel (excavator)

Crawler excavator Wheeled excavator

Factors affecting output of Power Shovel (excavator)
• 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
Wheel loader
• A wheel loader is a four-wheeled machine used for earthmoving.
Generally, it features a front-mounted bucket designed to scoop, hold
and transport loosely packed materials, such as sand, dirt, and
pulverized minerals.
Wheel loader
Backhoe
Description
• Also known as hoe, back shovel and pull shovel
• It is 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
• It is the most suitable machine for digging below the machine level such as,
trenches, footings, basements etc.
• It can be efficiently used to dress or trim the surface avoiding the use of
manual effort for dressing the excavated surface
Backhoe
Drag line
Description
• The drag line is so name because of its prominent operation of dragging the
bucket against the material to be dug
• Unlike the shovel, it has a long light crane boom, and the bucket is loosely
attached to the boom through cables
• Because of this construction, a dragline can dig and dump over larger
distances than a shovel can do.
• Drag lines are useful for digging below its track level and handling soft
materials
• The basic parts of a drag line include the boom, hoist cable, drag cable, hoist
chain, drag chain and bucket.
Drag line
Drag line
Application
• It is the most suitable machine for dragging softer material below its track
level
• It is very useful for excavating tranches when the sides are permitted to
establish their angle of repose without shoring
• It has long reaches.
• It is mostly used in excavation for canals and depositing on the embankment
without hauling units
Clam Shell
Description
• This is so named due to resemblance of its bucket to a clam which is like a
shell-fish with hinged double shell
• Th front end is essentially a crane boom with a specially designed bucket
loosely attached at the end through cables as in a drag line
• The capacity of a clam shell bucket is usually given in cubic meters
• The basic parts of clam shell bucket are the closing line, hoist line, sheaves,
brackets, tagline, shell and hinge.
Application
• 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
S/No. Items of Comparison Power Shovel Back hoe Drag line Clam shell

1 Excavation in hard soil or Good Good Not good Poor

rock
2 Excavation in wet soil or mud Poor Poor Moderately good Moderately good

3 Distance between footing and Small Small Long Long

digging
4 Loading efficiency Very good Good Moderately good Precise but slow

5 Footing required Close to work Close to pit Fairly away from Fairly away from
pit pit
6 Digging level Digs at or above Digs below footing Digs below footing Digs at or below
footing level level level footing level

7 Cycle time Short Shortly more than More than power More than the
power shovel shovel other equipment
Trenching Machine
Description
• Used for excavating tranches for laying pipelines, sewer, cables, etc.
• Operation is quick giving the required depth or width
• There are two types of trenching machine, wheel type and ladder type
Scrapers
Description
• Unique machine for digging and long distance hauling of plough able
materials
• It is a self-operating machine
• It is not dependent on other equipment
• Wheels of machine cause some compaction
• The basic parts of scrapers are the bowl, apron and tail gate or ejector
Scrapers
Bulldozer
Description
• The heavy blade attached to the tractor pushes the material from one place to
another
❑ Classification of bulldozer based on mountings
▪ Wheel mounted
▪ Crawler mounted
❑ Classification of bulldozer based on the control
▪ Cable controlled
▪ Hydraulically controlled
Bulldozer

Wheel mounted Crawler mounted

Bulldozer
Applications
• Spreading the earth fill
• For opening up pilot roads through mountains and rocky terrains
• Clearing construction sites
• Maintaining haul roads
• Clearing land from the trees and stumps
• Back-filling trenches at construction sites by dragging the earth from one
place to another
Tractors
Description
• Multi-purpose machines used mainly for pulling and pushing the other
equipment
Tractors may be classified as:
• Crawler type tractor:- Used to move bulldozers, scrapers. The crawler has a
chain by which these tractors can be very effective even in the case of loose or
muddy soils. The speed of this type does not exceed 12kph normally
• Wheel type tractor:- The engine is mounted on four wheels. The main
advantage is higher speed, sometimes exceeding 50 kph, it is used for long
distance hauling and good roads.
Tractors

Crawler tractor Wheel tractor

Comparison between crawler and wheeled tractors
Crawler type Wheeled type

Slow speed Greater speed

More compacted and powerful and can handle heavier jobs Can handle only lighter jobs

Costly (purchasing) Cheaper (purchasing)

Costs of operation and maintenance are high Operational and maintenance costs are high

Stick control for steering Wheel steering control

Moves on rough roads only Moves on rough as well as good roads

Used for short distances Used for longer distances

Requires skillful operation, maintenance and repairs Lesser skills required for operations, maintenance and repairs
Motor Grader
Description
• A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, motor grader, or
simply a blade, is a form of heavy equipment with a long blade used to create
a flat surface during grading.
• Although the earliest models were towed behind horses, and later tractors,
most modern graders are self-propelled and thus technically "motor graders"
• Typical graders have three axles, with the steering wheels in front, followed
by the grading blade, then a cab and engine atop tandem rear axles. Some
graders also have front wheel drive for improved performance.
• Some graders have optional rear attachments, such as a ripper, scarifier, or
compactor. A blade forward of the front axle may also be added. For
snowplowing and some dirt grading operations, a main blade extension can
also be mounted.
Motor Grader
Description
• Capacities range from a blade width of 2.50 to 7.30 m (8 to 24 ft) and engines
from 93–373 kW (125–500 hp). Certain graders can operate multiple
attachments or be designed for specialized tasks like underground mining.
Motor Grader
Application
• Graders are used to "finish grade”
• Graders are commonly used in the construction and maintenance of dirty
roads and gravel roads
• In constructing paved roads, they prepare a wide flat base course for the
final road surface
• Graders are also used to set native soil or gravel foundation pads to finish
grade prior to the construction of large buildings
• Graders can produce canted surfaces for drainage or safety.
• In some countries they are used to produce drainage ditches with shallow V-
shaped cross-sections on either side of highways
Earth Compaction Equipment
1. Smooth-wheel rollers
2. Sheep-foot rollers
3. Pneumatic-tyred roller
4. Pedestrian Compactor – Roller (wheeled) and Plate compactor
Smooth-wheel rollers
Description
• Plain steel rollers
• Self-propelled type
• Weighing from 5 to 15 tonnes
• These rollers may have one front and two rear wheels
• The rear wheels being usually larger in diameter and the front one being
winder
• Weight of rollers maybe increased by filling water or sand ballast in hollow
cylinder
Application
• Used for ordinary rolling work where deep compaction is not required
• These rollers are effective in compacting granular soils, such as sand, gravel
and asphalt mixtures.
Smooth-wheel rollers
Sheep-foot rollers
Description
• May weigh up to 15 tonnes or more
• Travel at a speed of 25 kph
• As the roller moves over the surface, 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
Application
• For compacting earth work in embankments and canals (where compaction
deep into the layer of the earth is required)
• These gives best results in compaction when the soil is clay or predominantly
cohesive and impervious
Sheep-foot rollers
Pneumatic-tyred rollers
Description
• It consist a base or a platform mounted between two axles
• The rear of which has one more wheel than the front
• 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 advantages are ability to control the ground contact pressure by:

1. Altering the weights of machines

2. Increasing the number of wheels
3. Increasing the tyre width
4. Changing the contact area of the tyre the altering the contact
pressure
Pneumatic-tyred rollers
Pedestrian rollers, Plate compactor and Jumping compactor
Description
• A pedestrian roller is a compactor vehicle used in the compaction of soil,
gravel, concrete or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations
• Pedestrian rollers are perfect for space limited construction sites.
• They can be pushed with minimal effort over concrete, aggregate and asphalt.
• Pedestrian rollers are self propelled and can work in reverse.
• Walk-behind vibratory-plate compactors are designed to compact loose
materials such as granular soils, gravel, small aggregate, and hot asphalt
mixes.
Applications
• They can be used for pavements, walkways and even inside buildings.
• They are suitable for small compaction jobs and, when used with water
sprinkler systems, can be used on asphalt as well.
Pedestrian rollers
Pedestrian rollers Vibratory-plate compactors