CHAPTER SEVEN: Types of

Construction Equipment
Concrete equipment
Batching - process of measuring by weight
or volume the quantities of different
ingredients required to make the correct
mix of concrete.
Mixing - putting together the different
ingredients, water included, to produce a
homogeneous concrete.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 1

 1. Concrete mixers
a) Drum mixers
Tilting drum mixers
Non-tilting drum mixers
b)Pan mixers
2.Central mixing plants
for large quantities of concrete
well prepared storage bins and semi-
permanent equipment
Good access points for distributing materials
and transportation of concrete required.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 2

 3. Concrete handling and transporting
a) Wheel barrows
0.1 - 0.2m3 capacity
used in floor construction at ground level of
multi-storey construction and confined areas
b) Hoisting with a crane
Three types of cranes are common:
i. Crawler mounted: general all-purpose work; pouring
concrete in foundations, retaining walls, floor slabs,
culverts

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 3

 i. Derricks: pouring concrete in pump houses, caissons
and basement construction where erection costs can
be justified, such as work continuing for long periods.
ii. Tower Cranes: Concrete floors, columns, multi-storey
construction, and ground level construction where area
to be covered is large. Buckets and skips
1/2 - 8m3 capacity
common types 1/2 - 1m3
skip is hung from crane
c) Concrete pumps
Two types
single acting force pump
Pneumatic pump
used on large foundations, multi-storey
construction floor slabs.
Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 4
 d) Belt Conveyors
can offer comparable costs with other placing
methods.
concrete transported from mixer to discharge
point by conveyor belt.
e) Dumper
transport concrete from mixer to works
capacities range from 1m3 upwards
f) Transit mixers
Mobile trucks for delivering ready-made concrete
to site.
of inclined-axis revolving-drum type
mixed concrete may be loaded at a central
batching plant or mixing undertaken while
travelling.
nominal capacities available 2 6m3.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 5

Earthwork Equipment
1. The bulldozer
Versatile Machine Frequently used for:
stripping top soil
clearing vegetation
shallow excavating
pushing scrapers
maintaining haul roads
opening up pilot roads
spreading and grading
ripping

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 6

 Effective for moving earth over short
distances up to 100m.
Attachments:
blade, for earthmoving
ripper, for ripping hard soil and rock
side boom, for handling and laying of large pipes.
2. The Scraper-
self-loading, transporting and spreading m/c
predominantly used for general levelling.
usually cuts on a downward gradient to take
full advantage of gravity.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 7

 to cut, the bowl is lowered and the apron
opened, forward movement of the m/c directs
the cutting edge into the soil causing it to boil
upwards into the bowl.
during the discharge stage, ejection takes
place whilst the unit is moving: again the
height of the bowl is set to spread the material
in a controlled layer and the soil is pushed out
of the bowl with the aid of the ejector plate.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 8

 Types:
a) Towed Scraper
a tractor, frequently a bulldozer, and a towed bowl
supported on two axles running on four wheels.
advantage is ability to load in heavy soils, and on
upward gradients.
b) Motorised Scraper
engine is self-contained within the m/c and power
thus supplied directly to the wheels.
frequently requires pushing assistance during
loading phase because of loss in traction when
using wheels rather than tracks.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 9

 General points to consider when using scrapers
1. Keep haul roads broad enough to accommodate
overtaking.
2. Ensure that haul roads are well maintained with
graders and free from deep rutting and grooving and
well drained.
3. Construct hauls with gradients less than 5% if
possible, maximum 12%.
4. Plan haul road routes to avoid bottlenecks, short
lengths of sharp gradients and curves.
5. Try to keep the rolling resistance as low as possible.
6. Towed scrapers are economic up to 300m haul
distance.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 10

 3. The Grader
Specifically developed for trimming the sub-
grade, sub-base surface on roads and road
cuttings and banks, for smoothing off the
walls on earth-fill dams and maintaining haul
roads.
Extra attachments:
Scarifier
mounted just in front of the mouldboard
raised and lowered hydraulically and used to break up
the soil to facilitate an easier grading action.
Ripping tool- sometimes mounted at rear end.
Bulldozer blade- sometimes mounted at the front.
Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 11
 4. The Loader shovel
Sometimes called the tractor shovel or front-
end loader.
exists in two forms: with tracks or wheels
serves purpose of both fixed position
excavator and transporter over short
distances of perhaps 10-20m.
copes with duties associated with a face
shovel and overlaps with the functions of the
bulldozer.
the tracked loader is a genuine excavator,
whereas the wheeled version is more suited
to stockpiling and digging in loose soils.
Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 12
 Tracked version
can apply more traction and will cope with tougher
conditions
limited by its low travel speed
uneconomic when the distance from excavation or
discharge points exceeds 80m.
Wheeled loader
being faster, is viable up to 200m
able to travel on tarmacadam without causing
damage
more mobile and manoeuvrable than the
equivalent tracked m/c.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 13

 Loading buckets
a) General purpose bucket
b) rock bucket
c) Four-in-one bucket; dozer, shovel, clamshell, scraper.

5. Wheel backhoe/bucket loader

The m/c comprises a rigid frame, a loader bucket and
backhoe.
Backhoe can turn through 90o in plan and excavate
approximately 5m below the wheels. The m/c must
be Stabilised by jacks when operating in this mode.
M/c is particularly suited on small scale projects such
as building-type projects.
can be used for excavation of manholes, drain
trenches, etc. and the loading of loose materials to
be carted away.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 14

Earth Compacting Equipment
1. Static weight rollers
These rollers rely purely on self weight to
achieve compaction.
a) Smooth wheel rollers
with successive passes over the ground surface,
the soil gradually compacts.
b) Three-wheeled roller
consists of a wide front roller and two narrower
rear rollers.
predominantly used for compacting bituminous
materials on road surfacing operations.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 15

 For all smooth wheel static rollers, a thin
layer near the surface is compacted very
effectively, but the soil below about 150 mm
deep remains virtually untouched.
c) Rubber-tyre roller
It was observed that the constant pounding of
traffic on bituminous road surface caused
grooving and sunken compaction of the road
base and subgrade.
On the basis of this evidence, the rubber-type
roller was developed.
used for rolling base courses on roads and fill for
large earthworks involving soil of a loan texture.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 16

 self propelled with a ballasting, using either
water, sand or pig iron.
major advantage lies in the ability to control the
ground contact pressure by:
1. altering the weight of the m/c
2. increasing the number of wheels
3. increasing the tyre width
4. changing the contact area of the tyre by
altering the tyre pressure.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 17

 d) Sheeps-foot roller
has projecting feet mounted on surface
preferred when attempting to compact highly
cohesive materials.
small surface area of each foot transmits high
pressure so kneading the soil particles together,
and with repeated passes, the feet gradually
climb out of the fill.
2. Dynamic Compaction
Such methods rely on either vibration or
imparting kinetic energy.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 18

 a)Vibrating roller
produce improved compaction
in comparison a much heavier states weight roller
is necessary to achieve similar results.
b)Vibrating plates

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 19

 3. Other types of compaction equipment
a) Freefall hammers
Kinetic energy used by dropping a heavy flat weight from
the job of a crane.
possible to compact layers of solid several metres below the
surface.
b) High-speed compactor
suited to large projects like motorways, earth dams and
airports.
driven on four polygonal wheels, each of the front of which
has from four to five polygon segments with the rear
segments arranged to run between the furrows, so assuring
complete coverage during the pass.
compacting action combines weight, impact and kneading
and provides considerable advantages over other types of
roller on massive areas involving cohesive and plastic soils,
silts, gravel and hardcore.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 20

Cranes
On many construction sites a crane is needed to lift small to
medium loads such as concrete skips, reinforcement, formwork, etc.
1. Crawler-mounted crane
where the work is spread over a wide area beyond the reach of
tower cranes and derricks, a crane capable of operating on
unprepared surfaces is demanded.
Rubber-tyred mobile cranes are excellent for lifting on level firm
surfaces, but on many sites the ground conditions are so bad
that these models would become bogged down and unable to
work easily and efficiently.
In conditions such as these the crawler-mounted crane is the
most advantageous model to use. Spread over a large bearing
area under wide and long tracks.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 21

 Crawler crane has further advantage that it
can readily be converted to a grabbing crane
or dragline for excavation purposes.
It is not a practical option when lifting capacity
is required for only a short period of hours or
even a few days as the time taken to load,
transport, unload and prepare for work may
require a full day or more.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 22

 P

P
max
LOAD

P min

A min
A max

RADIUS

Load-radius diagram for the strut-boom crane

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 23

 The weight of the hook block, together with any
slings, etc. should be included when selecting a
crane of suitable lifting capacity. If a fly-jib is
attached but not in use then the safe working load
should be reduced in accordance with the
manufacturers recommendations.
2. Self-propelled crane on rubber-tyred wheels
there is considerable growth in the use of cranes on
wheels. There are many reasons for this but an
important factor has been the demand for specialist
one-off lifting facilities, effectively facilitated by the
greater mobility afforded to cranes with the
development of the diesel engine, efficient gear
boxes and more recently the introduction of
telescopic booms.
Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 24
 Self-propelled cranes divide roughly into two
classifications:
a) The strut-boom type, but with the crawler
trucks replaced by rubber-tyred wheels.
b) Mobile telescopic-boom vehicles.
i. Strut-boom crane
built in 3 sections similar to the crawler crane and
comprises the base, superstructure and boom.
operated on fairly hard ground and for lifting and
transporting relatively light loads over short
distances of a few tens of metres.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 25

 to increase the lifting capacity of the crane, out
riggers are incorporated into the base frame on
the larger versions. The whole unit, including
wheels, is raised clear of the ground when lifting,
all the load being transferred through to the
outriggers. The crane is stationary in this
configuration and is only used in this way for
maximum lifting.
ii. Mobile Telescopic-boom crane
more versatile and is capable of travelling at 20-
30 km/h quickly moving from site to site in a
particular area.
the telescopic action is very flexible and various
one-off lifts can be easily accommodated.
unfortunately this crane is very expensive.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 26

 3. Truck-mounted telescopic boom-crane
The great advantage of the truck-mounted telescopic
version is that travel at normal lorry speeds on the
public highways is achievable and when on site
takes only a few minutes to prepare for the lifting
operations.
Available from about 10-800 tonnes capacity.
The crane may be operated blocked on outriggers or
free-on-wheels, with a corresponding reduction in
capacity for the latter.
The weight of the hook block, together with any
slings or other lifting tackle, must be included in the
working loads to arrive at a suitable size of crane.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 27

 4. Truck-mounted strut-boom crane
today, limited to very specialist duties for lifts of 400
tonnes and more and are currently available with
capacities up to 1200 tonnes.
Travelling speed up to 75 km/h
optional features - operation as a tower crane.
5. Tower Cranes
popular for high-rise construction.
also suitable for low-rise work concentrated within a
limited area where access by crawler or other mobile
cranes is restricted.
main advantage of the tower is that the jib or boom
is supported at the top of a tall tower which may be
set at a sufficient height to clear any obstructions.
Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 28
 its configuration allows it to stand very close to, or
even in the structure under construction.
for high-rise buildings, the tower crane is often the
cheapest form of lifting device.
i. Luffing-boom
the main advantage of the luffing-boom tower
crane is that the boom can be raised clear of
nearby obstructions when slewing.
radius changes by luffing the boom.
ii. Horizontal-boom
radius changed by moving the trolley.
it is usual for crane operation to be suspended
when the wind speed exceeds 61 km/h and the
boom is left to swing freely on the turntable to
reduce the torsional effect.
360O slewing capacity.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 29

 Safe load indicators on cranes
To prevent the driver of a crane exceeding
the permitted working load under normal
working conditions, a safe load indicator is
installed and calibrated to warn of overload
on the hook.
The signalling device takes the form of a
coloured flashing light and a bell mounted
inside the drivers cab.
The indicator mechanism must be fitted to all
cranes of 1 tonne lifting capacity or over.

Chapter 7 CE 581 Lecture Notes 30