Lecture 3

Construction Engineering
Types of Construction
Equipment
Depending on the application, construction
machines are classified into various categories

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENTS
A. Earthmoving equipment
B. Construction vehicles
C. Material handling equipment
D. Construction equipment
Group A :
Earthmoving Equipment
Earthmoving equipment is used in the construction
industry to :
- shift large amounts of earth,
- dig foundations and landscape areas.
Types of earthmoving equipment include hydraulic
excavators, bulldozers, compressors and loaders.
A1 : EXCAVATORS
• Excavators are heavy construction equipment
consisting which can excavate accurately and
forcefully by pulling the bucket to the machine.
almost all the equipment are controlled by
hydraulic power. by exchanging front attachments,
excavator can be used for many works.
 Stick or
dipper arm
cylinder
Bucket or
Boom
dipper cylinder

Attachment hoist
cylinder
Stick or
dipper arm

Dipper or
bucket
 FUNCTIONS
• Digging earth above & below the machine
• Loading aggregate
• Trenching
• Digging under water
• Breaking & loading of pavements
A2 : LOADERS
• A loader is a heavy equipment machine often used
in construction, primarily used to load material
(such as asphalt, demolition debris, dirt, snow,
feed, gravel, logs, raw minerals, recycled material,
rock, sand, and woodchips) into or onto another
type of machinery (such as a dump truck, conveyor
belt, feed-hopper, or railcar).
FUNCTIONS
• Leveling
• Digging
• Dumping
• Hauling
• Loading
A3 : SKID STEER LOADERS
• A skid loader or skid-steer loader is a small rigid
frame, engine-powered machine with lift arms used
to attach a wide variety of laborsaving tools or
attachments.
A4 : GRADERS
• A grader, also commonly referred to as a road
grader, a blade, a maintainer, or a motor grader, is a
construction machine with a long blade used to
create a flat surface.
• Graders are commonly used in the construction
and maintenance of dirt roads and gravel roads.
A5 : CRAWLER LOADERS
• The crawler loader combines the stability of the
crawler tractor with the abilities of a wheel loader.
• The introduction of hydraulic excavators diminished
the market for the crawler loader because it was
unable to match the excavator's lifting power and
flexibility.
A6 : BACKHOE
• A backhoe, also called a rear actor or back actor, is
a piece of excavating equipment or digger
consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two
part articulated arm. They are typically mounted on
the back of a tractor or front loader.
A7 : BULLDOZERS
• A bulldozer is a crawler (continuous tracked tractor)
equipped with a substantial metal plate (known as
a blade) used to push large quantities of soil, sand,
rubble, or other such material during construction
or conversion work and typically equipped at the
rear with a claw-like device (known as a ripper) to
loosen densely-compacted materials.
A8 : TRENCHERS
• Trenchers, or ditchers as they are sometimes called,
are similar to excavators in the sense that the
penetrate the earth, breaking soil and rock, and
remove it from the ground. They differ from
excavators in that the soil is removed in one
continuous movement.
A9 : SCRAPERS
• In civil engineering, a wheel tractor-scraper is a
piece of heavy equipment used for earthmoving
A10 : WHEELED LOADING
SHOVELS
• A power shovel (also stripping shovel or front
shovel or electric mining shovel) is a bucket-
equipped machine, usually electrically powered,
used for digging and loading earth or fragmented
rock and for mineral extraction.
Group B :
Construction Vehicles
• Engineering or Construction vehicles are heavy-
duty vehicles, specially designed for executing
construction (Civil engineering) tasks, most
frequently, ones involving earth moving.
B1 : DUMPERS
• A dumper is a vehicle designed for carrying bulk
material, often on building sites.
B2 : TIPPERS
• A truck or lorry the rear platform of which can be
raised at the front end to enable the load to be
discharged by gravity also called tip truck.
B3 : TRAILERS
• Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles
used for transport of goods and materials.
Group C :
Material Handling Equipment
C1 : CRANES
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped
with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that
can be used both to lift and lower materials and to
move them horizontally.
C2 : CONVEYORS

A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical

handling equipment that moves materials from one
location to another.
C3 : FORKLIFTS
• A forklift truck (also called a lift truck, a fork truck,
a forklift, or a tow-motor) is a powered industrial
truck used to lift and transport materials.
C4 : HOISTS
• A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load
by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which
rope or chain wraps.
Group D :
Construction Equipment
D1 : TUNNELING EQUIPMENTS
A tunnel boring machine (TBM) also known as a
"mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a
circular cross section through a variety of soil and
rock strata.
D2 : CONCRETE MIXERS
A concrete mixer (also commonly called a cement
mixer) is a device that homogeneously combines
cement, aggregate such as sand or gravel, and water
to form concrete.
D3 : COMPACTORS
• A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to
reduce the size of waste material or soil through
compaction.
D4 : PAVERS
• A paver (paver finisher, asphalt finisher, paving
machine) is an engineering vehicle used to lay
asphalt on roadways.
D5 : SPRAYING AND
PLASTERING MACHINES
Plaster spraying allows a plasterer to skim a drywall
more than five times faster than using a hand float to
apply it.
D6 : ROAD ROLLER
• A road roller (sometimes called a roller compactor,
or just roller) is a compactor type engineering
vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or
asphalt in the construction of roads and
foundations, similar rollers are used also at landfills
or in agriculture.
D7 : STONE CRUSHERS
• A crusher is a machine designed to reduce large
rocks into smaller rocks, gravel, or rock dust.
D8 : SLURRY & HEAVY
DUTY PUMPS
A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as
liquids, gases or slurries.
 Lecture 4
Construction Engineering
 PROCUREMENT OF
MACHINES

• Three methods to procure machines are:

1. Purchase it
2. Rent it
3. Rent it with an option to purchase it at a later stage
Purchase of Equipment
The purchase of eqpt as compared with renting it has
several advantages.
1. More economical if the eqpt is used sufficiently.
2. More likely to be available for use when needed.
3. Because ownership should assure better maint. and
care, purchased eqpt should be kept in better
mechanical condition.
The disadvantages of owning eqpt are:
1. May be more expensive than renting.
2. Purchase of eqpt may require a substantial investment
of money or credit that may be needed for other
purposes.
3. Ownership of eqpt may influence a contractor to
continue using obsolete eqpt after superior eqpt has
been introduced.
4. Ownership of eqpt designed primarily for a given type of
work may induce a contractor to continue doing that
type of work, whereas other work req. different types of
eqpt might be available at a higher profit.
5. Ownership of eqpt might influence a contractor to
continue using the eqpt beyond its economical life,
thereby increasing the cost of production unnecessarily.
6. Most influential factor is expected long term utilization.
SELECTION OF MACHINES
• Machines which can finish the project on time.

• Assure high quality.

• Provide the lowest cost.

• Select machines suited to the production.

 FACTORS
 Scale of project and project method
 According to nature of operation
 According to haul distance
 Gradient of haul road
 Haul machines and loading machines
 According to trafficability
 By type of soil
 According to weather condition
 Economic factors
Fundamentals of Equipment
Economics
• Equipment Cost
- Ownership Cost
- Operating Cost

Methods for securing machines for a project:

1) buy, 2) rent, and 3) lease
Important Questions
• How much does it cost to operate the machine on a
project?
• Answer: Calculation of Ownership and Operating
(O&O) cost expressed in dollars per machine operating
hour (e-g $90/hr for a dozer). If a dozer can push 300 cy
per hour and it has a $90/hr O&O cost, production cost
is $0.300/cy ($90/hr / 300cy/hr)
• What is the optimum economic life and the optimum
manner to secure a machine?
• Answer: Calculation of Optimum point in time to
replace a machine and the optimum way to secure a
machine. (Replacement Analysis)
EQUIPMENT COSTS

OPERATING COSTS OWNING COSTS

Fuel Depreciation

Lubricants Interests

Repairs Insurances

Special items Taxes

Operators wages
 EQUIPMENT COSTS
OWNING COSTS
• The equipment owning cost is the expenses
required for the purchase and possession of the
equipment as a property of its owner and consists
of
• Depreciation
• Interests
• Insurance
• Taxes
 EQUIPMENT COSTS

OPERATING COSTS
• Fuel

• Lubricants, grease or filters etc

• Tires in case of wheeled equipment

• Repairs
• Special items
• Ripper Points
• Grader cutting Edges
• Any consumable parts

• Operator’s wages
 Total Life Cycle Costs
FIRST COST (INSTALLED COST)

Price

Construction Change Orders

Equipment Failure Legal Issues

Engineering Cost
Start-up Delays
Performance Problems

Indoor Air Quality Energy Cost

Occupant Comfort

HIDDEN COSTS (OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS)

Time Value of Money
-Rent paid
-present value
-interest
-simple and compound interest
-company credit
-Single payments
-Uniform payments
Evaluating Investment
Alternatives
• Discounted Present Worth Analysis
• Example on Board
Rent and Lease Considerations
-Advantages and Disadvantages

Rental: short-term alternative to direct equipment

ownership
Lease: long-term agreement for the use of an asset. It
provides an alternative to direct ownership.