CONSTRUCTION PLANT

MANAGEMENT

Deepak Bhattarai, Ph.D.

(Professor of Construction Management, nec
Independent Construction Engineering Consultant)

nec Publication, 2012

i
Copyright @ 2012 by Nepal Engineering College

All rights reserved

Reproduction or translation of this book without the permission of the copyright owner is

unlawful. Request for permission may be addressed to the Principal, Nepal Engineering

College.

Library of congress cataloging in publication data:

Bhattarai, Deepak, 1951-

Construction Plant Management

Includes bibliographical references ISBN

Printed in Nepal by ..

ii
 DEDICATED TO
THE GREAT CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
WHOS HANDS CREATED
BEAUTIFUL MONUMENTS
AND FACILITIES FOR MANKIND IN
THE SOUTH ASIA REGION

iii
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Construction plant management is yet another attempt of the author to provide necessary
information about construction plant to the young practicing engineers and managers in the
area of construction management. The view expressed in this book is that of a civil
engineering construction manager. However a reader need not be an engineer. Any person
who has interest in construction business in general and construction plant and equipment in
particular may find this book interesting.

Most of the equipment covered in this book are commonly and widely used in construction
works in South Asia. Special types of equipment are not covered in the familiarization
section. Only the common ones that are used in the sub-continent are included.

The first part- of this book covers chapter on definitions of terms such as tools, machine, and
equipment. It also includes chapters on earth working equipment, aggregate handling
equipment, concrete construction equipment, equipment for the construction of piles and
caissons, cranes for lifting, equipment for tunnel construction, equipment for hydraulic
construction and equipment for highway pavement construction. Necessary photograph and
illustrative examples are included for better understanding of the young readers.

The second part- construction plant management is written for people who need to
understand the know how of plant selection and management for the satisfactory performance
of civil engineering or building construction projects. The first part of this book will be useful
to B.E Civil Engineering students and the second part will be useful to the students of M.Sc.
Construction Management. The practicing managers will use the tips given in this book for
the selection of equipment and operation and maintenance of equipment at construction site.
This can be especially helpful to:

1. Bachelor level students who need to be familiar with construction equipments.

2. Masters level students who need to know ABC of construction plant management
3. A young engineer who is planning to make construction as a career.
4. An engineer or a technician working in construction industry and interested to know
more about construction equipment.
5. A construction entrepreneur who intends to make more profit by deploying heavy
equipment in construction projects.

The book should be a book of reference to all the construction workers and managers in this
part of the world. For the people of other part of the world, this should be of interest to know
the development in the field of construction plant management in the Indian sub-continent.

iv
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The book although intended for BE Civil Engineering Students and M.Sc. Construction
Management Students covers wide area of construction plant management. This work would
not have been possible without referring books and materials in the related area. The author
has referred many books and materials from known and unknown sources. The known
sources have been listed in the reference part the book. The unknown source has been
acknowledged on the chapter where such material is used.

Also many friends and colleagues have encouraged preparing this book for publication. I
wish that I could list all the names hare. But it was not possible. One important thing - I used
may own photographs from Koteshwor-Bhakatpur project of Kathmandu Nepal to illustrate
some of the equipment and process. I have also used some materials from the business
catalogue of some companies. I thank all those, whose work, some how or other was useful in
preparing this book.

I thank my friends (1) .. and (2) for

giving their valuable time to read manuscript of this book and giving suggestion and their
valuable opinion about the book.

At last, but not the least, I thank my colleagues Roshan Chandra Neupane who was solely
responsible for entering the data and computer setting of this book. Without Roshan, this
book could not have taken shape so soon. His talent and efficiency is highly admirable.

I also thank members of my family, particularly my wife, Illya, daughters Yasmine and
Medha and son Salil who have been patient and tolerant while working with this book late
into many nights. My great appreciation to all of them.

Deepak Bhattarai

v
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A FAMILIARIZATION WITH CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

1. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
1.1 Construction
1.2 Tools
1.3 Machine
1.4 Equipment
1.5 Plant

2. EARTH WORKING EQUIPMENT

2.1 Equipment for excavation
2.2 Transportation Equipment
2.3 Compaction Equipment

3. AGGREGATE HANDLING EQUIPMENT

3.1 Source of Aggregate
3.2 Screening Plants
3.3 Crushing Plants
3.4 Various Types of Crushers

4. CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Form work construction
4.3 Equipment for Batching of Materials
4.4 Equipment for Mixing of Concrete
4.5 Equipment for transporting of Concrete
4.6 Concrete Compaction Equipment
4.7 Equipment for Finishing of Concrete

5. EQUIPMENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF PILES AND CASSIONS

5.1 Pile Construction Equipments
5.2 Equipment for the Construction of Caissons

6. CRANES FOR LIFTING

6.1 Mobile Cranes
6.2 Stationary Cranes

7. EQUIPMENT FOR TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION

7.1 Conventional Method of Tunnel Construction
7.2 Tunneling by TBMs

8. EQUIPMENT FOR HYDRAULIC CONSTRUCTION

9. EQUIPMENT FOR HIGHWAY AND PAVEMENT CONSTRUCTION

9.1 Sub- grade Preparation
9.2 Construction of Sub-base
9.3 Construction of Base-Course
9.4 Equipment for Bituminous Pavement Work

vi
PART B: CONSTRUCTION PLANT MANAGEMENT

10. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION

10.1 Need for Mechanization
10.2 Some Justification for Capital Based Approach
10.3 Need for Plant Management

11. CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

11.1 The Various Standards

12. SELECTION OF CONSTRUCTION PLANT

12.1 Introduction
12.2 Planning for Equipment Selection
12.3 Careful Selection Considerations

13. MONITORING AND CONTROLLING EQUIPMENT OPERATION

13.1 Monitoring the Operation
13.2 Controlling the Equipment Operation

14. COST OF EQUIPMENT

14.1 Ownership Cost
14.2 Operating Cost
14.3 Depreciation of Equipment

15. LIFE OF EQUIPMENT

16. MAINTENANCE OF EQUIPMENT

16.1 Introduction
16.2 Planned Preventive Maintenance
16.3 Planned Corrective Maintenance
16.4 Emergency Maintenance
16.5 Overhauling
16.6 Monitoring of Maintenance

17. PLANT HIRING COMPANY

17.1 History and Need
17.2 Structure of Plant Hiring Company
17.3 Deciding to establish the Company
17.4 Fixing Plant Hiring Rate

vii
 FAMILIARIZATION WITH CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

1. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS:

1.1 Construction:

Construction is the process of putting various materials and parts together for creating
some infrastructures for the use of mankind. The ultimate aim of any construction is
the comfort and better life for mankind. The process of construction involves
materials in their solid, liquid and gases forms handled and put together by persons
of various skills working together to achieve the common end result - the quality
product. Quality is measured in terms of beauty, strength and durability. For this
various tools, equipment, machine and plant need to be used.

Construction must have started in the early days of civilization when mankind started
living in the caves. When they came out of the cave, they started to build huts and
started to use stones and grass for their shelter. Thus people have started construction
of buildings and other structures since pre-historic period, including bridges,
amphitheaters, dams, roads, and canals. Some of the structures created thousands of
years ago are still regarded as remarkable ones.

The history of construction overlaps with the history of human civilization. The
history of construction is a complex subject which includes history of building
materials, history of engineering and technology, history of economy and social
settings, history of development of skills, history of tools and machinery used and so
on.

The first bridge ever made was probably logs placed across water courses to cross
while a trip for hunting. The first tool ever used probably was the pulling mechanism
for the heavier logs. First buildings must have been huts and tents and other shelters
meant for protection from rain and heat also for the safety from wild animals. But
there are no traces of them available now. Smaller tools for cutting and breaking must
have been used. No traces of them are available either.

The large scale construction evidence has been found in ancient Mesopotamia. The
Zigguart of Ur is an outstanding building of that period. Another fine example of pre
historic building is the Zigguart at Chogha Zanbil in modern Iran. Use of construction
tools or machines in those early days can only be imagined since no record of their
use can be traced.

The use of technology must have been very primitive. Tools made of timber or stones
must have been used in many constructions. Simple machines like wheels and pulley
also were not used. Use of lever in the form of logs must have been extensively used.
History of modern construction equipment was probably started by Volvo in the year
1832 with the making of hand tools and machine tools in their machine shop in
Sweden. The first steam road roller was born in the Volvo shop in 1906. First wheel
loader came out in the year 1954.

1.2 Tool:

1
Tools are the implements generally held in hand like hammer, saw, file etc. Basically
they are hand held device that aids in accomplishing a task. They are generally the
instrument of manual operation and normally they are none powered. Tools are
attached to powered machine such as lathe machine. Some of the hand tools used in
construction are crow bars, hammers, shovels, pick axes, trowels, chisels, pliers,
screw drivers, nail pullers etc. Tools attached to powered machines are the cutting
tools of a Lathe machine, shaping tools attached to Shaper etc. Sometimes
mechanically or electrically powered hand held small machine is also called tool. e.g.
hand held power drilling machine or a hand held grinding machine may be called
power tools.

There are many different categories of tools. They are cleaning tools, cutting tools,
abrasive tools, garden tools, hand tools, machine tools, metal working tools, wood
working tools, plumbers tools, masons tools etc.

1.3 Machine:

Machine is an apparatus consisting of interrelated parts with separate functions, used

to perform some kind of work. It may be defined as an assembly of interconnected
components arranged to transmit or modify force in order to perform useful work.
They may be taken as any electrical or mechanical device that performs or help to
perform some useful task.
Machine is generally operated by some energy source giving output of work more
than input, making the operation economical. Some of the examples of simple
machines are:

- a lever
- a lathe machine
- a chain pulley
- a winch
- a wedge

Generally the machineries are the combination of moving parts on a stationary or a

moving main body. Therefore it may be understood as a series of components
working together to accomplish a particular task. Most machines are used in
production or manufacturing. They can be very simple as a lever and very complex as
modern flying machines.

Working area of machines is unlimited such as to move a sheep through water or fly
an airplane, bore a tunnel through mountains, transfer huge quantity of materials from
one place to another, drill for carbon oil, make a cricket bat or make a candy etc.

In construction industry alone there are hundreds of different types of machines used.
Some are gigantic like large bull dozers and large aggregate production units where as
some are very small like tile cutters, nail pullers or a hand riveting machine.

1.4 Equipment:

They are the mobile machine capable of doing some work. Earth moving

2
 Equipment like dozers, loaders, trucks, compaction equipment like rollers; tampers
etc. and lifting equipment like cranes are the examples of equipment. Different types
of pumps are also the equipment.

Construction Industry uses different types of equipment for earth work, transportation,
concrete production and handling, roads work, water supply work, irrigation work,
lifting work, demolition work, etc.

There are many different types of equipment. They are construction equipment, safety
equipment, laboratory equipment, hiking equipment, sports equipment, photographic
equipment, medical equipment, robotics equipment, naval equipment, electronic
equipment, hotel equipment, bakery equipment, kitchen equipment, and so on.

1.5 Plant:

Plants are the assembly of many equipment and moving parts of different functions
and capacity. Generally large piece of equipment which is stationary at one place like
Asphalt Concrete Plant, Concrete Batching Plant, Crusher Plant, Concrete Block
Making Plant, Brick Making Plant, etc. are termed as plant. These plants will have the
combination of several machine and equipment.

There are many different types of plant in use. They are: oil plant, gas plant, brick
making plant, block making plant, cars making plant, diesel plant, thermal plant,
hydro power plant, concrete batching and mixing plant, asphalt plant etc.

For the purpose of this book, we take plant, machine and equipment as synonymous.

1. EARTH WORKING EQUIPMENT

Earth working equipment are also called earth moving equipment. Generally three
functions viz: earthwork in cutting, earth transportation and compaction of
embankment construction are involved in any earth work. Therefore the equipment
used in each of these activities are discussed separately under different sub-sections.

2.1 for Excavation

Earthwork in excavation is involved in all types of construction projects. When the

quantity of work becomes large, it is economical and faster to work with equipment
than use manual labor. Therefore equipment are deployed in excavation work. The
following are the general excavating equipment:

a. Excavator:

It has a hoe in its back and therefore smaller version is called back hoe. It
generally does not have a pushing blade in the front although, the smaller
versions like back hoes have dozing blade attached. It is capable of excavating
to a depth which can be negotiated with its boom. Excavation is done by teeth
attached to a bucket which is capable of loading the excavated material directly
to a tripper truck.

3
 Fig. 1: A crawler Mounted Excavator

These excavators come in different capacity and type. They can be crawler
mounted or wheel mounted. Crawler mounted ones, also called track mounted
ones are capable of working in softer ground as pressure on the ground is less
because of large area of the crawler or the track.

b. Dozers:

They are versatile machines and can perform variety of jobs at a construction
site. Their main task is scrapping hard surface with teeth attached in the back
and excavating fairly hard earth or soft rock by the blade and teeth combination.
They are capable of handling all types of soil except hard rocks.

4
 They also push the excavated material to form a heap which becomes easily
workable to a power shovel or a loader to load on to a truck.

Fig. 2: A Track Mounted Dozer

These dozers are of various capacities and types. They come mounted over a
steel track when they are called crawler mounted or they are pneumatic wheel
mounted. Appropriate type and size is chosen as per the requirement of the job.

Crawler Mounted Dozer are otherwise called bull dozers with pushes earth and rocks with a
blade installed at the machine frontend to a steep slope uphill or in a comparatively soft
ground were wheel dozers cannot operate. However those machines are not so efficient to
push load up hill as the material spills around the end of the blade. They are very efficient in
down grade operation. Large size crawler dozers normally have a set of claws called ripper
that is installed at the machines rear end and can crush hard rocks. Swamp bull dozers are
equipped with an under carriage that is configured to enable them to freely move around
marshy land. The tracks give them amazing ground mobility and hold through very rough
terrain. Wide track on the other hand, help to distribute the weight of the dozer over larger
area, therefore preventing it from sinking into sandy or wet ground.

As a fellow machine there may be a pipe laying machine that lays down a large steel pipe in
the construction of a pipe line and a dozer shovel (crawler Loader) for loading.

Pneumatic wheel mounted dozers can move more freely and are more maneuverable at site.
They can be used to push the excavated earth to a greater distance with the advantage of
speed to travel. But they have limitations of working on steep slopes or on a softer ground.
Bull dozers have a great ground hold and a torque divider that is designed to convert the
power of the engine to dragging ability, which allows it to use its own weight to push heavy
objects and even remove things from the ground. Some dozers can easily tow tanks that
weight more than 100 tons. Due to these attributes, bulldozers are used to clear obstacles,
shrubbery and remains of structures and buildings.

The blade on a bulldozer is the heavy piece of metal plate that is installed on the front. The
blade pushes things around. Normally, the blade comes in 3 varieties:

5
 1. A straight blade that is short and has no lateral curve, on side wings, and can be used
only for fine grading.
2. A universal blade or U blade, which is tall and much curved, and features large side
wings to carry more material around.
3. A combination blade that is shorter, offers less curvature, and smaller side wings.

Over time bulldozers have been modified to evolve into new machines that are capable of
doing things the original bulldozers weren't. A good example is that loader tractors were
created by removing the blade and substituting a large volume bucket and hydraulic arms
which will raise and lower the bucket, therefore making it useful for scooping up the earth
and loading it into trucks. Other modifications to the original bulldozer include making it
smaller to where it can operate in small working areas where movement is very limited, such
as mining caves and tunnels. Very small bulldozers are known as calf dozers.

Angle Dozer
Angle dozer are mounted with the blades set at an angle with the direction of travel. It pushes
earth forward and to one side.
In some, blades may be adjusted to permit use as bulldozer or angle dozer. Based on
requirements, the bulldozers may be used for:

a) Cleaning the land of tress or stumps

b) Making pilot roads
c) Moving earth for haul distance up to approx 91.5m.
d) Spreading earth fill
e) Backfilling trenches
f) Cleaning construction site of debris
g) Maintaining haul roads

Size of bulldozer is indicated by the length and height of blade. Capacity of a bulldozer varies
with
a) Size of blade
b) Type of earth
c) Nature of slope - up, level, downgrade

Economics of the use for a bulldozer should be worked out for a particular project in terms of
cost per cubic meter and then economic type and size should be selected.

History
They first types of bulldozers were adapted from farm tractors that were used to plough
fields. In order to dig canals, raise earth dams, and partake in earthmoving jobs, the tractors
were equipped with a thick metal plate in the front. Later on, this thick metal plate earned the
name blade.
The blade of the bulldozer peels layers of soil and pushes it forward as the tractor advances.
The blade is the heart and soul of the bulldozer, and it was the first accessory to make full
uses for excavation type jobs. As the years went by, when engineers needed equipment to
complete larger jobs, companies such as CAT, Komatsu, John Deers, Case and JCB started to
manufacture large tracked earthmoving equipment. They were very loud, very large, and very
powerful and therefore earned the nickname "bulldozer". Over the years, the bulldozers got
bigger, more powerful, and even more sophisticated. The important improvements include
better engines, more reliable drive trains, better tracks, and even hydraulic arms that will

6
enable more precise manipulation of the blade and automated controls. As an added option,
bulldozers can come equipped with a rear ripping claw to break up pavement or loosen rocky
soil. The best known manufacturer of bulldozer is CAT, which has earned a vast reputation
for making tough and durable, yet reliable machines. Even though the bulldozer started off a
modified farm tractor, it rapidly became one of the most useful pieces of equipment with
excavating and construction.

c. Power Shovel / Loaders:

Bucket loaders, scoop loaders, or power shovels these are the type of tractors that
are normally wheeled and uses a wide square tilting bucket on the end of movable
arms to lift and move material around. The loader assembly may be a removable
attachment or permanently mounted on the vehicle. Often times, the bucket can be
replaced with other devices or tools, such as forks or a hydraulically operated
bucket.

They are also called loaders. They are used to excavate the earth and load into a
truck or onto a conveyer belt. They are capable of excavating all types of soil except
rock without prior loosening. They may be mounted on a track when they are called
crawler mounted loaders. The crawler mounted type has low travel speed and wide
tread giving low soil pressure. Therefore thy can work in softer ground also.

Fig. 3: A Crawler Mounted Loader

Rubber tire mounted loaders have faster speed but can not work on soft ground. They
can also transfer the excavated material to a short distance say 50m when the volume
to be transferred is low.

Larger front loaders such as the caterpillar 950G or the Volvo L 120E, normally have only a
front bucket and are known as front loaders. Loaders are primarily used for loading materials
into trucks, laying pipe, clearing rubble and also digging. Loaders aren't the most efficient
machines for digging as they cannot dig very deep below the level of their wheels.

The deep bucket on the front loader can normally store around 3-6 cubic meters of dirt, as the
bucket capacity of the loader is much bigger than the bucket capacity of a backhoe loader.

7
Loaders are not classified as excavating machinery, as their primary purpose is other than
moving dirt. However in developing countries they are also extensively used to remove
landslides and debris in hill roads.

In construction areas, mainly when fixing roads in the middle of the city, front loaders are
used to transport building materials such as pipe, bricks, metal bars, and digging tools. Front
loaders are also very useful for snow removal as well, as you can use their bucket as a snow
plow. They can clear snow from the streets and highways, even parking lots. They will
sometimes load the snow into dump trucks which will then haul it away.

Unlike the bulldozers, most loaders are wheeled and not tracked. The wheels will provide
better mobility and speed and won't damage paved roads as much as tracks, although this will
come at the cost of reduced traction. Unlike backhoes or tractors fitted with a steel bucket,
large loaders do not use automotive steering mechanisms, as they instead steer by a
hydraulically actuated pivot point set exactly between the front and rear axles. This is known
as articulated steering and will allow the front axle to be solid, therefore allowing it to carry a
heavier weight.

Articulated steering will also give a reduced turn in radius for a given wheelbase. With the
front wheels and attachment rotating on the same axis, the operator is able to steer his load in
an arc after positioning the machine, which can come in quite handy. The problem is that
when the machines are twisted to one side and a heavy load is lifted high in the air, it has a
bigger risk of turning over.

d) Back Hoe Loaders

These are the machines of power shovel group. Other names given to back hoe are hoe, back
shovel, pull shovel etc. Small version of front end loaders are attached or equipped with a
dipper on its rear side and hence called back hoe loaders or loader back hoes. They are very
efficient machine to handle smaller job especially excavating shallow trench, dumping the
material in a hip and loading in trucks or trailers.

Back hoes can excavate deeper as compared to loaders with the help of goose like neck of the
hoe. Because of the hoe attachment, this machine is often misunderstood with excavators.

photo

A Back Hoe Loader

These machines always come in a wheel mounted chases. Because of their excavating as well
as loading capability they are found more useful in building projects and other small civil
engineering projects.

8
The loading attachment of these machines can be replaced with a dozing blade and employ
them as dozers for cutting shallow layer of soft ground and pushing them to some distance.
When attached with dozing blade, they may be called back hoe dozer.

A Back Hoe Dozer

Photo

The machines are jacked firmly on the ground while they work as excavator to dig the
ground. In many construction sites, these machines are also found to be used in transferring
small loads around the working site or delivering concrete from mixer plant to a placing
location. Hydraulically operated, these small machines are very handy to any construction
project.

Back hoes are generally used to excavate below natural ground level at which machine rests
excavating trenches, pits, basement etc. and in general leveling and grading work in small
area. Dippers are available in various widths to suit the needs of the user. For moderate depth
the output of a back hoe is comparable with same size power shovel and for higher depth,
output of hoe decreases considerably. Most effective depth for back hoe to operate is when
dipper stick is at right angle to the boom.

These machines have three assemblies - house, undercarriage and the work group.

House
The house structure contains the compartment for the operator, engine compartment,
hydraulic pump and also the distribution components. The house structure is attached to the
top of the undercarriage via swing bearing. Along with the work group, the house is able to
rotate upon the undercarriage without limit due to a hydraulic distribution valve that supplies
oil to the undercarriage components.

Undercarriage
The undercarriage of compact excavators consists of rubber or steel tracks, drive sprockets
rollers idlers, and associated components and structures. The undercarriage is also home to
the house structure and the work group.

Work Group
The work group consists of the boom, dipper or arm, and attachment. It is connected to the
front for the house structure via a swinging frame that allows the work group to be
hydraulically pivoted left or right in order to achieve offset digging for trenching parallel with
the tracks.

Independent boom swing

The purpose of the boom swing is for offset digging around obstacles or along foundations,
walls and forms. Another use is for cycling in areas that are too narrow for cab rotation.
Another major advantage of the compact excavator is the independent boom swing.

Backfill Blade

9
The backfill blade on a backhoe are used for grading, leveling, backfilling, trenching, and
general dozer work, The blade can also be used to increase the dumping height and digging
depth depending on its position in relation to the workgroup.

The most common place you'll find back hoes is in residential dwellings. When digging
phone lines or other things, these pieces of equipment are very common for getting between
houses. Due to their small size they can fit almost anywhere. Over the years, the capabilities
for backhoes have expanded far beyond the tasks of excavation. With hydraulic powered
attachments such as breakers, clamps, compactors and augers, this machine is used with
many other applications and serves as effective attachment. Serving many purposes this
machine is a great addition to any job that requires machinery.

e. Drag Lines:

They are used to excavate the earth and load into hauling equipment or deposit
near the excavation pits from which it is excavated. It has a long crane boom
and the bucket is operated with the help of cables. It does not have to go into the
trench in order to excavate. It can operate from ground level to work into a pit.
With the help of long boom, it can dispose/deposit the excavated material in
longer distance eliminating the need for using/engaging hauling equipment.
Main disadvantage of dragline is the lower output of this machine. It can
excavate 75% to 80% as much earth as a power shovel of the same size.

Fig.4: A Drag Line

The draglines can be crawler mounted ones, wheel mounted ones and stationary ones. The
stationary ones have to be transferred on the back of a flat bed truck. Power-shovels, up to a
capacity of 1.9 cu.m can be converted into dragline, by replacing the boom of the shovel with
a crane boom and subsisting the dragline bucket for the shovel dripper.

Although shovels and dragline can be used on some project for the same job, in many
projects draglines would have advantages over shovels,

a) Useful when earth is to be removed from a ditch or canal or pit containing water, as
trucks won't have to go into mud.
b) Dragline with long booms is helpful when earth is to be deposited on banks or dams,
eliminating need of hauling unit.
c) Draglines are excellent for excavating trenches, without shoring.

10
Disadvantages of a dragline are lesser output as compared to a shovel of same capacity.
Depending upon the types they are mounted, Draglines may be classified as:

1. Crawler mounted dragline

2. Wheel-mounted self-propelled dragline
3. Truck-mounted dragline and
4. Walking dragline

Walking draglines have exceptionally long reach and so they are particularly suited for
canals, removal of material from river.

Walking operations of the machine are relatively simple. When it is desired to move to new
location, the boom is rotated to a position opposite the direction movement. As the cam
rotates, machine is dragged backward several meters and operation is repeated till machine
reaches its new location.

Size of Dragline
Size of dragline is indicated by the size of the bucket expressed in Cubic Meters. Most
draglines handle more than one size of bucket, depending upon the length of boom and type
of material to be excavated.
The combination of the following factors affects the output of a dragline:
i) Balance of bucket
ii) Width of bucket
iii) Height of bucket
iv) Number and angle of teeth
v) Location of teeth
vi) Relationship between length of boom and overall capacity of bucket.
vii) Type of material
viii) Depth of cut
ix) Angle of swing
x) Size and type of bucket
xi) Length of boom
xii) Job conditions
xiii) Management conditions
xiv) Method of disposal or loading trucks
xv) Size of hauling unit
xvi) Skill of operator
xvii) Physical conditions of machine

f. Clamshells and Cranes:

They are used to handle loose materials such as sand, gravel, crushed rocks
etc. and for removing the materials from deep foundations like coffer dams, pier foundations,
manholes, etc. They are especially suitable for vertical lifting of the materials with the help of
crane booms. Excavation is done with the help of bucket called "Clamshell Bucket" or "Grab
Bucket".

11
 Fig. 5: A Clamshall
These buckets are available in various sizes and capacity. They can be fitted with "teeth"
which can be removed easily to make the buckets without "teeth". Teeth are used to dig
harder type materials. Capacity of clamshell bucket is usually expressed in cubic meters.
There are three methods to express the capacity:

i) Water level capacity: it is the capacity of bucket if it was hang level and filled with
water.
ii) Plate level capacity: It indicates the capacity of bucket following a line along the top of
the clams and
iii) Heaped capacity: it is the capacity of bucket when it is filled to the maximum angle of
repose for the given material. Usual lifting capacity is usually 3.66 m though it varies
with crane capacity.

g. Trenching Machines:

These are the machines used to dig trenches. They are available in different size
and capacity. They can excavate the trench to its line and level and deposit the
excavated material along the trench but away from the trench by 4 5 meters.
They are very useful for digging water pipeline, gas pipeline, cable trenches and
sewer ditches where soil condition is not very hard. They provide faster digging
speed as compared to excavators or backhoes. They are generally crawler
mounted type. They can also be wheel mounted.

Fig. 6: Trenching Machines

Rotating Wheel type trenching machine may be used when the depth of
excavation is more than 2.5 m. Width of the machine varies between 30 cm to
150 cm. The machine consists of powered wheel fitted with several cutting
buckets with sharp cutting teeth. The wheel can be lowered to a desired depth
while the unit moves forward slowly.

12
 The excavated material is deposited along the trench line but away from the edge of the
trench.

Excavating part consists of a power- driven wheel, on which are mounted numbers of
removable buckets, equipped with the cutter teeth. Buckets are available in varying widths.
Machine is operated on lowering of the rotating wheel to the desired depth, while the unit
moves forward slowly. The earth is picked up by the buckets and deposited on to endless belt
conveyor, which can be adjusted to discharge the earth on either side of the trench.

Ladder type trenching machine: These machine have the following characteristics:
a) Maximum cutting depth 9.15m. or more
b) Maximum trench width is 3.65m or more
c) Digging speeds are 30 m per minute or more for various jobs

The excavating parts of the machine consist of two endless chains, which travel along the
boom, to which are attached cutter buckets equipped with teeth.

As the buckets travel up underside the boom, they bring out earth and deposit it on belt
conveyor, which discharges it on either side of trench. It is not possible to very length of
boom.

Vertical boom type trenching machines: It is a modification of ladder-type machine. This

machine is available with 7 different boom sizes which permit trench depth varying from 1.25
to 2.75m and width 36 cm. to 62cm. Following factors should be considered in selecting
equipment for trenches.

i) Job conditions
ii) The depth of cutting
iii) Width of trench
iv) Type of soil
v) Extent of which ground water is present
vi) Width of right of way for disposal of earth
vii) Type of equipment already owned by contractor
viii) Amount of work involved.

For shallow and narrow trenches- wheel type machine are suitable and in rocks, requiring
blasting - Hoe or dragline is suitable. In unstable soft soil and water saturated area - dragline,
hoe, clamp shell are used.

h. Scrappers:

They are the machines capable of cutting thin layer of earth and taking some
excavated materials in its body (in a bowl) to be discharged in depressions
uniformly.

Fig.7: A Tactor Toed Type Scrapper

They can cut, load, haul and discharge materials by themselves. Self loading
scrappers are available up to 50 cum capacity. The ability of these machines to

13
 deposit the loads uniformly in thick layers will facilitate the succeeding
spreading operations.

Scrapers can be self propelled or tractor pulled type. Self propelled can be
crawler mounted type or rubber tire mounted type.

Fig. 8: Line Diagram of a Self Propelled Scrapper

The scrapper is loaded by lowering the front end of the bowl until the cutting
edge, which is attached to and extends across the width of the bowl, enters the
ground from apron to provide an open slot to allow the earth flow into the bowl.

Dumping operation consists of lowering the cutting edge to the desired height above the fill
raising the apron, and forcing the earth out between the blade and the apron by means of a
movable ejector mounted at the rear of the bowl.

Scrapers are not suitable in gravely and rocky strata where the cutting blade cannot work
they are not also suitable in wet or muddy area where material discharging becomes difficult.

i. Graders:

Graders are basically the equipment meant to grade the road surface and other
large area. They, with the help of teeth attached to them, can scarify earth
surface to loosen the material which can eventually be shifted forward or to the
sides by grading blades. These blades rotate up to 2700 in the central ring
(sprocket) making it unique to shift the materials on all sides.

Fig. 9: A Motor Grader

14
 Therefore these machines may also be included in the category of earth
excavating machines. Since the blades of these machined can rotate up to 2700
and also can extend sufficiently beyond the grader body, they have become very
useful in clearing land slides along the roads or clearing snow in cities. But their
main purpose is to make finished surface at sub grads level, sub-base level and
base-course level. They are capable of spreading the material uniformly and cut
vary thin layers. Therefore they are extensively used in the construction of road
parent work.

These machines are generally self propelled and wheel mounted. In some cases tractor towed
type graders are also used when grading may not be very accurate. The site surfaces e.g.
surface of various levels of road work, airport runway, taxiway, apron, parking area, etc.
needs to be smooth and leveled without any undulations of ridges and valleys. Some minor
cutting and filling is involved after laying each layer of filling material. The sub grade, sub
base and base course need to be brought to design level and finishes. Therefore grading is
done to balance small cutting and filling and make the surface even. This needs to involve a
machine, called grader.

These graders are also called motor graders or self propelled graders or self powered graders.
They are generally used in road construction work to excavate side ditches, shape the
surfaces and sides of cuts and fills and give them the required gradients.

In cold countries, these machines are used to clear snow from the road during winter time.

These machines are highly maneuverable and their blades can be set at various angles both
horizontally and vertically or extended sideways.

Towed type motor graders have no engine or transmission system of their won. They are
drawn by crawler tractors. These machines are much less maneuverable and have much less
capacity. Therefore they are not considered to have great possibilities and are not being
deployed in modern construction projects.

The motor graders are classified as follows:

a) Based upon their weight: i) Light graders - up to 9 tons ii) medium graders - 10-12 tons,
iii) Heavy graders 13-15 tons and iv) very heavy graders 17-24 tons.
b) Based upon the design of running gears: i) Four wheelers with two driving axles ii) Six
wheelers with two or three driving axles.
c) Based upon type of control used with the operating members: i) With mechanical
control (reduction gear) and ii) Hydraulic control

Usually steering wheel of motor graders is on the front axle. Some have front and rear
steering wheels, which sharply reduces the radius of turn and makes it possible to keep the
wheels off the finished surface of the road. The operating equipment of a motor grader
consists of a blade and a scarifier. The blade is fastened to the brackets of a circle supported
by a draw bar pivoted to the frame front. The draw bar can be raised or lowered together with
the circle and the blade by two rack and pinion reduction gears, and brought to the right or
left by a side shift machines.

j. Powered Jack Hammers and Pneumatic Drills:

15
 These are the equipment used to drill holes in hard rock and are used to excavate
hard rock by drilling and blasting method. Engine to drive the drilling bit is
mounted over the Jack Hammers.

Fig.10: A Jack Hammer

These types of jack hammers are very useful for opening track in mountainous road when
larger equipment like air compressors can not be taken to site to run other types of drilling
bids.

Pneumatic rock drills

These are the rock drilling device operated by compressed air and hence called pneumatic
rock drills. They can bore holes up to a depth of 5 meters in hard rock. They operating system
of this machine is such that a steel rod hammers the bottom of bore hole and turn around, the
steel rod is equipped with a cutting bit. These rock drills are classified as follows:
a) According to the frequency of blows: they are classified as i) ordinary drills with about
2000 blows per minute and ii) high frequency drills with more than 2000 blows. This
high frequency drills are also called rapid acting drills.
b) According to method of application: they are classified as i) Hand drills which are such
classified as light hand drills (up to 18kg), medium hand drills (18-25 kg) and heavy
hand drills (25-35kg) ii) core drills and iii) telescopic drills.
c) According to the method used to clean the blast holes: they are classified as i) drills
with axial flushing and blowing ii) drills with lateral flushing and iii) drills with dust
draw off.
Light and medium hand drills are used horizontal boring or for downward boring. Core and
heavy hand drills are employed for horizontal and inclined boring with the help of steel
support and tripods. Telescopic bring drills are used for upward boring.

The basic method of working of a pneumatic drill is that a piston is rapidly reciprocated into
the cylinder by compressed air. An air distributor value supplies compressed air alternatively
above or below the piston. This makes power transmitted to the operating member of drill to
strike and break the rock.

Length of the drill rod depends upon the boring depth. Rods are made of high quality carbon
steel of polyhedral cross section 25 to 38 mm diameter. The rods have axial channel 4-5 mm
wide to pass water or air for washing or blowing the blast hole. Rods may have drilling bits
as integral part or these bits can be detachable. The later type has an advantage that only the
detachable bit can be made of high quality carbon steel. They simplify drilling equipment and
reduce operational cost since only the bits need to be repaired or replaced.

A normal hand drill consumes 2 to 5 cubic meter of air per minute depending upon power.

16
1. Bit that breaks the rock
2. Drilling rod
3. Piston which reciprocates by compressed air
4. Cylinder in which piston is reciprocated by air
5. Handle.

k. Air Compressors:

These are very important part of excavating equipment when excavation to hard
rock had to be done. These compressors drive the drilling machines to drill holes
in the rock. More than one drilling machine can be driven with the help of one
compressor.

Fig. 11: An Air Compressor

Since the compressors are used in excavating hard rock by drilling and blasting method, it is
included in the list of excavation equipment. It may be called auxiliary excavating
equipment.

Air compressors are used on construction project to provide air at sufficient pressure and in
sufficient volume to operate air tools. These air compressors are driven by IC engines or
electric motors. But since they need to be used at construction sites where electric power will
not be available, in construction project, IC engine driven air compressors are preferred. This
type of air compressors have high degree of mobility and usability.

17
Compressors used in construction project are relatively small, mobile, simple and strong so
that they need minimum maintenance. They generate air and store in a dram at a high
pressure to operate variety of tools at construction site. Some of the uses of compressors at
construction site are as follows:

i) Drill hole in rock for blasting and clearing- normaly in hard rook area and very common
in the case of tunnel construction by conventional method.
ii) Cutting materials with the help of pneumatic circular saws or chain saws.
iii) Bore holes in timbers numbers of jointing them to make timber structures.
iv) Break crushable material such as concrete or asphalt concrete- very useful in breaking
road parements or other concrete structures.
v) To run air-operate centrifugal pumps at construction sites.
vi) To carry through pipes small particle materials such as cement, dry sand or other
chemicals at construction. Site.

They are very important and a must machine for tunnel construction since they are employed
in varieties of activities including rock bolting, blowing out rock chips dust particles from
tunnel etc.

Selection of an air compressor

An air compressor must meet the demand of total air supply in a construction project.
Therefore, before selection of a compressor, the following factors must be known:

1. Tools and equipment that needs compressed air from the compressors
2. Total air requirement in cubic feet for minute or cubic meter per minute required by all
the equipments.
3. Pressure requirement in Psi or kgscm at each user of the compressed air supplied.
4. System piping and hoses, its location, length etc to all the users. Pressure less in the
supply line and hoses is directly proportional to the equivalent length of pipe and
inversely proportional to the size of line.
5. Allowable pressure range of the compressor to generate the desired pressure for the
receiver.
6. The cost of the compressor that is commercially available and exceeds the requirement
for the ideal size.

The air compressor serving for a number of tools may not be required to supply maximum air
to all the tools at one time. This has to be taken into account while selecting a compressor.

2 Transportation Equipment

Transportation constitutes very important part in earth moving work especially when
large scale cutting and embankment construction is involved. Also it is equally important
when material including earth, gravel and other materials have to be transported from
borrow pits. The following are generally used.

a. Railway wagons :

They are used when large quantity of material has to be transported to large hauling
distance. In case of tunnel excavation, even for shorter distance and relatively smaller

18
 quantities railway wagons are use to transport excavated materials. The disadvantage of
this system is that they can transport materials from a fixed place to a fixed place.

Fig. 12: A Railway Wagon Transporting Materials

Because of limited flexibility, they are not very popular mode of transport for
construction projects. However in tunnel construction their use is common.

b. Dump Trucks or Trippers :

They are ordinary trucks capable of dumping the load automatically by lifting the body
with the help of hydraulic attachment controlled through the drivers' cabin and move
while dumping is in progress. They are found in different sizes and shapes with capacity
up to 120 tons.

Fig. 13: A Dump Truck

They are fast and economical means for transporting earthwork from cutting area or
borrow area to spoil dump or to embankment construction area. They are maneuverable
easily and do not require rails to run which makes them advantageous as compared to railway
wagons. They are the most common and widely used transportation equipment in earth
moving work.
The typical dump truck is equipped with a hydraulically operated open box bed hinged at the
rear, with the front being able to be lifted up to allow the contents to fall out on the ground at
the site of delivery. A standard dump truck is a full truck chasis with the dump body mounted
on to a frame. This dump body is raised by hydraulic ram lift that is mounted forwent of the
front bulkhead normally between the truck cab and the dump body. A standand dump truck
has a front axle and one or more rear axles depending upon its size.

Dump truck come in many different configurations with each one specified to accomplish a
specific task in a construction project. The common configuration for a standard dump trucks
include the six wheeler and ten whaler dump trucks.

19
a) The dump trucks can be classified as follows classified i) rear dump trucks and ii) side -
dump truck
b) Based upon their uses at construction site they are classified as i) over- the - road dump
trucks when they can ply on road. They have license, blue book and other formalities to
ply on the public roads and streets. Their capacity is up to 15 tons and con travel at 40-
80 kmph and ii) off - highway - dump truck used to haul earth at construction site. They
are larger than over the road dump trucks and may be designed to a maximum width of
12 feet to allow movement of highways with a special permit. To achieve greater
ruggedness and more power for the higher rolling resistance, off highway dump trucks
are designed with emptier vehicle weight. The pay load to weight ratio may be as low as
1:1 although more are at a ratio of 1.5 to 1 and some approach the other extreme of 2.33
to 1.

Articulated frames have been used to make dump trucks able to work in the toughest
ground condition. It can also work on wet and slippery ground condition. Off highway
dump trucks range in size from 25 up to about 200 tons. Larger trucks are used in open
mining operation rather than in construction project.

Dump body is primarily of metal plate construction. Sides of the body are some what
smaller than the front and the tailgate to make loading from the side easier. If the
material to be handled is light, the sides may be increased by adding wooden plants.
The dumping mechanism is single or double hydraulic rams, which are operated
independently of the driving mechanism of the truck for safety considerations.

Selection of dump truck

Important considerations selecting a dump truck is the hauling time. A slow dump time may
increase the total hauling cycle time making it less economical. But selection of suitable
dump truck requires complete job analysis. The work cycle in any large earth working project
involves loading, hauling, dumping, returning and spotting to receive another load. The
factors that govern each of the above are as follows:
i) Loading time depends upon
a) Size and type of loading machine: a continuous belt conveyer, a front end loader,
or an excavator or an swinging bucket like drapline?

b) The type and condition material to be transported: free flowing gravel, sand or
moist and sticky clay or large sized materials like big boulders and rocks.

c) Volume of dump body and the rated pay load larger the volume will take move
time.

d) The skill of the operator both of the loader and the dump truck is equally
important.

ii) Hauling time depends upon

a) The distance to travel for each load
b) The condition of the hauling route
c) The travelling road profile-how steep and how long grades

20
 d) The performance characteristic of the dump truck under the road condition
e) Efficiency of the driver

iii) Dumping time is governed by the following:

a) The type and condition of the material
b) The way material is handled at the dump is to down the slope or stacked for
spreading for compaction or is it into a hopper?
c) The type and maneuverability of the truck is it arear dump or is it a side dump or
is it a bottom dump.

iv) Return travel time is governed by the following

a) The travel distance
b) the condition of hauling route
c) The travelling road profile and
d) Efficiency of the driver

Since this is same as ii) above, this factor is not generally considered for the
selection of a dump truck.

v) Spotting (positioning) the dump truck for loading depends upon:

a) The type of loading machine
b) The various positions the loader takes a dig and load the truck
c) Maneuverability of the dump truck and
d) Skill and efficiency of the driver.

c. Flat bed trucks :

They are ordinary trucks capable of transporting various types of load. They are not
suitable for earthwork as they can not self empty the load as tippers can do. But they are
easiy to be loaded manually. Therefore where loaders are not available and quantity to
be negotiated is comparatively small this type of trucks may be used. Unloading in this
case is done manually with the help of shovels and spades.

Fig. 14: A Flat bed Truck

These trucks are available in various sizes and capacities. Smaller version with 3 cum
capacity is extensively used while working manually.

d. Mini Dumpers:

As the name suggests, they are small front end dump trucks with small capacity (about
1 cum) bowl in the front. They can dump or unload the content automatically, hence

21
 very handy to use at construction sites. They are used when material to be transported is
of very small quantity to a relationally small distance may be a km or 2.

Fig. 15: A Mini Dumper

The dumping bullet, is made of steel can dump the material and return to its position with the
help of a lever on the drivers cabin. This operation is done by a mechanical device like lever
or with the help of hydraulic ram. The one attached with hydraulic ram- operated
hydraulically- is more sape and easy to operate, hence more suitable at construction sites.

These minidumpers have steering on the rear wheel making them different front other types
of similar machines. Since steering is in the rear axles, the rear wheels are smaller as
compared to the front wheels which are made large so that the machine can be operated in
slippery ground also. They are handy and versatile machines is any construction sites to take
any type of load around. Taking concrete from a mixing machine to a site of laying, hauling
excavated material to a dumping place, transporting construction materials like cement from
the stone to mixing place, taking small equipment and tools from are place to another within
a construction site are some of its usages. Some times it is seen that water is transported in its
bucket for wring purpose-when the job is small.

These machines come under various sites and can be selected based upon the need of the
user.

Because of their travel speed when pneumatic tire mounted and maneuverability, these
machines are used extensively to transport small load within a construction site. They are
seen used to transport fuel drums and fill other machines taking advantage of lift of the
bucket. Also they transfer construction material from the storage to the place
where they are used.

e. Loaders :

As discussed under excavating equipments, front end loaders are primarily the
equipment to load loose earth into a truck or other transporting device or into bins of
crushers or mixers. They are also used to excavate soft soil and transport it while
excavating to a short distance say 50-100 meters. For very small work say few buckets,

22
 the lead may even go up to 200-300 meters. This type of lead is found to be negotiated
while clearing slides in mountainous roads.

Fig.: A Track Mounted Loader

Fig. 16: A Track Mounted Loader

The loader is included in the list of transportation equipment because they are used in
transporting material to a short distance at all construction sites although they are meant
for loading the materials.

f. Conveyor belts :

They are generally fixed type of material transporting system and used when material to
be transported from one place to another is in large quantity and takes relatively long
period, to be transferred. Therefore they are mostly used at sand and gravel quarries.
Loading to these belts can be done by loaders through hoppers or through other
mechanism. Mobile version of conveyer belts are some times used in tunnel excavation
work to clear the excavated materials out of the tunnel.

Fig. 17: A conveyor Belt

They are generally made of rubber belts running over steel rollers supported over steel
structures. Conveyor belts are commonly used to move materials horizontally or on the
inclined plane or a declined plane to .. degree of inclination, they can handle
granular materials of size which can fit into the belt. Maximum inclination for handling the
materials depend upon the angle of repose () of the particular material

As long as the angle of inclination i) is less than angle of repose ( .. ) the material can be
carried by the belt. For most construction materials, the maximum angle of inclination i) is
about half of the angle of repose.

23
The component of a belt conveyer are the continuous belt, the idlers, pulleys, take up device
and the supporting steel structure. The belt is supported by idlers. The belt conveyors can be
driver by electric motors or IC engines. The power drive is generally mounted at the head end
to keep it free from dust and dirt and to put the power in the most effective position for
transmission.

The belt of conveyor is made up of rubberized cotton or rayon fabric cemented together by
rubber linings or similar high tensile strength materials. They can be used for temperature
resistant, frost resistant and high tensile strength belts are also used. Width of the belt is
selected to suit the amount of load it has to take.

Belts move at a speed of 2 m to 6m/see. Their capacity can be as much as 2,000 t/hour. They
can handle both the inclined and horizontal.

Photo P244 of Katayer

The basic elements of a conveyer belts are a belt, head and tail drive, a frame, and sets of
rollers which support the upper (load carrying) belt and lower (slack) strands of belt. The
upper strand rollers can be flat or trough shaped depending upon the type of materials it has
to handle. The length of belt is controlled by the tensile strength of the belt material and
rarely exceeds 200m

Photo

24
Conveyer belt system is an aggregates .. plant @kotre, tanahun. They carry
materials in buckets secured on rubber belts or metal chains. They can be vertical or inclined
as per the requirement. Inclined conveyers the belt or chain runs over rollers as seen in fig.

Photo P248 of Katayer

Depending upon the belt or chain speed, buckets are either filled externally ( manually or
mapanically) or they themselves scoop out the materials as they past the lowermost point.
The buckets dump materials into a chute as they run over the upper sprocket. At the top of the
elevator there is a discharge chute and a head drive, while a return drive and feed chute are
arranged at the bottom.

g. Bucket conveyers :

They are efficient means of transporting loose materials vertically. Therefore when
earth is to be transported vertically they are commonly used.

Fig. 18: A Bucket Conveyor

Generally steel buckets in a steel chain revolve around vertical structure. Loading is
done manually or mechanically and emptying is done automatically.

h. Ropeways :

They are very efficient and reliable means of material transportation and may be used
when material to be transported is from a fixed location to a fixed location. Rope way

25
 buckets are loaded manually or by machine. They can empty the load automatically.
This is more often used in quarrying operation.

Fig. 19: A Rope Way System

2.3 Compaction Equipment

Compaction is yet another but most important activity in case of any earth work. In most of
the projects, compacted earth forms the foundation and hence compaction has to be done to
desired level. After the ground is brought to shape by cutting or filling, it needs to be
compacted to a specified density for supporting load over it. The compacting is done by
compactors. For large surface area like road and airport construction these compactors are
some form of rollers- small or large. And for confined area like trenches and building corners
the compactors are of the form of plates that have vibratory action imparted to them
electrically or mechanically.

Compaction is generally done by towed or self propelled rollers. Compaction performance is

influenced by the weight of roller and rolling speed. Some degree of compaction may be
achieved by earth moving machine or traffic over the filled area. It has been found that
natural compaction with earth moving equipment produces as much as three quarter of the
required compaction. For the remaining, compactors of some form must be deployed.

A well graded granular materials may be well compacted by the vibration where as cohesive
clayey material may need rollers to give very high pressone to be compacted because it
responds well to compressive force.

The type of compaction equipment to choose may apply pressone to the soil by static weight
or by a vibrating dynamic force or by both.

More recently, the designers emphasize on end results of construction. They specify the
required density rather than the type of roller used. The contractor is free to select the type of
compaction equipment and method. This approach has for the development of
many types of rollers and compactors.

Different earth behave differently. Therefore different types of compacting equipment

have to be used depending upon the type of materials to be compacted. Similarly,
compaction has to be done at different location requiring different types and sizes of
compacting equipment. The following are some of the compacting equipment commonly
used in earth work compaction

26
 a) Sheep footed roller :

These are the type of rollers with small projection form its drums to allow maximum
pressure in the earth.

Fig. 20: A Sheep Footed Roller

They are suitable for clayey soil. They are made of steel drum either self propelled or tractor
toed type. For very large projects, large tractor toed type rollers are used. The drums can be
ballasted to increase the dead load hence pressure on each sheep foot. These ballast are
emptied while rollers are being transported from one place to another. The sheep foot
generally moves through loose materials rather than rolling on top of it. This type of roller
comes in a drum size of 1 m to 2.5 m wide with a simple yoke from for towing. A simple 1 m
wide drum may have weigh up to 5 tons. This weight can be increased by adding ballast to a
hollow drum increasing the load from 20 kg to 50 kg per cm of the drum width.

Older version of sheep foot rollers having large single drum were towed by tractor. Also some
times train of double drums or triple drums were used and towed by large tractors each axle
drum representing a pass of roll over the fill.

Now a days self propelled sheep foot rollers are manufactured. The self propelled rollers are
articulated to provide a shorter turning radices and greater maneuverability. Compared to
train of drum rollers. These rollers can be pneumatic type on the near wheel and single sheep
footed drum in the front. More recently, both the wheels with vibrating type sheep footed
drums have been in use.

b) Grid compactors:

These are ordinary steel wheel vibratory rollers either self propelled or towed type. The drum
of this roller is covered by steel chain grids which gives more pressure on the surface to be
compacted. These compactors are used on granular materials when size of the grain is
relatively larger, say gravel.

27
 Fig. 28: A Grid Compactor

For other feature, a sheep footed roller, a grid roller and padded roller are similar and hence
they are grouped together as "sheep footed type" rollers. In all these rollers case, top few
centimeters of compacted lift are some what loose. Next layer is placed in this loose top
surface which creates better bond of new layer with the compacted layer below to give a well
consolidated mass of fill or embankment.

c) Paded rollers:

These are steel drum type rollers in which small rectangular pads are projecting out of
the steel drums to create more soil pressure. From a distance they look similar to
sheep footed rolland. But the projection are large and uniform block unlike sheep
footed. They can be vibratory and self propelled type. These rollers are often
misunderstood for sheep footed rollers.

[Type a quote from the document

or the summary of an interesting
point. You can position the text
box anywhere in the document.
Use the Text Box Tools tab to
change the formatting of the pull
quote text box.]

Fig. 29: A Paded Rollars

These rollers resemble to sheep footed rollers because of projected pads from the drums. But
these projections are short as compared to the length of the projecting of sheep footed rollers.
Also the area of the pads coming in contact with the surface to be compacted in much large as
compared to sheep foot.

d) Three wheel rollers :

They are steel wheel static type rollers suitable for mixed type of soil and commonly used to
compact thiner layer of fills. They are always self propelled type. These rollers are commonly
found in 8/10 tons type.

21: A 3 Wheel roller

These rollers are used with or without ballast and mostly smooth steel drums type wheels.
They are conventional type rollers used al most on all types of soil. It is however found less

28
effective on uniformly graded granular materials like sand and . Also the are not
suitable on over moist .. soil clue to poor traction.

The effect of these rollers depend upon dead weight .. to compact the
earth layer over which the pass.

These 8/10 ton rollers can exest pressone of 20-40 kg per linear centimeter. For light work,
lighter rollers are also available.

Move recently a special design feature of units that have two drums on the single front axle
line, like double rear wheels of a truck, have been added. In these rollers, each of the double
drums can move up and down independently to ride over mounds on the fill.

e) Vibrating rollers

Ordinary vibrating rollers are a single drum type steel wheel rollers to be towed by tractors.
The drum is capable of vibrating to give more pressure and vibrating effect on the material
layer to be compacted. It is suitable for granular soil. This type of roller is used when depth of
fills is relatively greater (200 mm).

Fig. 22; A Vibratory Roller

The benefit of the use of vibration is to compact granular material in lesser number of passes.
It gives better compactive effort than is possible with only static weight and kneading action.
Therefore they can compact thicker layer of fill at one time. However they are not very
effective in materials having more than 15% clay particles.

But with the need many different versions of vibrating rollers have been added. They come in
self propelled vibrating drum with pneumatic rear wheels or a tandem roller with either the
front wheel (mostly) or the rear wheel having vibrating action.

For smaller width of fill like trenches or other narrow strips, much smaller vibratory rollers
with drum width as less as 90 com are also in use.

The better effect of use of vibration to compact a granular material was noticed with the use
of crawler tracks on a fill. The vibratory roller is made simply in an ordinary smooth steel
wheel roller. They con also be made on other type of rollers as discussed under sheep footed
rollers. Vibrating effect is given by attaching two rotating eccentric weights to the axle. The

29
eccentric weight rotate around the axle compaction by a vibratory roller depends upon a good
balance between the static weight of the roller and the dynamic load caused by oscillations of
the eccentric weights.

Towed type vibratory drum rollers weigh up to 20 tons with centrifugal forced at least twice
that much with frequency of oscillation up to 2000 vibrations per minute.

To achieve desired density at reasonable depth, the compactor must pass over the fill layer
slowly. Higher travel speed will require more number of passes. Since these rollers can
compact relatively greater depth, it permits a relatively thicker lift and faster embankment
construction.
Larger version and towed by tractors self propelled model has vibrating mechanism and an
engine to propel it forward and back ward. They can travel at a speed of

Page 367 of Kataye

400 m/hour. These machines can be used to compact cohesion less material to a depth of 70
cms and can be employed for compaction in a restricted space they can turn around and also
go in reverse direction making to operate.

These rollers give smoother surface over the fill. These rollers work best in granular materials
with some binding clay placed in a layer of 10 cm to 15 cms.

Weight of these rollers also can be increased by adding ballast to a hollow drum. It increases
compacting load to about 30 kg per centimeter width of the roller.

f) Tandem rollers :

They are 2 wheel steel drum type rollers, generally self propelled. The two wheels run in
tandem hence the name. In some cases one of the wheel is vibratory also. This roller can also
be balasted to increase the dead load. Some tandem rollers are available in 3 axles having 3
steel drums rolling in tandem. They are called "Three Axle Tandem Rollers".

Fig.23: A Tandem Roller

30
There rollers may be with one wheel vibrating or both wheel vibrating. But most common
one is the front axle wheel vibrating and near wheel static. In tandem rollers, generally the
size of both wheels are equal and centered in line tandem.

With the development of tandem vibratory compactors, they are preferred in the industry
since they can be used as vibratory compactor in rough filling work or used as
static roller in surface finishing work.

These rollers used to give smooth finishes and generally useful for granular materials.

These rollers are available in different sizes and capacity depending upon the requirement.

g) Pneumatic rollers:

These are rollers with rubber tyres, generally 3 in the front and 4 in the near. They are
suitable for clayey soil. They can be ballasted by adding water or sand on the body tank of
these rollers to increase the dead load of these rollers. They are non vibrating type.

Fig. 24: A Pneumatic Roller

It was discovered that some compaction was performed by heavy commercial

vehicles during the first few days of opening of road to traffic. This gave reason for the
researchers to develop pneumatic typed rollers. These rollers are used more and more in the
last few years for the compaction of earthwork and bituminous work. Since they do not crush
aggregates when in contact, this type of rollers have become very popular in bituminous
surface dressing work. Also they have become a must in asphalt concrete paving work-
especially for back rolling of the finished surface.
It was discovered that some compaction was performed by heavy commercial
vehicles during the first few days of opening of road to traffic. This gave reason for the
researchers to develop pneumatic typed rollers. These rollers are used more and more in the
last few years for the compaction of earthwork and bituminous work. Since they do not crush
aggregates when in contact, this type of rollers have become very popular in bituminous
surface dressing work. Also they have become a must in asphalt concrete paving work-
especially for back rolling of the finished surface.

Pneumatic rollers are generally self propelled although towed type are available to work in
large earth filling area. Although they are found to be more suitable in clayey soil, they are

31
proved to be successful in non-cohesive soil and stabilized soil in the construction of road
ways, canal embankment, construction.

These rollers are built over a wide range of weights to . for various requirements.

Pneumatic rollers are generally self propelled although towed type are available to work in
large earth filling area. Although they are found to be more suitable in clayey soil, they are
proved to be successful in non-cohesive soil and stabilized soil in the construction of road
ways, canal embankment, construction.

These rollers are built over a wide range of weights to . for various requirements.

h) Frog rammers:

Also called monkey jumpers these compactors are very useful and handy when area to be
compacted is very small. They are generally used to compact back filling around man holes,
back filling on the culvert approach or on corners of structures where other compacting
equipments can not reach.

Fig. 25: A Frog Rammer at Work

These equipment are hand held by the operator to move form one place to another. A
small engine on the top of the rammer gives the jumping effect.

i) Plate compactors :

These are small hand held equipment used in compacting small area. Fill depth (layer)
of earth to be compacted by this equipment should not exceed 100 mm.

This equipment has small vibrating plate generally 600 mm 600 mm or less. They
are held by hand and easily movable form place to place when the plate is vibrating.
Vibrating effect is given with the help of an engine mounted over the plate or with
electrically operated motor over the plate.

Fig. 26: A Plate Compactors

32
These plates are used to compact earth filling in building floors or on the back filling behind
man holes or culvert approaches or trenches.

There are many variations in the design and operation of vibratory plate compactors. Smaller
version of manually operated plate compactors are very handy and useful to compact small
and confined area size of the plats ranges from 30 cms x30 cms to 75 cms x 75 cms. These
manually operated vibrating plate compactors weighs up to 100 kgs.

Field tests have shown that up to 95% of optimums density can be achieved by these
machines. It is also noted that effective compaction is obtained at greater depth by using a
vibrating plate than by using a vibratory roller of the same weight. A plate compactor requires
fewer passes than . a vibratory roller to get the desired compaction.

These machines deliver blows rapidly in succession to the fill material to be compacted
vibratory blows are generated by revolving eccentric weights inside a container with a plate
on the bottom to act on the material.

The vibrating mechanism may be driven electrically or mechanically. Compaction is done by

vibration with frequency as high as 6000 vpm in case of small hand held vibrating
compactors. In case of large equipment mounted machines, its is lesser around 1500vpm.

j) Hand held rollers:

These are small steel drum rollers, generally vibrating and self propelled, but may also be
push type. Pushing of these rollers become easy when they are vibrating. Therefore they are
considered as self propelled, even with only one drum.

Fig. 27: A Small Hand Held Roller

A common model is a duplex hand held vibratory roller having dual roll drive and dual roll
vibration. These small machines are also handy to negotiate staper grades and cross country
mobility. They are also used in small repair jobs, compaction of fill slopes, and lawn tennis
courts in many centre's.

Generally they come with 2 drums, one of which is vibrating. Width of these drums is small
to suit the need where they have to the operated. They are suitable to compact small trenches
and road shoulders.

3. AGGREGATE HANDLING EQUIPMENT

3.1 Aggregates and its Source

33
Stone chips or aggregates have many uses in construction industry. They are used in cement
concrete or bituminous concrete as one of the most important ingredient. They are also used
in road base course, rail way ballast and surface construction of road ways and airports.

Therefore aggregates are either natural sand and gravel from the quarry pits.;

Yet another source of aggregates can be from the stock piles of slag or cinders.

River bed materials and pit quarry gravels are not very common although they are found in
abundance in rocky mountainous terrain. The most common common source is the rocks and
therefore breaking the rocks to desired size is the process of aggregate production.

Aggregates have some quality as specified by specifications and standards. Various tests are
performed to determine quality parameters including size and particle distribution hardness,
toughness, abrasion resistance, specific gravity, flakiness, elongation, fineness modules,
organic impurities, moisture content. Therefore many kinds of equipment are used to produce
these aggregates.

Both course aggregates and fine aggregates are derived from river bed in its pure form e.g.
sand in many cases are processed from the river bed material directly. Coarse aggregates are
recovered by screening in required size the form of river shingles from river bed and by
crushing river boulders to required size.

Another important source of aggregates is from mines or quarries. In this case also materials
may be derived in its pure form like sand from quarries or mines and processed to recover
required size like crushing of quarry rocks.

Two types of operation is thus involved in the production of aggregates. First is sieving the
materials. Second is crushing the materials. Machine used for each operation is discussed
under the following sub sections. For quarrying the rocks to produce aggregates, operations
like drilling, blasting, loading and transporting also are involved. These operations have been
discussed under excavating equipments and transporting equipments earlier. Therefore they
are not repeated here.

3.2 Screening Plants:

Screening is necessary in order to separate the aggregates by size.

Screening plants are selected depending upon the specification of aggregates that are required
for the job. And separating various sizes again by sieving. Therefore in aggregate production,
sieving plays an important role. The following two types of screens are generally in use.

a) Revolving Screens

These are the most common types of screens used to wash and screen sand and gravel. The
operating of this type of screens is simple and slow. Therefore maintenance and repair costs
are low as compared to other type of screens. Streams of water may be sprayed on the
aggregates as it moves through the screen. If the aggregates contain some silt or clay lump or
sticked to the rock particles, a scrubber can be installed near the entrance of the rotating drum
in order to agitate the material and make them easy to be washed by water when sprayed as

34
the aggregates move through the screen. In the process drum revalues slowly about the
inclined, longitudinal axis, materials enter at the upper end of the cylinder moves down until
it passes through .. at lower end. Size of the screen may increase along the drum
length.

Aggregates are separated by size and stored temporarily in bins below the screen. These
aggregates are then transferred to stock pile yard.

Fig. 30: A Revolving Screen Plant

Some times these aggregates by size are transferred directly to stock pile yard as it falls
from the screen with the help of conveyor belts attached to the screens.

b) Vibrating Screens

It is the most widely used screens for aggregate production for their efficiency and
capacity to handle large amount of materials. These plants come under multiple deck
type. Screens are installed one above the another. Each screen is called deck. A vibrating
mechanism is filled to the steel frame which holds the screens. Therefore all the screens
vibrate simultaneously.

Fig. 31: A Vibrating Screens

The screens are slightly sloped from receiving end to the discharging end. This slope
combined with the vibrating effect causes aggregates to flow over the surface of the screen.
Particles smaller than screen opening will drop from the screen and oversize, particles will
flow off the screen at the discharge end. Size of the opening will be smaller for each lower
deck.

35
 Steel grills type screens are the most commonly used ones in such plants. They consist of
evenly spaced, parallel, tapered and inclined bars running in the direction of the of the
crushers. Undersize materials drop through the bars and oversize is retained on the bars and
discharged at the end of the screen. Spacing of these bars is determined depending upon the
size of aggregates that is required to be produced.

3.3 Crushing Plants:

Modern construction involves concrete of different grades and stone chips-aggregates are the
most important ingredients of concrete construction. They are used in buildings, dams,
irrigation structures bridges, water supply projects and similar civil engineering construction,
construction of road and highways airports and rail roads require very large amount of
crushed rocks as it is the primary construction material for construction and maintenance of
these structures. Primary source of the aggregates is natural rocks extracted from quarries.
Production of aggregates thus involves operations like drilling, blasting, loading,
transporting, crushing, screening, and storing of aggregate. The product from the crusher is
taken to screening plant to separate various sizes of aggregates. The range of the sizes
depends upon the need of a specific project.

The reduction ratio or the degree of reduction is given by :

C= where D=maximum diameter of boulder to be crushed

D= size of the stone chips to be produced.

Stone may be broken by pressure, shearing, impact, and rubbing.

Pressure Shearing Impact

Crushers are designed and developed in this basic principle.

36
Crushers are used to crush block stones received from stone quarries or boulders from river
beds. Large boulders cannot be reduced to desired size in single operation. Therefore, some
times they may pass through 3 or more crushers before they are reduced to the required size.
If large boulders are tried to be broken to the required size in single operation, more fines are
generated and normally there will be limited market for fines. Similarly, by such operation,
more flaky particles will be obtained. Such aggregates may not be suitable for the required
job. Therefore, rock or boulder braking is spread over several stages for closely controlling
product size and minimizing the production of wasteful material.
The rocks are fed to primary crushers to break them into smaller size before taking to
secondary crusher which then further reduces the size of stones to feed into a tertiary crusher
which finally produces the aggregates of required size.
Reduction of size of stone from a crusher is called reduction ratio. It is the ratio of size of
crusher feed stone to the size of product aggregate. For a jaw crusher it may be ratio of the
gap between the fixed and moving faces of the jaw at the top divided by the distances of the
open side setting at the bottom.

More accurate reduction ratio may be obtained corresponding to 80% passing for both the
feed stone size and product size.

3.4 Various Types of Crushers:

Crushers may be classified according to the stage of crushing which they accomplish such as
primary, secondary or tertiary. Crushers may also be classified by their method of
transmitting fracturing energy of the rock. They may be impact crushers like hammer mills or
compressive crushers like jaw crushers and gyratory crushers.

Different types of crusher are discussed below:

a) Jaw Crushers:
These crushers have 2 jaws, one filled in fixed frame and the other movable. Stone is fed
between these 2 jaws opening of which is bigger at the top from where stone is fed and
smaller at the bottom to get aggregates reduced to the required size. The movable jaw exerts
pressure which is required to crush the rock. If the stone is very hard, crusher must

be sufficiently strong. Therefore in selecting a jaw crusher, consideration must be given to

the hardness of stone and size of feed stone. The top opening should be at least 50 mm
wider than the largest stone it has to handle. The jaws may be corrugated or smooth.
Corrugated jaws reduce slabbing of stones while breaking.

37
 Fig. 32: A Jaw Crusher
In a jaw crusher, material is broken by pressure and shearing. Pressure is exerted by the
periodic movement of a movable jaw towards on fixed jaw.

Movable Jaw Fixed Jaw Movable Jaw Fixed Jaw

a) Horizontal Movement b) With some vertical Movement

Source: (Mir - page 289)

Jaw crushers cam be used as both primary and secondary crushing. But they are most soil
table for primary crushing. These crushers are more useful when lesser fine particles are
required.

The crusher consists of 2 jaws, are fixed and one movable called swing jaw. They are made of
heavy duty cost steel or manganese chrome steel or similar hard steel to with stand impact
presume on them.

Capacity of the crusher depends upon the size of the material to be produced and also out put
of the machine per hour. For better production, a maximum and uniform flow of feed is
essential. Depending upon the requirement, contractors can select a small portable type of
crusher towed from place to place in a quarry site or place of construction were aggregates
are required. Or they can be large crushers used as primary crushers to feed to one or more
secondary crushers.

Two types of jaw crusher are found to be more effective, the double-toggle crusher and the
overhead-eccentric single toggle crusher. Jaws converge towards to bottom of the crushing
chamber.

All the jaw crushers have vectorngular top opening between the two crusher plates and the
side plates.

Some crusher jaw plates move horizontally only and some crushers jaw can have both
vertical and horizontal movement.

b) Gyratory Crushers:

These crushing plants provide continuous crushing action and are used for both primary and
secondary crushing. The crusher unit consists of a heavy cast iron or steel frame with an
eccentric shaft and driving gear in the lower part of the unit. In the upper part, there is a cone
shaped crushing chamber lined with hard steel plate and is called "Concaves".

38
 Fig. 33: A Gyratory Crusher

The eccentric bottom support causes the crushing head to gyrate as the shaft rotates there by
varying the width of space between concaves and the head.

The rock gets reduced as it moves downward until it finally passes through the opening at the
bottom of the chamber. The size of gyratory crusher is the width of the receiving opening,
measured between the concaves and the crushing head. The setting is the width of the bottom
opening and may be the open or closed dimension. The ratio of reduction for a gyratory
crusher ranges from 3:1 to 10:1 with average value around 8:1. Gyratory crushers are much
economical than jaw crusher since they use less energy. They are equally good for coarse
aggregates, medium aggregates and fine aggregates. They are preferred as a secondary
crusher as they produce more round aggregates as compared to the jaw crushers.

The common gyratory crusher has a rotating crusher head and mantle on the vertical shaft.
One type of gyratory crusher has crusher head mounted on an eccentric sleeve over a fixed
main shaft. As it rotates the fixed vertical shaft, it delivers a horizontal crushing stroke to the
stone to be crusher. Another type of gyratory crusher has main shaft inclined slightly from the
vertical. The bottom of the main shaft is offset by an eccentric journal. As the shaft rotates, it
provides a gyratory motion to the crusher head. Yet another type of gyratory crusher has a
horizontal shaft so that the crushing action is done by vertical shearing action. The stationary
crusher shell is concave in the vertical direction and circular in plan. It forms about in which
mantle rotates. Concaves may be straight, modified straight or cuved. The cenved concaves
are are suitable for crushing rocks containing sticky moist or . Materials that may clog
the crusher. The shapes do not affect the crusher capacity.

As the crusher head rotates, the gap between the mantle and the concave varies between
minimum to the maximum very half revolution. The maximum gap known as open side is the
setting for the gyratory crusher. The material is fid from the top ring shaped opening between
the shall and the crusher head. The crushed rock is discharged through the bottom gap
between the mantle and the concave.

c) Cone Crushers:

These crushers are used as secondary or tertiary crushers. They are capable of producing
large quantities of uniformly fine crushed stone aggregates. A cone crusher differs from
gyratory crusher in the following respect.

i) It has a shorter cone

ii) It has a smaller receiving opening

39
 iii) It rotates at a higher speed, 430-580 r.p.m (Satyanarayana and Saxena)
iv) It produces more uniform size aggregates.

Fig. 34: A Cone Crusher

In the cone crusher, the conical head, usually made of manganese steel and mounted on the
vertical shaft, serves as one of the crushing surface. The other surface is the concave, which is
attached to the upper part of the crusher frame. The bottom of the shaft is set in an eccentric
bushing to produce the gyratory effect as the shaft rotates. Due to high speed of rotation, all
particles passing through a crusher will be reduced to a size not higher than close size
setting which is used to designate size of discharge.

A cone crusher is similar to gyratory crasher. It has modified mantle and for better
controlling of the finished size of the smaller feed. They are designated by the maximum
diameter of the rotating mantle. The crusher head or mantle can be adjustable to permit
change for different material and size.

A disadvantage of the cone crusher is that it may bet packed with sticky materials. This
crusher produces good round and cubical aggregates much required for any construction. The
cone crusher requires more head room and opening space as compared to roll crusher.

d) Roll crushers

These crushers are used to produce additional reductions in the size of stone after the output
of a quarry has been subject to one or more stages of prior crushing. It consists of a heavy
cast iron frame equipped with either one or more hared steel rolls each mounted on a separate
horizontal shafts. Adjustable
liner

Fig.35: Rock crushing between Single roll C = roll setting

40
 With a single roll crusher, the materials is forced between a large diameter roller having
knob like teeth and an adjustable liner. Because the material is dragged against the liner,
these crushers are not economical for crushing highly abrasive materials.

With a double roll crusher, each roll is driven independently. One of the rolls is mounted
on a slide frame to permit adjustment in the width of discharge opening between the two
rolls.

A = maximum size of feed

x C x
Roll

R
B
0 D

C=Roll setting = size of finished product

Fig. 36: Crushing rock between 2 rolls.

Maximum size of material that may be fed to a roll crusher is directly proportional to the
diameter of the rolls. The angle of nip "B" which is constant for smooth rolls, has been
found to be 160 54.

The capacity of a roll crusher may vary with the kind of stone it has to handle, the size of
feed and the size of finished product. For a roll crusher producing a finished aggregates, the
reduction ratio should not be more than 4:1. However if a roll crusher is used to prepare feed
for a fine grinder, the reduction ratio may be as high as 7:1.
A single roll crusher is generally a special purpose crusher with a large diameter, horizontal
cylinder from which knob-like teeth project. The roll revolves over an adjustable plate or
anvil which is another crushing surface. The teeth in the single roll crusher apply a cutting
and shearing action to the material. It is suitable for sticky and soft material that might clog
other types of crushers. This crusher produces cubical material with excessive fine particles.
It is used as primary crusher. The crusher opening is not less than 50 mm.

Double and triple roll crusher are also used as secondary crushers. They can be operated to
produce aggregates of uniform and controlled gradation up to 6 mm in size. The double roll
crushers has 2 horizontal cylinders which rotate towards each other. The tow rollers of the
crusher.

Photo

May have same or different types of surfaces. One of the roll is stationary, i.e. its axis remains
fixed and is the power roll to drive the crusher. The second roll known as floating roll is

41
driver by a gear system or belt/chain drive form the first roll. This second roll is adjustable to
change the width of the opening between the rolls.

Maximum size of feed depends upon the size of the roll and size of the opening. Generally
maximum size of feed is not more than 200 mm.

In a triple roll crusher, the third roll is placed above the stationary roll of twin rolls. Materials
enter between the upper roll and stationary roll. Then it passes for a second crushing between
the two sets like a twin roll crusher.

d) Impact Crushers

In this type of crushers, stones are broken by the application of high speed impact forces.
Advantage in also taken of the rebound between the stones and against the machine
surface to utilize fully the initial impact energy. Speed of rotation is important to the
effective operation of these crushers as the energy available for impact varies as the
square of the rotational speed.

Fig. 37: Impact Crusher

These crushers come under single rotor model or double rotor model. The single rotor
type breaks the rock by the impact action of the impeller striking the feed material and by
the impact which results when the impeller driven material strikes against the aprons
within the crusher unit. They produce cubical product but are economical for low
abrasion materials.
The double rotor units are similar to single rotor ones and produce higher proportion
of dines. They are more efficient than the single rotor type. Some rock breaking and crushing
machines use age old technique of breaking rocks by the use of sledge-hammer, but in
controlled environment. The impact crusher is one of this type.

These crushers are used as primary crushers to prepare feeding material for secondary or
tertery crushers.
Maintenance of the impact crusher is a problem especially when it is used with extremely
hard or excessively abrasive material.

e) Hammer Mills

42
 They are the most widely used impact crusher. These are used both on primary and
secondary crushers. The basic parts of hammer mill include a housing frame, a horizontal
shaft extending through the housing, a number of arms and hammers attached to a spool,
one or more manganese steel breaker plates, and a series of grate bars whose spacing may
be adjusted to regulate the width of opening through which the crushed stone flows.

Fig. 38: A Hammer Mill

As the stones are fed to the mill, the hammers, which travel at high speed, strike the stones,
breaking them and driving them against the breaker plates which further reduces their sizes.
Final size reduction is accomplished by grinding the material against the bottom grate bars.
The principle of working of a hammermill is like that of an impact crusher.

The hammer mills have added crushing benefits of the hammers grinding the fragmented
rock against the grates at the bottom of the crushing chamber. It crushers materials by
.. and attrition in the final grinding of the materials. Therefore this crusher may be
used to crush materials where a lot of fines are required.

The size of hammer mill may be designated by the size of the feed opening. The capacity
will vary with the size of the unit, the kind of stone crushed, the size of material fed, and
the speed of the shaft.

f) Rod Mill

These mills are used to produce sand from crushed aggregates. It consists of a circular
steel that is lined on the inside with a hard wearing surface.
It is operated with its axis in a horizontal position. The mill is charged with steel rod
length of which is slightly less than the length of the mill. As the mill rotates slowly the
stone is subjected to the impact of tumbling rods which reduces the size of aggregates.
The size of the rod mill is specified by the diameter and the length of the steel such as
8 * 12 ft.

43
 Fig. 39: Rod Mill
A rod mill may be operated wet or dry, with or without water added.

g) Ball Mill

It is similar to a rod mill but uses steel balls instead of rods to give impact effect. They
will produce fine materials with smaller grain size as compared to rod mill.

Fig. 40: A Ball Mill

In a ball mill the material is rubbed and struck by balls placed into the drum. The nature of
grinding depends upon movement of the balls.

Ball mill comprises of a cylindrical drum whose ends are covered by detachable bottoms. The
bottoms are connected with hollow journals resting on .. The hole in are jounal
serves for changing the material and the hole in the journal in another end for discharging the
fine materials.

Fig: A section of a ball mill

The rotating drum is rigidly fastened to a feeder continuously feeds the materials into the
drum containing manganese steel. The internal surface of the drum is lined with fluted
armour plates.

4. CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT:

4.1 Introduction:

Concrete is the most versatile and also most widely used construction material in building
and civil engineering construction. Its adaptability to any shape and size together with its
availability all over the world makes it a very useful and economical material capable of
giving desired strength in a structure.
Concrete constitutes cement, coarse aggregates, fine aggregates, water and admixtures
mixed together, placed, competed and allowed to set to give required strength.

44
These materials must be batched in correct proportions and mixed thoroughly to produce
concrete that the job specification. Then another activity is to transport the concrete
to the place of laying in such a way that it does not segregate or less of any material
component and without excessive compaction while transporting.

Since the fresh concrete does not have any shape, it has to be molded in a form work to
give required shape and size.
Therefore operations involved in concrete construction are:
a) Construction of from work
b) Batching of materials
c) Mixing of materials
d) Transporting the fresh concrete
e) Placing the concrete
f) Compacting the placed concrete
g) Finishing the surface of concrete
h) Curing
Each of the above activities for concrete construction involves certain equipment which
are discussed under the following sub- section.

4.2 Form Work Construction:

The most commonly used material for any large construction work is the steel plates moulded
to give required shape and size of concrete member. In smaller construction projects timber
and plywood are extensively used. The plywood has to be waterproof and coated with plastic
materials to give smooth finishes to the concrete surface. Also the farm work has to be water
tight so that no cement slurry is lost in the process of compaction of the concrete.

From work can be constructed of timber, plywood, block board, steel plates, aluminum
plates etc. These form work have to be strong enough to resist the pressure of fresh
concrete, rigid enough to retain the shape without deformations, provide desired finishing
after the form in removed and is economical.

The form work have to be supported by false work called staging which have to be strong
and easy to erect and remove so that fixing of form work and its removal becomes easy.
These support can be of timber section of required size or steel props of required section.
Adjustable tubular pole are very popular since they are easy to work and adjust the height
of the support to the form work

45
 Fig. 4.1: A Form Work Being Erected.
For small spaon and not so important concrete construction, bamboo support are also
used, but they are not very reliable. Therefore bamboo are not recommended to be used as
props staging or of form work for concrete construction.

4.3 Equipment for Batching Of Materials

Batching is measuring different ingredients of concrete to correct quanity. For good

quality concrete, ingredients of mixers must be properly proportioned. Generally,
specifications require concrete to be batched with coarse aggregates and fine aggregates
from 6 size ranges for compacted concrete construction. Aggregate from each size range
must be accurately measured. All the ingredients are put into the concrete mixer and
mixed for suitable period of time to produce adequately blended homogeneous mix.
Correctly proportioned materials will give good mix in minimum time. Therefore
batching of concrete is very important.

Fig. 4.2: A Batching Plant

Concrete batching and mixing plants commonly known in the industry as concrete plants are
employed to produce large amount of concrete required in the construction of road, airport,
rcc dam or large commercial and industrial structures. Depending upon the need, the design
of these plants can be externally diverse. They can be stationary, semi stationary or complete
mobile. For long time service at one place e.g. in the case of RMC plant, they are designed as
stationary. Semi stationary plants are designed to serve on projects of medium size say a
section of concrete road etc. They com be installed and dismantled quickly at low cost and
therefore can be moved from place to place and operate in a given site for one or two years.
Mobile plants are used in projects for relatively shorter duration, not over one construction
season. They are mounted over a chesis on pneumatic wheels and can be transferred by
wowing with the help of a track. Capacity of mobile pants are much smaller as compared to
stationary plants. The concrete plants can be of two types tower type which are also called
single stage plants where the entire equipment is arranged in one tower so that the material
raised into the service hoppers flow down by gravity. These plants are 20-30 meters and
hence difficult in erection and ..

Photo Mir 259

46
Fig.: Flow diagram of tower type plant

The second type is a continuous flow plant called multistage plant. They consist of vibro
chute feeders, weight belt conveyors and automatic system to control them. The equipment is
such plants are arranged in horizontal plane. Therefore their height is much lower as
compared to tower type.
These plants require repeatedly lifting of materials in the process of mixing and thus uses
more energy.

Semi stationary plants with fully automatic control system are the most widely used ones in
the industry.

Photo Sharma 187

Fig.: Flow diagram of a multistage plant

Basic units these plants are 1) aggregates loading device which loads aggregates in service
hoppers, 2) feeding hoppers or service hoppers which serves aggregates of different size to
the specified size of material to weight conveyer, 3) cement silo and serving unit which
weights required quantity of cement and feeds in to the closed conveyer belt to carry to the
mixing unit, 4) water storage and discharge device which measures water in required quantity
and discharge into the mixing drum 5) the mixing unit where all the ingredients are mixed
thoroughly and 6) a delivery hopper which receives material from the mixer and delivers to a
receiving truck.

Batching is generally done by weight. Different types of weight batchers are available.
For small construction simple weighing scale with bucket on both sides of the scale are
commonly used where as for larger concrete construction, automatic batching plant with
bins for different size aggregates and cement are used. They are called job batching
machine and central batching machine. Water and liquid admixtures are generally
measured by volume and other ingredients by weight. The batching plants are available in
3 categories.
i) Manual
ii) Semiautomatic and
iii) Fully automatic.
Manual batching machine are suitable for small jobs (around 15 cum. / hour). In semi
automatic plants charging and discharging of the batchers are activated manually but are
automatically terminated. In a fully automatic batching plant, the batching sequence, the
weights and volumes are determined automatically.

4.4 Equipment for Mixing Of Concrete

Very small quantity of concrete at micro level say 2 or 3 cubic meter are mixed by hand
with suitable provision for additional cement to take care of non homogeneity in manual
mixing. This is accepted in very unusual and unavoidable circumstance. Generally even

47
for small job concrete is mixed with the help of mechanical mixers of various capacity
and sizes. Various types of mixers in use in Nepal are described below.

(a) Rotating drum type mixers.

For small jobs manual fed rotating drum type mixers are used with capacity of
about 1 cum per hour where as a normal 7/10 machines can product up to 3 cum
per hour. Therefore larger capacity machine and plants are used to mix concrete
as per the need of a project.

These machines have a gradating drum for mixing the ingredients. Walls and
bottom of the drum are made of very hard, strong and wear resistant material
because they are subjected to impact and scraping and abrasion during the
operation. Rotating speed and time period of mixing are very important to ensure
that concrete is correctly mixed and segregation does not take place. The
peripherial speed of a rotating drum should be between 0.5m/see to 2.4 m/see.
Over mixing or mixing for a longer period will result in accumulation of finer
particles (cement) at one place and forming bigger size balls of these particles.
The volume of the rotating drum should be 2.-3 time bigger than the volume of
charge into the drum (i.e. the volume of dry materials). The inside of the drum is
provided with various types, shaper and number of blades attached to the internal
surface of the drum. As the drum rotates the materials are raised by the blades and
then allowed to drop freely producing the mixing effect.

The rotating drum type mixers are of two categories i) tilting drum type which tilts
to receive the materials from a hopper and also while it discharges the materials.
Ii) Nontilting drum type rotates is a fixed axis and discharges materials with the
help of chute attached to the mixer.

The materials in this type of machine is fed manually directly into the rotating
drum. It discharges the material by tilting the drum on the side of where concrete
receiving arrangement is made.

All of there machines can be mobile when they are mounted on a chesis over
wheels or they can be stationary when they are lifted and placed at a fixed location
where concrete is producted.

These mixers generally come under 3 sizes. Smallest one is 5/3.5 cu.ft capacity
suitable for very small jobs, operated manually and portable to be taken to
difficult terrain. They can also be powered by electrical motor.

48
 Fig.4.3: A Rotating Drum Tilting type Mixer

Most common one which is used in smaller construction is a 10/7 concrete mixer.
This generally comes under tilting drum type where the ingredients are fed into
the rotating drum with the help of loading funnel and water is added from the tank
mounted on the top of the mixer. Both loading and unloading is done
mechanically by an operator.

Bigger one in this category is a 20/14 size concrete mixer used in comparatively
bigger construction. These mixers can produce concrete mix at the rate of 8 cum
per hour. This type comes with fixed rotating drum in which material is fed with
the help of loading funnel and mix concrete is unloaded with the help of a filting
chute. Both loading and unloading is done mechanically by an operator.

(b) Pan mixers.

This type of mixer causes forced mixing of concrete and consists of a pan which
recives mixing ingredients. The ingredients are mixed thoroughly by the rollers
and mixing blades which rotate in the pan. Action of these rollers and mixing
blades causes forced mixing the materials and also produce a kneading and
crushing action (effect).

Yet in another type of pan mixer the pan also rotates in one direction while the
mixing blade rotates in reversediration.

Photo Mir p 442

Concrete produced is discharged through a rate located at the bottom of the pan.
These gates are operated pneumatically or mechanically.

The rollers and mixing blades are driven by electric mortar or IC engine.

These type of mixer is suitable for mixing mortar in job site locations. Generally
these mixer come in a chasis on pneumatic wheels which makes them mobile
around the project site.

This type of mixer are used for smaller jobs and when size of coarse aggregate is
relatively smaller say below 12mm. Not very common nowadays, material
ingredients are loaded in the mixing pan manually and the mixer is agitated
mechanically.

49
 Fig.4.4: A Rotating Drum (Fixed) Type Mixer

(c) Batching plant and mixers

For a medium size concrete construction (10-25 cum per hour) a semi automatic batching
machines my be used.

Fig.: A semi automatic batching and mixing machine.

In this type of machines, materials of correct size is fed to the hoppers manually. The hopper
has weight sensor attached to its bottom and the correct weight can be read in the digital
display unit of the machine.

For any semiautomatic or automatic batching machine or plants, they come together with a
mixing machine plant. Therefore a common name given to these machines is :weigh batchers
and mixers". Their function is both batching of the ingredients and mixing them.

Any batching machines contains a aggregate feeding system like feed bins, a cement storage
and delivery system like cement cylo-weighing hopper and water measuring and delivery
system. All these ingredients after being measured are feed into on mixing unit placed at
another end of the batching plant.

Photo 187

Fig.: General layout of a concrete batching plant

Water is one of the very important ingredient in concrete construction. Therefore measuring
correct quantity of water is always important. For this a reliable and accurate water
measuring device is required. Generally water is delivered to a measuring device of the plant
from where it is feed into the mixer when aggregates and cement is changed into the mixing
drum. The measuring device is filled from another overhead tanu while mixing takes place.

The modern plants have weight sensors and give very accurate measure of each constituent
materials by weight which is displayed in digital panel board/display unit.

Cement concrete and cement mortar are prepared by batching correctly the ingredients
(cement, sand, . aggregate and ) and mixing them thoroughly

50
to produce consistent and homogeneous mixes. Various types of mixers are therefore used for
this purpose.

These are large mixers attached to the batching plants. They can be job-batched plant mixers
when the project is in remote location or is relatively large. For normal projects which are
nearer the industrial area, central batching and mixing plants are established and concrete is
transported to the job site in ready mix concrete trucks or the transit mixers.

Now a days plants with mixers capable of mixing 6 cum of concrete in each batch are
available. They can produce 150 cum of concrete pr hour. Hence they are very suitable for
large jobs. For very large projects, mixers capable of mixing 12 cum per batch are also
available. But they are for very special and very large projects.

Fig.4.5: Concrete Batching and Mixing Plant

The mixer either tilts to discharge the concrete into a truck or a chute is inserted into the
mixer to catch and discharge the concrete.

(d) Transit mixers

These are the mixers mounted in a truck. These mixers receive aggregates and cement
from a batching plant and add water to mix concrete en-route to the project site. The drum
of these mixers revolve 70 100 revolutions for complete mixing of concrete. This type
of concrete is called transit mixed concrete. It is very important to note that time elapsed
from introduction of water to the placement of the concrete into the form has to be
controlled. All this has to be completed well before initial setting time of the concrete.

51
 Fig.4.6: A Transit Mixers

These transit mixers have a suitable water supply system having a sufficiently large water
tank, a water measuring system and a pump to supply water for mixing of concrete and also
for clearing the drum after concrete is delivered.

The diver of the rotating drum is taken from truck power take off. The mixing blade of the
drum mixes the concrete while revolving in one direction and discharges the mix while
revolving in another direction.

Yet another type of transit mixers are called agitators. These mixers receive ready mixed
concrete (RMC) and transport to a place of delivery. These machines keep the fully mixed
concrete in plastic state and save it from seggrigation or drying out or setting by continuous
agitation while being transported.
Main difference between the transit mixers and agitators are that a large volume of water is
carried by transit mixer and agitators do not. The agitators are therefore.

Transit mixers are available is several sizes up to about 10 cum but the most popular one is of
8 cum capacity.

4.5 Equipment for Transportation of Concrete.

For most of the small jobs concrete mix is transported manually with the help of wheel
barrows or even in a pan carried manually. For any medium to large projects, mechanical
equipment are used to transport concrete from mixer to the form work where it has to be laid
in the final shape. The following are the commonly used concrete transferring system. Care
should be taken to ensure that concrete do not segregate or set during transferring.

a) Bucket conveyors
These are the concrete transporting system suitable for vertical lifting and dumping of
concrete in form work. When buckets are small continuous system, concrete is dumped near
the pouring place form where it has to be further transported with the help of manual "wheel
barrows". When concreting area is large "mini dumpers" may be used. A bucket conveyor is
illustrated in Fig. 18 under section 2.2 of this book.

b) Chutes
They are used to transfer concrete from higher level to lower level. The chutes should
have round bottom and made of MS plates supported generally by structural steel
members.

Fig. 4.7: Section of a round bottom chute.

52
 Slope of the chutes should be enough for concrete to flow continuously and without
segregation. When concrete mix is stiff

Fig. 4.8: Chute for dropping concrete from a height

i.e. slump is low, it is difficult for concrete to flow down. Therefore some pushing mechanism
has to be introduced. By increasing slump of concrete, slope of chute can be reduced.
Therefore chute section and slope has to be adjusted for concrete with particular slump
according to the level from where concrete has to be dropped and also the distance from
concrete source to the place where it has to be dropped.

c) Drop pipes
These are the pipes used to transport concrete vertically below. The pipe should have a
diameter at least 8 times the maximum size of aggregate at the top 2 m length and may be
tapered to the lower end with minimum size of 6 times the maximum size of aggregate at the
bottom end.

Such pipes are used to pour concrete in tall walls or down the columns to avoid segregation
from allowing concrete to fall through reinforcement.

Fresh concrete from mixer or conveyor system

Gate opening system

Drop Pipe

Fig. 4.9: Line Diagram of a Drop Pipe

Pipes are used to drop tremie concrete down the deep foundations of bridges like cast
in site piles or concrete cessions. In such case the pipes are called "Tremie Pipe". In
all cases, slump of concrete has to be more when concrete has to be dropped with the
help of pipes.

d) Belt Conveyors

With some lead. They are fabricated at site and used when no other mechanical device is
available to place concrete below:

53
Basically 2 types of conveyors are used in transporting concrete. They are i) self contained
conveyer which takes concrete and drops at a terminating point and ii) feeder or series
conveyer which transfers concrete to another conveyor. The second type is useful when
direction needs to be changed.

These conveyor can be made portable to run over rail making it easy to run and drop concrete
in a long section as the work progresses. Feeding machine to the conveyer belts also needs to
be moving.

They are very suitable for rapid movement of concrete but must have proper belt size and
speed to achieve desired rate of transportation. Care must be taken at a point where concrete
leaves one conveyor and continues in other conveyor or is discharged at a terminating point
as segregation can occur there. Optimum slump for concrete to be transferred by conveyor
belt system is 80 mm to 100 mm.

e) Concrete Pumps

Placing concrete through rigid or flexible pipes through a pump was designed and patented in
1913. However pumping of concrete started to be used extensively only after 1930 when
German make pumps were introduced in UK and other European countries.

Fig.4.10: A Conerete Pumps

Concrete can be moved through the pipe by applying pressure to a column of fresh concrete
in a pipe. A lubricating outer layer has to be provided and concrete mixure has to be properly
proportioned for pumping. Concrete of uniform workability must be fed to a pump.
Concrete pumping has recently started in Nepal although it is estimated that about 25% of all
the concrete is poured through pumping in the US.

Concrete pumps of various sizes and capacity are available to suit the requirement of a
project ranging from 7.5 cum to 115 cum per hour. Effective pumping range varies between
100m to 300m horizontally or 30m to 100m vertically. Occasionally pumps have moved
concrete more than 1500m horizontally and 300m vertically.

Three types of pumps are available in the market. They are (i) piston pumps (ii) pneumatic
pumps and (iii) squeeze pressure pumps. Most piston pumps contain 2 pistons, with one
retracting during the foreword stroke of the other to give more continuous flow of concrete.
The pneumatic pumps normally use a reblending discharge box at the discharge end to bleed
off-air to prevent segregation and spraying. In squeeze pressure pumps, hydraulically
powered rollers rotate on the flexible hose within the drum and squeeze the concrete out at
the top. The vacuum keeps a steady flow of concrete in the pipe from receiving hopper.
Pumps may be track mounted with a boom combination which makes them efficient and cost

54
effective. Such pumps come with flexible hoses with length 30 m or more. In fact they are
concrete placing machine than concrete transporting machine. Since they transfer concrete
generally from lower elevation to higher elevation, they are taken as concrete transportation
equipment.

The delivery pipe of a concrete pump is made of a combination of horizontal and vertical
runs, making this very flexible for placing concrete in locations where crane skips or buggies
con not operate. Concrete pumps are easier concrete from receiving and to its final location
about the from work. It is also said that pumping of concrete provides better mixing and
homogeneity to produce dense and compact concrete.

f) Transit Trucks
Most common type of transferring mechanism is through transit trucks which are also
capable of mixing concrete. They are discussed earlier under "concrete mixture".
These trucks either transfer concrete to pumping mechanism or other conveyor system
which takes concrete to the formwork where it has to be laid finally.

Fig. 4.11: A Transit Truck

g) Builders Hoist
They are most common and versatile machines used to transfer materials vertically
up. They receive concrete from some supply system and dumps it at the fixed place
above the ground. From this place of dump, a wheel barrow or a push cart is used to
take concrete to formwork where concrete has to be laid.

Fig. 4.12: A builders Hoist

h) Cranes
Cranes are commonly used to transfer concrete from mixer or a place of delivery to
the form work where it has to be laid. It is very suitable transferring system as it can
take concrete to the right location where it is required. Concrete buckets often called a
hopper are lifted by the crane hook and taken to the required place where bottom gate
of the bucket is opened to discharge the concrete. Various cranes are illustrated under
section 6 of this book.

55
4.6 Concrete Compaction Equipment

Fresh concrete contains large quantity of voids when mixed, transported and placed into
the formwork. The concrete therefore has to be compacted to remove air from it. The
following equipment are commonly used.

a) Internal Vibrators
Also called needle vibrators, they are introduced into the fresh concrete to vibrate and
give compacting effect to the concrete. The vibrating head of the needle generate
10,000 to 15000 vibrations per minute. The diameter of these vibrating heads ranges
from 19mm to 175 mm and length ranges from 300 mm to 750 mm. They are selected
depending upon the depth and thickness of concrete to be vibrated.

Fig.4.13: A needle Vibrator

These vibrators are powered by electric motors or compressed air or IC engines.

b) Plate Vibrators
They are used to compact concrete when the thickness is not much. They are also
called surface vibrators and are extensively used in slab construction. These vibrators
operate in a range between 3,000 to 6,000 vibrations per minute.

Fig.4.14: A Plate Vibrator

c) Vibrating Screed
These are also a type of surface vibrators but of larger length capable of compacting
large section of concrete surface giving neat shape to the concrete. They are used in
finishing bridge decks and also concrete pavement of roads, aprons and parking area.

56
 Fig.4.15: A Vibrating Screed

These vibrating screeds get vibrating effect through the vibrators mounted over the
screeds and travel longitudinally by pulling through a cable with the help of a winch
or a tractor at the other end.

d) Form Vibrator

When depth of concrete is more say 3m, and thickness of concrete is less say 200mm
(concreting of prestressed girder) it is difficult to insert immersion vibrator or a needle
vibrator. But concrete has to be highly compacted. Under such condition a vibrating
mechanism is attached to the sides of the formwork which gives vibrating effect to the
form and concrete gets compacted.

Vibrators attached on the form

work of a girder

Fig. 4.16: Form Vibrators attached to formwork

The size and capacity of such vibrators are selected depending upon the thickness and
height of concrete to be compacted.

e) Concrete Rollers
For the construction of large sections say large concrete dams, vibrating with needle
vibrators or surface vibrators will not be efficient and economical. In such cases
rollers of various types, sizes and capacity are used. Small vibratory rollers are most
common in concrete construction. But large static rollers are also used for "Plum
concrete" construction when the thickness of concrete layer is 300 mm or more.

4.7 Equipment for Finishing of Concrete

a) Power Trowels

57
 Most of the concrete surface is finished by hand trowels by the expert wet
construction workers. But when the area to be finished is large and the surface is to
be smooth, then "Power Trowels" are used.

Fig. 4.17: A power Trowel

These are the machines with 3 blades or more rotating at very high speed. Some times
2 blade power trowels are also available.

Normally held by hand of on operator these machines are powered by electric motor
or IC engine mounted over the blade assembly.

For finishing very large concrete area like runway and apron of an airport motorised
or self propelled type of power trowels are also used.

b) Power floats
These are the floats used to level large area of concrete to a reasonably accurate level.
These floats are powered generally by electric motors.

58
5. EQUIPMENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF PILES AND CASSIONS

Deep foundations are made of piles of various types or wells or cassions. Various equipments
are used for their construction. They are discussed under the following sub-sections. :

5.1 Piles construction equipments

Piles are basically of 2 types. Driven piles and placed piles. They require equipment as
below.

a) Pile driving machine

The machine consists of a boom of sufficient length to handle the length of the pile plus a
hammer attachment over the head of the pile. Pile is erected vertically or tappered as the
case may be and hammered by a weight (hammer) jumping on a guide pipe. These
hammers are lifted with the help of winch and chain pully attachment and dropped freely
over the head of pile to drive it. Now a days more advanced internal combustion powered
automatic jumping hammer is available.

Fig.5.1: A Pile Driving Machine

Once dropped with the help of winch and chain pully attachment the hammer causes
plunger pump to spray diesel through the nozzle at the top of fixed pistion and
combustion takes place inside the hammer liner. This pushes the hammer up the guide
pipe to cause a free fall and pushing plunger pump for another combustion. The action
continues until fuel at the pump is stopped.

b) Vibratory pile placing machine

In this type of placing mechanism pile is held by a boom of the machine as in the case of
pile driving machine. But instead of driving by a hammer, the head of the pile is held firm
and it is pushed into the ground by giving vibrating effect on the pile and simultaneously
applying pressure to push the pile down.

Fig. 5.2: A Vibratory Pile Placing Machine

59
Pneumatic pressure mechanism is used in the pile placing machine. Advantage of this
machine over the pile driving machine is that the placing process does not vibrate the
surrounding area and therefore safer to use near the built up area. Also the head of the pile
is not damaged as in the case of driven piles. Main disadvantage of this type is that it is
very difficult to work if a follower to the pile has to be added.

c) Cast in situ pile construction machine

This method is also called bored pipe construction. Main component of this machine is
the pile boring machine which bores the hole of the required diameter and the length into
the ground. Bored hole is then cleaned by sending jet of water into the bottom of bore
when mud is taken out. Density of the fluid in the bore becomes thinner. Steel cage of
required size and length is lowered with the help of crane. A tremie pipe is inserted into
the bore through the steel cage up to the bottom of the bore. Concrete is poured through
the tremie pipe which is pulled up successively with at least 1000 mm at the bottom
burried under the concrete until the pile casting is complete. About 1000 mm length of the
concrete is allowed to flow out of the bore after the concreting is completed to ensure that
all the contaminated concrete is taken out of the bore.

Fig. 5.3: A Cast in Site Pile Construction System

Therefore the following machine are used to construct cast in situ concrete pile
foundation

Fig. 5.4: A Pile Boring Machine

i) Pile boring machine

ii) Crane to place steel cage into the bore and
iii) Tremie pipe to pour concrete into the bore.

5.2 Equipment for the construction of cassions

60
 The operation of cassion construction includes lowering of caisson shoe on position of the
foundation. This is done with the help of a crane. Then form work for concrete cassion
construction is lowered with the help of crane. Steel cage is lowered if cassion has to be
made under water or steel cage is made into the from work if sufficient working space is
available and/or if working in dry environment. Concreting in layers follows by lifting
cassion formwork. After completing the casting of cassion, bottom of the foundation is
plugged with concrete. Remaining portion within the cassion well is filled with gravel,
sand or other suitable material and top of the cassion is also plugged to construct pier or
abutment above it.

Therefore construction of concrete cassion foundation involves the following equipment.

i) Deep excavating equipment like crane and grab bucket with cutting chiesel
ii) Cranes to lower shoe, form work and steel cage
iii) Termie pipe for concreting
iv) Drilling machine if hard rock is encountered

6.0 CRANES FOR LIFTING

Cranes are very important equipment at a construction site. They are very handy and useful to
work below the ground level with the help of hook operated by cable through the chain pully
attachment. They are also useful to work above the ground, mainly for delivery of material
with the help of boom they have. The advantage of a crane is that they rotate 360 0 around.
These cranes are basically of 2 types. The first one is a mobile crane and the other stationary
cranes. They are discussed under sub sections below:

6.1 Mobile cranes

These are the cranes mounted on a truck and hence capable of moving around a
construction site and also capable to get transferred from one site to another. They can
also be track or crawler mounted when their mobility reduces because of lower speed.
They are basically of 2 types. They are

a) Fixed boom cranes

They have fixed booms made of structural steel. The booms can be dismanteled and
made shorter while the crane travels longer distance. This boom can be extended by
attaching another piece to it.

Fig.5.5: Fixed Boom Cranes

b) Telescopic boom cranes

61
 These are the cranes which have telescopic boom. The main section contains smaller
sections within it and 3 or 4 sections are extendable to gain the full length of the
boom. The booms of the cranes are extended by hydraulic pressure.

Fig.5.6: A Telescopic Boom Crane

This type of crane has advantage over the fixed boom type crane that they are easy to
be transferred from one location to another and hence are more mobile and efficient.
6.2 Stationary cranes

There are many types of stationary cranes used in construction industry. Some of these
are described below.

a) Tower cranes
These cranes provide high lifting and good working radius. They take up limited
space around the work site. These are generally of fixed base type mounted on a
foundation block. Structural sections can be added to increase the height of the crane.
There is a vertical limit called " maximum free-standing" height to which these cranes
can safely rise above the base. A self-erecting towers to grater vertical heights is fairly
easy and economical. A self erecting crane has a short section of hydraulically
operated erecting tower that is situated below the slewing ring for this purpose.

Fig.5.7: A Tower Crane

b) Climbing Frame Tower Cranes :

They are supported by the floors of the buildings that are being constructed. The
reaction of both the weight of the cranes and the loads that are lifted by the crane are

62
 transmitted to the host structure. This crane will have only a short tower section
because it moves vertically up as construction progresses.

Fig.5.8: A Climbing Frame Tower Crane

7.0 EQUIPMENT FOR TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION

There are basically 2 methods for the construction of a tunnel. They are discussed under the
following sub sections.

7.1 Conventional method of tunnel construction

This involves excavation of tunnel by drilling and blasting method. If soft soil is
encountered, excavation can progress manually or with the help of other excavating
equipment as discussed under "excavation equipment". Generally rocks are encountered
and therefore drilling and blasting method for excavation is adopted. Drilling machines as
discussed under "excavation of hard rocks" are used. Excavated / blasted materials are
taken out. This operation is called mucking. It is done manually in wheel barrows or in a
tipper when section of tunnel is large enough for tippers and loaders to be operated inside.
Railway wagons are also used for mucking operation. Excavated material is taken out as
the excavation progress.

When progressed sufficiently deep, tunnel needs ventilation. For this ventilation
arrangement is made through exhaust pipes from tunnel head to clear foul air and push
fresh air through another pipe. Power is supplied into the tunnel to provide light as well as
to run equipment like exhaust fans.
Therefore in conventional tunnel construction the following equipment are used.
i) Excavators for soft ground
ii) Drilling machine
iii) Compressors to run drilling heads
iv) Earthtrans porting equipment for mucking or clearing the excavated material
v) Exhaust fans for ventilation
vi) Compressors to supply fresh air

All of the above equipment have been discussed under respective headings earlier.

7.2 Tunneling by TBMs

63
 Modern tunnels constructions are done with the tunnel boring machines. These are the
machines which have programmed boring head or moles which drill mountain to bore
tunnel through them. The muck is taken out through a pipe attached to the boring
machine.
This method of tunneling is very fast and efficient. These machines are very costly. If the
length of the tunnel can justify the use of TBMs they are economical.

Fig.7.1: A TBM
TBMs are available of different capacity and size. Once programmed before operating,
these machines can progress in the fixed co-ordinates in all the X, Y and Z direction.

8. EQUIPMENT FOR HYDRAULIC CONSTRUCTION

Construction of off shore oil rigs and deep sea harbors are very special types of hydraulic
construction. Each project will use cranes; excavating equipment and concreting
equipment of special types, size and capacity, Some times designed specifically to the
project. Otherwise all the equipment are same and similar as discussed under Cassions
Construction earlier.
But construction of hydraulic structures in shallow waters where water is diverted with
the help of temporary coffer dams and water is pumped out to facilitate excavation and
concreting, water pumps of various types and sizes are used. The selection of the size of
pumps depends upon the quantity of water to be pumped or the quality of water to be
pumped.
These pumps are operated electrically or driven by IC engines.

9. EQUIPMENT FOR HIGHWAY AND PAVEMENT CONSTRICTION

Highway construction involves earthwork in excavation and embankment construction.

The equipment used for these activities are discussed under the respective sections. Next
part of highway construction is construction of pavement. The equipments used in the
constructions of pavements are discussed under subsection below.

9.1 Sub grade Preparation

After the earth work is completed, the final layer is graded uniformly to achieve the
design line and level within tolerance both along cross section and longitudinal section of
the road. If not within the tolerance, a grader is used to grade the surface finally and bring
it within the tolerance. Final compaction of the sub grade is done with the help of tandem
roller carefully so that sub grade is not damaged. In sub grade preparation, the following
equipments are used.

64
i) Grader
ii) Rollers

Both of these are discussed earlier under earth work in excavation and Competing
equipments.

9.2 Construction of sub-base

Sub base construction involves operations like quarrying of sub-base materials,

screening of sub base materials or obtain sub-base materials by crushing rock and
boulders, transporting the materials to the site and spread by loader or grader, compact the
sub base in layers, the top surface is graded with the help of grader to bring it to the
tolerance of line and level. Final compaction is then done with the help of tandem rollers.
All the equipments involved are described under respective sub sections earlier.

Since compaction has to be done in optimum moisture content, water has to be added on
sub base material before it is mixed and laid over sub-grade. Water browsers are used to
spray water in required quantity. Truck mounted water tanks with water spraying
arrangement are used for the purpose. These water browsers come under different
capacity and size .They are selected to suit the requirement of the project.

Figure: Water Tank

9.3 Construction of Base- Course

Base course is constructed by selected materials derived from quarries or from crushed
stones. The process involves like in the case of sub base. Therefore all the equipments
involved are that for the construction of sub- base course. Therefore they are not repeated
here. Wind rowing method is the very common method in the construction of Base
course. Grader is very important equipment to be used in this method for spreading,
mixing, laying and finishing base course layer. Pavers or the laying machines are also
used in fully mechanized or the capital intensive method. Figure of a paver can be sen in
Figure..

9.4 Equipment for Bituminous Pavement work

a) Bitumen Boiler:
Basic work in bituminous work is to heat bitumen to required temperature. For this
purpose bitumen boiler is used. Boilers fired with wood and coal were of common
type. Modern boiler use diesel fuel burners to heat the bitumen to required
temperature. These boiler can be stationary where bitumen is heated to be transported
to the site is a separate truck generally a bitumen distributor. Small amount of bitumen
can directly be heated in the bitumen distributers which often are equipped with diesel
fuel burners.

65
 Fig. 9.1: A Bitumen Boiler
b) Bitumen distributor
These are the bitumen tank mounted on a truck. They load preheated bitumen from
boilers. During transporting to the spraying site, the temperature can go down.
Therefore these machines come with burners fried by organic fuel, generally diesel or
crude oil. These burners heat the bitumen to required temperature before spraying.
The distributors have bitumen spraying attachment which sprays bitumen in fan
shapes through nozzles. The spraying is done in pressure with the help of pump
attached to it. The fans overlap each other. The pump pressure and opening of nozzles
together with speed of the distributor ensures correct rate of spraying of bitumen.
Bitumen spraying is important in the following case.

Fig. 9.2: A Bitumen Distributor

i) Prime coat application
ii) Application of first coat bitumen on DBST work or SBST work
iii) Application of second coat bitumen on DBST work

The bitumen distributors are available in different size and capacity. They are selected as
per the requirement of the project.

c) Aggregate Spreader
For surface dressing work, aggregate has to be spread uniformly in layer covering the
bitumen sprayed. For this spreading attachment is fixed on the tail of a dump truck.
This attachment helps to spread aggregate uniformly throughout the road section
where bitumen is spread.

Fig.9.3: An Aggregate Spreading Gate

The aggregate spreader follows the bitumen distributor but in reverse gear so that it
spreads aggregates through the tail and runs over the aggregate if has spread there by
not damaging the surface where bitumen was sprayed earlier by the sprayer.

d) Asphalt Concrete Plant

Asphalt concrete pavements are made with asphalt concrete which is the mix of
bituminous binder and different types of graded aggregates. For very small jobs like

66
 patch work, it is batched and mixed manually. However for large jobs and quality of
work it is always done in a batching and mixing plant called asphalt concrete plant or
sometimes simply asphalt plant. These plants are of various types and sizes. Some are
mobile towed by a tractor. Mostly they are stationary types they have hoppers to
required quantity, abitumen dram to store bitumen, bitumen boiler with heating
arrangement and mixers.

Fig. 9.4: Asphalt Concrete Plant

e) Asphalt Concrete pavers

They are also called mat makers. They are the self propelled machines on rubber tyre
or track mounted. They have hoppers in the front which receivers asphalt concrete
from mixing plant transported and delivered by tipper trucks. The pavers push the
trucks forward during unloading of asphalt concrete mix.

Fig. 9.5: An Asphalt Concrete Paver

The paver has a mechanism of conveyors and augers to spread the asphalt concrete
evenly across the front of the screed. The screed controls the asphalt concrete
placement width and depth. It also gives initial compactions to the asphalt concrete.
Mat thickness is maintained by using grade sensors tracing an external reference
with a shoe or ski to control the screed. To produce a smooth and uniform mat,
forward travel speed should be kept constant.

67
 Fig. 9.6: Asphalt Concrete Paving Work in Progress

Width of the screed can be increased by adding fixed width extensions on one or both
side of the basic screed. Some screeds are hydraulically extendable, allowing the
paving width to be adjusted without stopping the paver.

f) Rollers
After the aggregate is spread roller follows immediately after. A pneumatic roller is
used to ensure that aggregates are not broken and remain intact. Bitumen distributor,
aggregate spreader and roller run in succession immediately after one another to
ensure that rolling is done when bitumen is still hotnot less then 700C

Fig.9.7: Roller

PART B: MANAGEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION PLANTS

10. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION

10.1: Need for Mechanization

Construction industry is very closely associated with the human beings. History of
construction could be traced to the early days of human existence. With the increase in
population man had to getaway form the river banks to other areas of settlement. This led
to construction of canals to carry water from the river banks and also construction of
reservoirs to preserve both the rain water and water brought from canals. We have noted
that man has built many impressive structures such as the . In Egypt Greatwall in
China, Taj Mahal in India, etc. in whole of the South Asia and pagodas have been
constructed. All the above construction work has been carried out by the human beings.
There is no record of using machinery. However it is recorded that man made use of
various method such as the lever systems, rollers and pulley systems to ease carrying out
construction tasks.

During the period of industrialization in the 19th century man started inventing to carry
out construction tasks faster. Therefore this period accounts for invention of many
equipment to carryout various construction tasks. The first Bulldozer arrived in Sri Lanka
in 1936 to work on irrigation project. It was a bulldozer built by Caterpillar Tractor Co. of
USA fitted with a 90 HP engine.

With the rapid growth of population countries have to improve the infrastructure fast.
This also contributes to the growth of economies and improving the quality of life of the
people. Infrastructure development means development means development of roads ,
water supply schemes both for agriculture and human consumption, factories, hospitals,
schools, houses, power stations, irrigation facilities etc. All the above work can be treated
as outputs of the construction industry. In order to accomplish the above tasks timely,
qualitatively and within reasonable costs it is necessary to use machinery and equipment.

68
Use of machinery and equipment to carryout construction tasks is called the
mechanization. Deployment of machines or getting the work done by machines rather
than human being is called mechanization in simple terms. Since lever, pulley, screw are
all simple machines, a bit of mechanization will always be there (1). In case of
construction industry, mechanization means large scale deployment of construction
equipment to significantly increase the rate of construction activity. Mechanization is
expressed as a ratio of total power of equipment to total work force.

Degree of Mechanization = Total Power of Equipment in KW

Total work force

Here, total work force refers to the number of heads of total workers skilled and unskilled
including the supervisory personnel deployed during the same period as the deployment
of equipment.

Use of machine is definitely advantageous when the project needs to be completed faster
and maintaining quality is important. However there are some disadvantages of
mechanization. This can be examined under table 1.0 below.

Table 1.0 Advantages and Disadvantages of mechanization

S.N Advantages Disadvantages

1 Ability to carryout work beyond
the limits of human power
2 Timely completion of work
3 Improvement of the quality of the
work
4 Lower cost of carrying out tasks
5 Ease of supervision
6 Ease of planning as the outputs
can be predicted more accurately
1.0 High initial investment on
equipment
2.0 Higher per unit cost for small
projects.
3.0 Difficulties encountered in
supervision - & control of labour
4.0 Use of foreign exchange to buy
equipment
5.0 Unemployment of labor
6.0 Difficulty in operation and
maintenance

However, construction projects are complicated and therefore pros and cons of
mechanization has to be evaluated for each project separately before arriving at the
conclusion as to method of doing work i.e laborer intensive, laborer based or
mechanized or the capital based.

10.2 Some justification for capital based approach:

a) Greater construction speed some project may require greater speed of construction so
that they can be completed on time

Speed of construction

Very Fast Automated

Fast
Mechanized
Manual
Slow

69
Too Slow
Small Medium Very Large
 Size of the project

Large
Fig. Comparison of speed of construction

The human beings also could be considered as machines with an out put of around 0.1
KW and a maximum capacity limit of 100kg. Therefore the work human being can
perform is small and the work performance drops with time and also depending on the
condition of work. To increase the work speed it is necessary to increase the number of
men/women engaged in that activity. Increase of labour will contribute to other
constraints such as availability of workspace, supervision etc. Therefore to attain
reasonable speed utilization of equipment is inevitable.

b) Lower unit cost

Basic aim in any consummation project is to achieve lower unit cost of production. It
is noted that unit cost is more in the case of smaller projects basically because the
degree of mechanization in small projects is low.
Unit Cost

Labour

Mechanized

Small Medium Large Very Large

Fig. . Unit cost of the project compared
Size of project
Also larger the project size it will continue to be cheaper as more powerful machines
can be used to accomplish large volumes of work. In the case of the size of the project
becoming small manual construction is becoming cheaper.

c) Easy in quality management

use of equipment helps to minimize the variance in quality and maintain the quality
performance within tolerance e.g. maintaining the level and surface undulations in
road pavement layer with labors would be more difficult as compared with the use of
grading machine.

70
 Quality maintenance

Very Easy
Automated

Mechanize
Easy d
________________________________
_______________________
Fig. . Easiness in Quality Management Compared
Large Very Large
Difficult Manual
Since quality is a very important factor for project success, it is important that equipment
be deployed on activities which are otherwise difficult to do manually.
Very difficult
As the projects become very large, it is almost not possible to achieve quality parameters
without the use of equipment.
Small Medium
10.3 Need for plant management

Costs of any construction project consist of cost of materials, cost of equipments and cost
of labor. The cost of equipment in a construction project may vary from around 10%-40%
of the total cost of the project. Hence it is necessary to pay attention to the costs of
equipment. As indicated early one of the main disadvantaged of mechanized construction
is the high initial cost of investment on equipment. Therefore maximum benefit has to be
taken from the equipment. The basic formula used to measure productivity could be used
to asses the benefit of use of equipment.

OUT PUT
PRODUCTVITY = IN PUT

Equipment is being used to carryout construction tasks. The main input in this case is the
equipment hours used to accomplish the tasks. The output may be volume of earth
stockpiled, volume of concrete mixed, land cleared etc. The time taken to (Input)
accomplish construction task tasks is expressed as machine hours. Therefore,

Volume of work done

PRODUCTIVITY = Machine hours

The objective of mechanization is to accomplish the construction tasks at lowest possible

unit cost. The above could be achieved only if the numerator increase or denominator
decreases. Therefore management of equipment can be focused on finding ways to
increase work outputs thus decreasing the machine hours. Further the machine hours can
be expressed as the Owning & Operating costs of the machine. Increasing work output
has its limitations. The users do not have much control in the owing cost which represent
about 30-40% of the total cost of the machine. The user will have great control on the

71
 operating cost of machine. The Operating cost represents the cost of fuel, lubricants,
filters, tires, repairs special items and operator's wages. Thus it is necessary to control the
operating costs to achieve the optimum unit costs of accomplishment of construction task

Any construction activity carries a cost which is build up of the costs of sub construction
tasks. The investor would like to get the best possible deal in terms of getting the work
completed. The contractor would like complete the project within the estimated sum thus
enabling him to make profit. Generally the responsibility to deliver the project lies with
the project manager. If the project manager wants to get the project completed at the
lowest possible cost, he has to aim at achieving the lowest possible cost form equipment
usage. In broad terms the project manager aims to get the lowest possible unit costs for
each construction task and the equipment manger aims at getting the lowest possible
equipment cost to accomplish the construction task. The above mentioned steps in the
management process can be applied to the area of equipment management to get the best
benefit from the equipment usage.

Federal Highway Authority of America (FHAS) defines equipment management as To

provide the right equipment at the right time and place at the lowest possible cost
Equipment management is therefore planning, organizing, coordinating, directing,
motivating and facilitating the equipment operation to get the lowest possible cost of
operation.

With the advancement of technology and increasing human needs, the construction
projects are becoming large in size and more complex in nature. Capacity of an
organization (client, consultant and contractor) is also increasing to take up a large single
project. As such mechanization has become inevitable. With mechanization several issues
are involved. They are:

Identifying and selecting a plant

Purchasing a plant from placing order to delivery at the site
Vast cost tied up with the equipment demands proper financial management including
justifying the need of equipment and its selection
Operation complexities mostly associated with human factor including the
availability and turn over of skilled operators
Maintenance complexities-associated with human factor, large inventory of Spare
parts, maintenance of POL store, the maintenance yard, the unplanned or emergency
maintenance problems etc.
Space management as large piece of equipments need lager space to store them and to
maintain them. The spare parts store and fuel and lubricants store makes the needed
space much lager. The cost of space has to be evaluated and included in the rental
charge of the equipment.

These entire factors demand the knowledge and experience of a manager. Therefore
plant management is very important for a modern construction manger.

11. CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

11.1 The various standards

72
There are many types of equipment manufactured in the world. About 90% of the
countries are non manufactures, but are users. Therefore it is important to follow a system
of classification so that all communications are understood by each other in the business.

There are three important classifications related to construction equipment. They are
published by the following organizations:

a) Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) of USA

b) JCMA (Japan Construction Mechanization Association )
c) CIB Working commission

The most comprehensive and complete is the CIB classification. The CIB working
commission w75 in 1989 has classified the construction equipment in 9 groups which
are further sub divided in sub groups as shown below:

11.2 The CIB Classification

1. Earthmoving Machine and Equipment

a) Excavators
b) Trenchers
c) Dredgers
d) d)Dozers
e) Scrapers
f) Graders
g) Loaders
h) Backhoe loaders and Excavators
i) Rippers

2. Foundation Engineering and Soil Compaction Machines and Equipment

a) Drilling and Boring Equipment
b) Piling Equipment; Equipment for pile Driving
c) Tampers
d) Vibratory Compactors

3. Machine and Equipment for Manufacturing, Transporting and processing concrete

mix, Mortar, Reinforcement Work and Form work
a) Equipment for storage of materials
b) Batching and Mixing Equipment
c) Transporting Equipment
d) Spreading Equipment
e) Compaction and Finishing Equipment
f)Formwork and Moulds
g) Machines and Equipment for Reinforcement Work
h) Pre-stressing Equipment
i) Equipment for removing and recycling concrete

4. Specialized Machines and Equipment for Transport and Handling

a) Towing vehicles, tractors
b) Lorries or trucks
c) Dumpers

73
 d) Trailers and Semi-trailers
e) Railway Wagons
f)Materials handling trucks
g) Un-loaders
h) Conveyors
i) Cableways

5. Lifting Machines and Equipment

a) Tower Cranes
b) Mobile Cranes
c) Other cranes (derricks, cable-cranes, rail cranes, gantry cranes, etc)
d) Lifts and Hoists
e) Winches, Lift jacks, Pulley Blocks, etc.
f)Lifting Accessories

6. Specialized Machines and Equipment for Civil Engineering Work

a) Machines and equipment for paving Construction and restoration
b) Machines and Equipment for track-Laying Construction and restoration
c) Bridge Building Equipment
d) Water structure and Underwater work Equipment
e) Tunneling Machines and Equipment for underground Engineering
f)Pipe-laying and pipe-jacking (punching) machines
g) Machines for power and telecommunications lines

7. Machines and Equipment for Installation, Finishing work and Maintenance

a) Roof covering equipment
b) Insulation Equipment
c) Plastering and wall covering Equipment
d) Flooring Equipment
e) Painting Equipment
f)Equipment for Sanitary, Electrical, Gas and Air Conditioning Installations
g) Devices for fixing and connecting (e.g. masonry and concrete drills and hammers)
h) Mobile and hanging scaffolds, cradles

8. General use machines and Equipment used in Construction process

a) Machines and Equipment for energy generation, conversion and transmission (e.g.
electricity, heat, compressed air)
b) Transport means
c) Mobile elevating work platforms
d) Communication and signaling equipment
e) Electric, pneumatic and hydraulic tools and machine tools (for metals, wood,
plastics, etc.)
f)Equipment for welding and other joining processes
g) Pumps
h) Measuring and checking devices
i) Cleaning Equipment

9. Other Construction Machines and Equipment

a) Grouting Equipment
b) Static Scaffolds

74
Classification may also be company specific for its operation and management system. e.g.
trenching equipment may be taken under Excavating equipment. Similarly a flat body truck
may be used to transport concrete in a bin for a small distance. However, it is important that
an international classification be followed by a large and international contractor.

12. SELECTION OF CONSTRUCTION PLANT

12.1 Introduction

Selection of Construction Plant basically involves planning the equipment, careful

selection considerations and the basis for selection. The basis for selection could be too
many. Therefore the selection process may very from company to company and within
the company from project to project.
Equipment selection plays an important role in execution of any construction project,
since proper selection of equipment contributes to the completion of the project timely;
economically; and of desired quality standards. Selection of equipment has become more
difficult as more and more types of equipment are being produced in the world. Most of
the manufactures tend to manufacture multi purpose equipment or attachments depending
on the type of construction task one has to accomplish.

Basically there are two principal, and antagonistic aspects of equipment selection they
are:
a) Technical aspects governed by the performance, and
b) Economical aspects and commercial aspects mainly concerns the contractor or the
equipment hire organizations from a business sense.
So once the selection is carried out purely from a technical point of view, it is necessary
to test the viability of the selection from a economic or business point of view also.

12.2 Planning for Equipment Selection

Planning involves working out to get the answer to the following questions
a) What for is the equipment needed ?
b) When is the equipment needed and for how long? (the duration of equipment use)
c) How big equipment is needed? (the capacity assessment )
d) Which one is preferred based upon the history of performance of the equipment ?
Planning can be described as a function aimed at selection from alternative course of
action which will direct an organizations human and material resources for future time
spans. Success of anything will depend on good planning. Especially when executing
projects with mechanized construction it plays an important role and have a big impact on
the ultimate cost of the project. A construction plan shall ensure and preserve the balance
between the four objectives of the project. They are time, cost, quality and safety.
At the planning stage it is necessary to take concrete decisions on the method of
achieving the ultimate target by utilizing resources (Men, Machinery, Material & Money)
in the best possible way. This may be done in the pre tender stage by the contractors by
studying the contract documents, plans and the local conditions. Depending on the type of
the project the contractor may be required to survey the following:
- Geological conditions:

75
 - Weather conditions:
- Site conditions:
- Transport facilities
- Availability of Fuel
- Availability of Labor
- Availability of services (Electricity, Water)
- Pollution Standards

Once the basic concept is formed, it is necessary to take a decision of the equipment that
could be used. That will enable to determine the equipment costs based on the basic plan.
During the stage it may be necessary to compare alternative methods and types of
equipment which could be economically used.
It is necessary to be knowledgeable in the following to prepare a basic plan
- Types of equipment manufactured in the world and available locally or in the region
- Selection criteria of equipment
- Costs of equipment
- Safety standards of equipment

Accordingly a plan can be prepared. Generally it is the project manager who will take overall
responsibility for planning while the equipment manager takes responsibility for the
maintenance of the equipment and its operation.
At the end of the planning process, detailed documentation consisting of who will operate,
who will maintain, the storage, the equipment record, use on similar projects (Multi project
usage plan) etc. shall be prepared.

12.3 Careful Selection Considerations

The following have to be carefully considered before selecting any equipment.

a) Specifically designed
It should be understood that the equipment are not designed for a specific project but
designed specially to perform certain task as envisaged by the designer. This equipment
has to be suitable for physical and other working conditions where eventually it will be
deployed.

b) Performance is fixed
The equipment designed to work in a standard (design) condition will give some standard
performance. This may not be achieved at the project environment, both physical and
others. Machine of rated capacity and fixed performance has to be deployed to get
targeted performance. The challenges have to be clearly understood by the project
manager

c) The Varying need

Project need always varies. It will be handy, it you have, say, loaders of varying capacity-
small to large at the same project. But it may not be possible. Also the money invested in
a large price of equipment can not be recovered from one project. This may have to be
deployed in other projects. Then the need may be different there. Therefore, the need of
the company to the life of the project must be considered for selecting equipment.

d) Combination may be needed

Because of the specific type and nature of the project and also because of standard
performance of equipment at standard condition the piece of equipment may not be

76
 suitable. A combination of machines may be required to accomplish the task efficiently
and economically. For example, in any major earth work a combination of excavator,
loader and dozer may be worked out.

Photo of group of machines

Such combination, though tedious and laborious to work out may be beneficial to the
project and the company.

e) Match Finding
From all the above considerations the project manager must find a matching machine or
matching pair for the project or the organization.

Apart from the above general and broad principal considerations, there are several other
factors that influence selection of equipment

These shall be discussed under sub section 12.4.

12.4 Main Basis for Selection

Some of the factors that need to be considered while selecting constructs plant are
as follows:
a) Identification of task
Any construction project is a summation of construction tasks. Project size will be
determined by the quantity of work involved in each task. Therefore proper selection of
equipment to carry out each individual task clearly contributes to the successful
completion of the project. It is very necessary to identify the task clearly in the Bill of
Quantities (BoQ) and also it is necessary for the contractor to have a clear understanding
of the tasks when submitting a bid.

For filling an earth embankment, the following are the main construction tasks:
- Clear the area to be filled
- Clear the borrow area
- Cutting the earth from borrow area
- Transport the earth to fill site
- Spread the earth on layers
- Compact the earth

b) Quantity of Material
Whether it is concrete, earth, asphalt or jungle it is necessary to be aware of the quantity
of material involved in each task. The quantity will guide on the size and the capacity of
the equipment that should be selected to carryout the task.

c) Unit weight and size

It is important to know the type of material that has to be used in accomplishing the
construction task or the type of material that has to be moved, cleared etc. The material

77
 weight can depend on the state they are available (Wet or dry). It will guide the selection
considering any weight restriction at the site or outside the site.

d) Changeable Characteristics
This is very important when dealing with the earth. Earth when disturbed expands as the
air enters and fills the voids. Same thing happens when the earth is used as a fill material.
This swelling of earth when loosened increases volume thereby affecting the type and size
of handling equipment. This has to be taken in consideration while selecting the
equipment.

e) Haul Distance
Haul distance is an important factor to be considered. Guidance is given by the
manufactures in selecting equipment depending on the haul distance.

f) Trafficability
Trafficability indicates the ability of the selected equipment to move in a terrain.
Trafficability is assessed depending on the bearing capacity of the soil. When considering
the trafficability it is necessary to consider the following: (i) ability of the equipment
/vehicle to travel. (ii) ability of the equipment/vehicle to travel once or twice. (iii) ability
of the equipment/vehicle to travel many times. As the vehicles and equipment engaged in
construction work in a cyclic manner it is necessary that equipment can travel many times
at the site.

g) Maneuverability
Maneuverability is the ability of the equipment to work within the site without difficulty.
This factor should be considered especially when equipment has to be utilized in
congested sites or at sites with limited access.

h) Output of equipment
Output of equipment is the quantity of work (linear, area, volume) the equipment could
accomplish during a specified time period. Normally the output is calculated per hour, per
shift, or per day. In the construction industry, output is the key factor which decides the
ultimate cost of the accomplishment of the construction task. Output of equipment has to
be calculated before calculating the unit cost.

Each major construction activity consists of individual construction tasks. A piece of

equipment will not be able to accomplish total volume of work in the particular
construction task in one go. Therefore equipment has to be used in a cyclic manner when
accomplishing constriction tasks.

The output of construction equipment can be calculated using the following relation:

Q=qxNxE

Where, Q = output per time unit (hour, shift, day): (cum per hour)

q = output per cycle (cum per cycle)

N=Number of cycles per time unit (hour, shift, day)

E= Efficiency factor

78
We can calculate the theoretical output of equipment based on design data available. This
is called the theoretical output. But in actual situation depending on the actual working
condition the output of equipment will be less than the theoretical. The efficiency factor
in the above formula has to be used to adjust the theoretical output to obtain the actual
output depending on the working condition. It is recommended to use this actual output
when preparing plan and estimates.

There are factors which will effect output of construction equipment. They are:

(i) Type of Material

Output per cycle will depend on the capacity of the equipment to accomplish a task.
In a wheeled loader it will be equal to the bucket capacity. Loading of bucket to
occupy the maximum volume will depend on the type of material being loaded into
the bucket. Therefore depending on the type of material the theoretical volume has to
be calculated.

(ii) Resistance to movement

The output of the equipment will depend on the number of cycles it could accomplish
within a period of time. For stationary equipment such as concrete mixers, speed of
movement can be assumed as constant. But for mobile machines this will depend on
the speed in which the equipment could travel. When travelling on the flat ground
equipment will have to overcome the rolling resistance which will depend upon
coefficient of friction of the road surface and when travelling on grade it will have to
overcome the grade resistance in addition to the rolling resistance.

Grade Resistance (GR)

Rolling resistance will depend on the ground on which the equipment will travel. The
grade resistance will depend on the inclination of the road section the machine has to
travel.

For crawler mounted equipment this is expressed as the tractive effort. The tractive
effort will depend on the ground on which the particular equipment operates.

The above mentioned resistance shall limit the maximum speeds achievable by the
equipment when operating in actual conditions. The speed will in turn effect the
number of cycles the equipment can accomplish within the time period.

The power available at the wheels of tired equipment is called the Rim pull and
power available at the tracks of crawler type equipment is called the Drawbar pull.

79
(iii) Cycle time

The construction equipment will work in cyclic manner. Hence the number of cycles
the equipment can accomplish is related to the time it takes the equipment to complete
one cycle. This is known as cycle time (CT)

Cycle time consists of following:

(i) Loading time (LT)
(ii) Hauling time, mixing time (HT)
(iii) Unloading time (UL)
(iv) return time (RT)
(v) Spot time, delay time etc. (ST)

CT= LT+ HT+UL+RT+ST

Number of cycles (N) per unit time (T) is equal to:

T
N=
CT

The time taken for hauling and return for the mobile equipment will depend on the
maximum speeds they could achieve.

(iv) Efficiency factor

To calculate the output it is necessary to derive the efficiency factor (E) in the above
formula. If we calculate the hourly out put, the peak out put can be achieved if the
machine could be operated during the full hour without any stoppages. But in
practical situation, it is necessary to allow for the human factor. Normally it is around
50 minutes in a 60 minute hour. Therefore the human efficiency will be 50/60 or 0.83.
In addition to that factor there is a job management factor which will depend on
topograhy. Proper selection and deployment of equipment, matching equipment
operator skill (techniques used), standard of maintenance etc. The table given below
could be used to select a factor appropriately.

Table 12:10 Efficiency factor on various operating conditions

Operating condition Efficiency factor

Good 0.83
Average 0.75
Poor 0.67
Very poor 0.58

i) Availability
Equipment should be easily available with least lead time to be delivered at the site.
Thorough market knowledge is required to assess availability of the type and size of
the equipment in the market.

j) Serviceability

80
 The equipment should be easy to operate In other words; operators should be
available to operate the type of equipment being acquired. Similar is the condition of
maintenance.

Maintenance involves availability of spare parts, stock of fast moving parts and
maintenance personnel. In case of some machines trained maintenance personnel
many not be available, near by special steps may have to be taken to attain
serviceability.

k) Lowest purchase price:

In any construction project money is always at short supply. Therefore lowest
purchase price becomes an important factor for the purchase of equipment. If it meets
the capacity and efficiency criteria, it is the lowest purchase price that dictates the
decision making many times decision makers trade of technical aspects for cheapest
price of the machine

l) Lowest total cost per unit work:

It is this criterion that every manager is looking for. Machine or the combination there
of is planned in such a way that it produces work with lowest total cost. In fact, it is
the ultimate goal of selection of a plant.

m) Versatility and Adaptability (2)

Other equipment selection factors that are not directly dependent on the efficiency or
the cost are the versatility and adaptability of the equipment. These factors must be
considered when there are a number of operations requiring similar equipment.

A versatile piece of equipment is one that can be used for several construction
operations. The most obvious example is the tractor, which with appropriate
attachments can push scrapers, bulldoze earth, rip rock, tow scrapers and rollers etc.
Another good example is the basic equipment for a dragline, clam shell and a mobile
crane.

13. MONITORING AND CONTROLLING THE EQUIPMENT OPERATION

13.1 Monitoring the operation:

Functions of any equipment i.e. its operation at the job site is closely monitored to see if it
is working as per the provisions in the plan. If the actual performance of the equipment
when compared against the planned performance is acceptable, no action has to be taken.
But a periodical report has to be generated and circulated to concerned departments
stating the planned performance, actual performance and the deviation detected.

In a construction project major monitoring includes. :

a) Checking the actual performance against the planned (construction schedule) and the
cost incurred.
b) Checking the performance of the equipment utilization schedule and maintenance
schedule:

81
 i) This may be done through daily, weekly and monthly records, field inspection and
maintenance, repairs done at the site workshop etc. and
ii) At the workshop level this may be done through the monthly and annual
maintenance schedule.

The total equipment hour (T) will consist of the following:

Therefore T = U +D = (W+S) + (tm+ts+ta)

Operation Availability:
This is also known as the "Availability" and indicates time the machine has been in
operational condition. Operational Availability can be calculated as follows:

Uptime U
Operational Availability (OA) = Uptime Downtime =
T

Mechanical Availability: This indicates the proportion of the time the equipment has
been in good mechanical condition. This factor is used to judge the standard of
maintenance and repairs carried out on the equipment.

Working Hours W W
Mechanical Availability (MA) = WorkingHou rs Downtime = =
W D T S

Use of Availability : This is the ratio of the working hours to the uptime. This indicates
the time the equipment has been actually used compared to the time the equipment was
available for use.

Working Hours W
Use of Availability (UA)= Uptime
=
U

A good record keeping system should be available to calculate the above factors and used
them to take decisions on the on going projects as well as to use them as a planning tool
for future work. Federal Highway Authority (FWHA) of USA has developed an
Equipment Maintenance Information System which facilitate them toe take decisions on
the equipment usage and costs.

82
 13.2 Controlling the equipment operation

Controlling function involves taking action to correct any deviations form the plan that
are noted during monitoring process. If during monitoring, any indicator is found not
meeting the norms as set in the plan, then deviation is noted. If the deviation is natural
and insignificant, no action may be required to be taken. But that is not the case in
general. When deviation is noted and confirmed that it is not acceptable, some corrective
action is taken immediately. This narrows the gap between planned performance and
actual performance. The controlling function ensures that the equipment operation meets
the targeted performance.

Therefore controlling is the function that involves comparing the actual performance
against what was planned and taking remedial action to catch up with delays or other
performance indicators.

For construction plant management, control is:

1. Control to recover time lost: This can be done by working extra hour.
2. Control to increase operating hour: Operating hour can be increased up to 24 hours by
working in shifts. A different set of operator is required for each shift.
3. Control to increase Mechanical Availability: It can be done by increasing working
hour and reducing down time.
4. Control to improve Use of Availability: This control is achieved by increasing
working hour in a shift. By doing this standby hours per shift is reduced and is a
improved.
5. Control of operation cost: operating cost control is very important in case of
construction plant. This can be achieved by increasing full efficiency and reducing
minor maintenance cost and other down time cost.
6. Control of maintenance cost: Maintenance cost is a major cost component for any
construction equipment. This cost is the combination of spare parts it purchase its
holding, transportation and fitting in the machine. Auxiliary items like kerosene or
other thinner for cleaning etc is also a significant cost. Time needed for maintenance
and technician hour consumed is another major component of maintenance cost.
These all must be controlled are fully.

14. COST OF EQUIPMENT

14.1 Ownership Cost

Owning and operating an equipment incurs some cost. Ownership cost may include a
number of cost components. For a large piece of equipment, significant amount of money

83
is invested for its purchase. There is some cost of this initial money. This is called the
interest or the cost of capital. Even if used from company's won reserve, it is diverted
from interest earning use. Interest cost therefore has to be considered as a part of
ownership cost.

The second important component is the cost of consumption of equipment over a period
of time. It is called depreciation cost of the equipment.

Third major component is the property tax. Whether equipment is used or not used, a
company has to pay certain taxes to the government. Licensing fees, road cess tax etc. are
the example of ownership tax.

Next major cost is the cost of insurance of the equipment. Whether used or not used, a
piece of equipment has to be ensured for its full value. The insurance premium these days
are quite expensive and therefore this cost is significant.

When purchased, the equipment has to be stored. Storage cost includes cost of space and
building rentals, security arrangement made and associated overhead costs.

Another important component of owner ship cost is the cost of an operator and a helper.
An operator is assigned when a large equipment is purchased. It also employs a helper.
Whether or not this equipment is used in projects, this operator/driver and the helper have
to be paid their salary or wages. Therefore this is also the ownership cost.

Also the costs associated with major overhauls, modification and additions to the
equipment are the ownership cost. If the modifications are for a specific project, it may be
considered as operating cost. Therefore it is very important to judge whether major
overhaul and modifications or additions costs are ownership cost or operating cost.

All the costs as discussed above make the accurate estimation of ownership cost very
difficult. Good record keeping of previous projects should give enough information to
arrive at reasonably fair estimate. However historical record of ownership cost may not be
very useful since conditions of equipment use, technology, interest rate, insurance
premium etc. change with time.

A method for estimating the probable ownership cost of equipment is given below (3)

1. Estimate the purchase price of the equipment that is delivered to the company. This
includes cost of purchase, cost of transportation and cost of delivery.
2. Estimate the useful life of the equipment and its salvage value or scrap value at the
end of its useful life. This can be estimated from the historical records and/or the
manufacture's information
3. Select an appropriate interest rate for money that is invested on equipment purchase.
Current rate of interest for borrowing may be taken. Add some risk factor to it and
establish a minimum rate of return (MARR). The MARR will always be higher than
the current rate of interest on borrowed capital.
4. Estimate the cost associated with taxes, insurance and storage of the equipment each
year.
5. Estimate the cost of operator and helper and any other cost component that may be
incurred to keep the equipment.

84
 Add up all the costs to arrive at the ownership cost of the equipment.

Therefore ownership cost = interest on capital (i) + depreciation (d) + property tax (t)
+ insurance premium (p) + cost of storage (s) + salary/wages of driver and helper (w).

14.2 Operating Cost:

Operating costs are those costs associated with the operation of a piece of equipment.
Operating cost usually occur only when the equipment is being used (4) Operating cost
include the cost of fuel and lubricants, operator allowance, minor maintenance and repair
cost. The following makes up the operation cost.

1. Cost of fuel Consumption :

A diesel engine will consume 0.2 liter of fuel per fly wheel horsepower hour (f whp-
hr). A horsepower hour is the measure of work performed by an engine. Engines in
construction industry very rarely operate at constant output, except for a short period
of time. Also construction equipment rarely operate the entire 60 minutes in an hour.
Rest time is very common in construction operation.

Example:
A loader with 160 fwhp diesel engine operates at maximum power while filling the
dipper, requiring 5 Sec out of a cycle time of 20 sec. During other 15 Sec the engine
may run at half of its rated power. Also the loader may be idle for 10-15 min in an
hour with the engine providing only that power required for internal operation
(keeping on start condition). Calculate the fuel consumption.

Calculation:
Assume that the loader operates 50 min. in an hour (10 minutes being rest time). And
a diesel engine consumes 0.2 litres of diesel per hour per hp.
50
Operating factor = 100= 83.3%
60
Rated output of fly wheel = 160 hp

Engine factor :
5
During filling the dipper = 1 (full rated power) = 0.250
20

15
During rest of cycles = 0.5 1 (half its rated power ) = .375
20
Total Engine factor = 0.625
Usage time factor = 50/60= 0.833
Actual operating factor = 0.830.625=0.520
Fuel consumption per hour = 0.521600.20 = 16.64 liters.

2. Cost of Lubricants

85
 Quantity of lubricants varies with the size of the engine and condition of the engine.
Also this cost depends upon number of hours between lubricant changes. A formula
which may be used to estimate the quantity of the lubricant required is:

hp f .0027 kg / hp hr c
q= 0.67 kg / litre
x
t

Where q = quantity of lubricant consumed in lit/hr

hp = rated horse power of engine
c = capacity of crank case, liters
f = operating factor
t = number of hours between change of lubricants.

It assumes that quantity of lubricant consumed per rated horse power-hour between
changes will be 0.0027 kg.

Example:
Using the formula for a 100 hp engine having operating factor of 0.6 with a crank
case capacity of 20 lits requiring a change every 100 hours, the quantity consumed
will be
100 0.6 0.0027 20
q= 0.442lt / hour
0.67 kg / lit 100

3. Operator allowance

This covers the allowance given to the operator and his helper, if there is one, for the
hour machine actually operates at the construction site. This is the incentive for the
operator to be motivated to operate the machine more hours in a shift and also work
overtime beyond regular hour of operation.

This is generally tied up with the regular salary of the operator. The following formula
may be used.

n2h
a= (2 x n) + 10
s

Where a = hourly incentive allowance

n = normal hourly wage g an operator
h = actual hour of operation and
s = monthly salary of an operator

Example:
If monthly salary of an operator with a helper is = Rs.15,000 = s
This salary is fixed for 7 hours a day in 6 days week and 4 weeks in a month.
Therefore hourly normal salary n = 15000/ (7 64) = Rs. 89.28

n2h
Hourly Incentive allowance = a = (2n) + 10
s

86
 Here, 2n i.e twice the normal wage is the regular incentive with added value of
(n2h/s). This component is the addition made as extra incentive to operate equipment
at construction site for longer hour.
(89.28 2 x1)
Therefore incentive allowance, a for one hour = (2 x 89.28) + x10
15000
= 178.56 + 5.31 = 183.87

4. Minor Maintenance and repair cost

This cost covers cost of minor repairs attended commonly at a place of machine
operation. This includes fighting nuts and bolts, changing filters, greasing of bearings
and other area, changing minor parts, and so on.

This will very with the type of equipment and the service to which it is assigned.

Annual cost of maintenance and repair may be expressed as the percentage of the
annual cost of ownership. Annual cost of maintenance and repair for a power shovel
may be 80% to 120% of the annual ownership cost. Annual maintenance cost of
certain type of rock crushing plant may be much higher where as maintenance cost for
an electric motor may be much lower. Therefore historical records serve as a
reasonable guide in estimating these costs.

In some other method, this cost is taken as fixed percentage of equipment purchase
price including cost of transportation and delivery. Generally it is taken as 1% to 2%
of purchase cost per annum. It also depends upon the type of machine and conditions
of its usage. In any case, historical record must be referred to decide about the rate for
a particular machine.

14.3 Depreciation of Equipment

Depreciation is the loss of value resulting from usage or age. This basically is the
consumption of machine over a period of time. A contractor normally recovers this loss
by including a sum of money equivalent to the depreciation cost in his rate for doing the
work or hiring out the equipment (5). Depreciation is the loss of value of equipment
between the time it is bought and the time it is retired or replaced (6). Value of asset
decreases because of such factors as obsolescence and decrease of value of used
equipment or reduced need. It is the cost of consumption of the equipment. It is not the
cost of wear and tear nor is it the cost of replacement. Equipment can not be sold at the
purchase cost even after replacing all the worn out parts. Therefore it is not the cost of
wear and tear. Similarly with the total depreciation amount new equipment can not be
purchased at the end of useful life of the equipment. Because there is an element of
inflation. Therefore it is not the replacement cost. It is the cost that is consumed by
running the equipment in projects. This consumption is spread in projects depending
upon their use in the project under consideration.

Depreciation accounting method determines the amount to recognize as expenses in any

given year in order to determine the profit or loss and to determine income tax
liabilities. There are several methods to determine depreciation amount. But the method
selected should be acceptable to the internal revenue department of the concerned

87
government (Tax Office) as this affects profitability of a company and hence, the tax to
be realised from a company.

Of the several methods in use, the following 3 are commonly used in case of
depreciation, of equipment.

1. Straight line method

2. Sum of the years digits method
3. Declining balance method

a) Straight line method

It is the easiest and most widely used method in construction industry. The annual
amount of depreciation for any year during the useful life of a equipment is constant
in this case and is given by cost of asset divided by number of years. If the asset
fetches some value at the end of its useful life, this value also known as salvage value
or the scrap value is deducted from the price of equipment and only the actual amount
lost during the useful life of the equipment is depreciated.

Depreciation charge for any year is given by dividing the difference between the
original price P and estimated salvage value s by the estimated useful life of the
equipment. n

Therefore D=(P-s) n.

The book value of asset in a particular year is the difference between the purchase
price and cumulative depreciation up to the year under consideration.

Example:
An equipment costing of $110,000 at the time of purchase can be sold at $10,000 at
the end of its useful life of 5 years. Calculate the book value of the equipment at the
end of each of the years during the useful life of the equipment.

Solution:
Purchase price P = $ 110,000
Salvage value s = $ 10,000
Useful life n = 5 years

Total amount consumed during useful life of the equipment = (P-S) = $ (110,000
10,000) = $ 100,000
Therefore depreciation D= (P-s)n = 100,0005 = $ 20,000 per year

End of year Depreciation Book value ($) Remarks

0 0 110,000
1 20,000 90,000
2 20,000 70,000
3 20,000 50,000
4 20,000 30,000

88
 5 20,000 10,000

b) Sum of the years digits method

In this method, sum of the digits of each of the useful life is calculated. The factor that
is used to multiply the depreciable amount of the asset is determined by dividing the
number of years (life of asset) in reverse order. Yearly depreciation is then calculated.

Example:
An equipment costing $ 110,000 can fetch $ 10,000 at the end of its useful life of 10
years. Calculate the yearly depreciation and the book value of the equipment at the
end of each of the years during its useful life.

Solution:
Purchase price of equipment P = $ 110,000
Useful life of equipment n = 10 years
Salvage value of equipment s = $ 10,000
Sum of the digits = 1+2+3+4+.+9+10 = 55
Total depreciable amount D= $(110,000 10,000) = $100,000

Total Multiplying Depreciation Book value $ Remarks

year factor (f) amount
($)=d=f x D
1 10/55 18,182 91.818 (P-d)
2 9/55 16,364 75,454
3 8/55 14,545 60,909
4 7/55 12,727 48,182
5 6/55 10,909 37,273
6 5/55 9,091 28,182
7 4/55 9,273 20,909
8 3/55 5,455 15,454
9 2/55 3,636 11,818
10 1/55 1,818 10,000
Total 55/55 100,000

c) Declining Balance method

In this method, depreciation is made on a fixed percentage basis rather than the fixed
sum as in the case of straight line method.

The rate of depreciation d is calculated by using the formula d =(1- n s / p ) x 100

Were s = salvage value
P = purchase price of equipment and
n = useful life of the equipment

Example:
A piece of equipment costing $ 110,000 at the time of purchase has salvage value of $
10,000 at the end of its useful life of 10 years. Calculate the rate of depreciation,
yearly depreciation and book value of the equipment for each of the years during
useful life of the equipment.

Solution:

89
Here, rate of depreciation d = (1 -
n
s / P ) x 100
= (1 - 10 10,000 / 110,000 ) x
100
= (1-0.786793) x 100 = 21.31%

End of Depreciation Depreciation for Book value Remarks

year %=d year $ $
0 21.32 0 110,000
1 21.32 23.452 86.548
2 21.32 18.452 68.096
3 21.32 14.518 53.578
4 21.32 11.423 42.155
5 21.32 8.987 33.168
6 21.32 7.071 26.097
7 21.32 5.564 20.533
8 21.32 4.378 16.155
9 21.32 3.445 12.710
10 21.32 2.710 10.000

Apart from the above three there and several other methods used for plant
depreciation in different countries in different time period e.g free depreciation
method was used in the UK in early 70s.
In this method, the asset is totally depreciated initially in the year of purchase. By
this, the company which purchases the equipment can write total purchase price
minus salvage value as the expenses of the year. This will give tax relief to the
company.
This is not vary common method since it is not accepted by the revenue department of
a country. However, if the government intends to give incentive to buy equipment for
betterment of construction projects, such policy can be adopted for certain period of
time say 5 years.

14.4 Graphical comparison of depreciation methods

If a graph is plotted for life of the assets in years against the book value of the asset, it
is noted that declining balance method has steep slope in the initial years suggesting
more amount depreciated when the equipment is new than in the later years when the
equipment becomes older. Therefore this is the accelerated depreciation method that
provides larger proportion of the cost of a price of equipment to be written of in early
years. This method often more nearly approximates the actual loss of market value
with time (peurify:68)

Straight line curve has a constant slope. Sum of the years digit method lies in
between.

Straight line depreciation

Sum of the year digits depreciation

90
Declining balance depreciation
Book Value of Asset ($)

Life of asset (years)

91