Construction Planning and Management

CE-401/ CEN 411

Tutorial/ Practice Sheet on Construction Equipment

1. A contractor is considering purchasing a used tractor for Rs. 200,000 that he could use for the next
10 years and then sell for an estimated salvage value of Rs 10,000. Annual maintenance and repair
costs for the used tractor are estimated to be Rs 15,000 per year. As an alternative, the contractor
could take a similar tractor on rent for Rs 4,000 per month. Should the contractor purchase the used
tractor or rent the tractor from an equipment dealer? Consider that the annual operating cost is
approximately the same for both the alternatives. Use a minimum attractive rate of return of 12%.
2. A contractor has decided to add a dump truck to his equipment fleet. He has the option of
purchasing new or used equipment. Interest, insurance, and taxes total about 12%, and the
contractor anticipates using the dump truck for about 2,000 hours per year. Which of the following
alternatives should the contractor select?
a) The new truck costs Rs.12,00,000 to purchase and is expected to have a useful life of 30,000
hours of operation. Tires cost Rs 50,000 to replace (estimated to occur after every 6,000 hours
of use) and major repairs will be needed after 10,000 hours of operation at a cost of Rs 50,000.
Fuel, oil, and minor maintenance cost about Rs 750 for each hour the truck is used. Estimated
salvage value at the end of 30,000 hours of operation is Rs 6,00,000
b) An used truck costs Rs. 9,00,000 to purchase and is expected to have a useful life of 15,000
hours of operation. Tires cost Rs 50,000 to replace (estimated to occur after every 6,000 hours
of use). Fuel, oil, and minor maintenance cost about Rs. 500 for each hour the truck is used.
Estimated salvage value at the end of 15,000 hours of use is Rs. 4,50,000.
3. A loosened soil with a swell factor of 1.6 is to be hauled through a distance of 100 m by a bulldozer.
The forward speed is 5 km/hr and reverse speed is 10 km/hr. The dozer has a mold board capacity of
5 cum on loose soil. Average gear shifting time is 0.5 minute. You are required to move excavated
soil with bank volume of 500 cum in 8 hours. Considering that actual operating time of 45
minutes/hr, how many dozers will you employ for the job?
4. Power shovels are being used for an excavation work. The efficiency of the power shovel is 45%. The
swell fraction of the soil is 60%. Volume of the dipper is 1.2 cum. Cycle time of the shovel is 25
seconds. Consider that the shovel operates for 30 minutes in an hour. How much time will be
required to excavate 500 cum of soil?
5. Dynamic compaction is being used as a means of soil improvement in a project which is located on a
loose sandy soil. The designer specified that the optimum depth of soil improvement required is
15m. You have a lifting crane which can have a maximum lift of 30 m. Find out the mass of the
tamper considering n=0.3
6. A dump truck has manufacturer-specified payload struck capacity of 10 cum. The loading time is 5
minutes. The maximum speeds in loaded and unloaded conditions are 10 km/hr and 30 km/hr,
respectively. Dumping and turning the load requires 2 minutes. The distance to be traversed from
the loading point to the dumping point is 3 km. However, during return the trucks can take a shorter
route which is 2 km long. A loose sandy soil of volume 1000 cum has to be hauled in a single day.
 How many trucks would you like to employ? If the soil is clayey in place of sandy soil, the number of
dump trucks to be employed should increase or decrease?
7. The following is a nomograph from Schwing, Inc. who is a manufacturer of concrete pump. You are a
site-in-charge for a construction project involving installation of high-rise buildings in Mumbai. For
the ease of construction, you decided to use concrete pumps. The maximum rate at which the
concrete is required is 20 cum/hr. The maximum height of a building is 135m and the end of the
placing boom is approximately 4 m above the pouring point for the top most floor. The maximum
length of the 100 mm diameter pipeline is 250 m. There will be estimated 10 numbers of 30 degree
bends and 5 numbers of 90 degree bends en-route to pouring point from the pump. For each 30
Degree bend, add 1 m of pipe line length and for each 90 degree bend add 6 m length of pipe. The
slump required at the pouring point is 70 mm. Find out the maximum pressure required to be
developed by the pump. Make a choice of the pump and the working power of the pump.