COURSE MODULE: CONSTRUCTION PLANT &

EQUIPMENT

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE & SPATIAL PLANNING

KABETE NATIONAL POLYTECHNIC

PREPARED BY:

ARCH. ERIC KINYUA M.

construction equipment 1
 Introduction

 In the case of huge construction projects ;

 Proper use of the appropriate equipment contributes to
economy, quality, safety, speed and timely completion of a
project .
 Equipment are use for highway projects, irrigation,
buildings, power projects etc .
 15-30% of total project cost has been accounted towards
equipment and machinery .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 2
Classification of Construction Equipment

1. Earth -moving equipment

2. Hauling equipment
3. Hoisting equipment
4. Conveying equipment
5. Aggregate and concrete production equipment
6. Pile -driving equipment
7. Tunneling and rock drilling equipment
8. Pumping and dewatering equipment

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 3
Operations involved in construction
of any project
 Excavation
 Digging of large quantities of earth
 Moving them to distances which are sometimes fairly long
 Placement
 Compacting
 Leveling
 Dozing
 Grading
 Hauling

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 4
EXCAVATING AND EARTH MOVING EQUIPMENT

 Power shovel
 Back hoe
 Drag line
 Clam shell
 Scrapers
 Bull dozer

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 5
 POWER SHOVEL

 To excavate the earth and to load the trucks

 capable of excavating all types of earth except
hard rock
 size varies from 0.375m3 to 5m3 .
 Basics parts of power shovel including the track
system, cabin, cables, rack, stick, boom foot -pin,
saddle block, boom, boom point sheaves and
bucket .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 6
 APPLICATIONS

• Suitable for close range of work

• Capable of digging very hard materials,
• can remove big sized boulders .
• It is used in various types of jobs such as digging
in gravel banks, clay pits, digging cuts in road
works, road -side berms, etc.

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 7
Factors affecting output of power shovel

• Class of material
• Depth of cutting
• Angle of swing
• Job condition
• Management condition
• Size of hauling units
• Skill of the operator
• Physical condition of the shovel

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 8
 OLD NEW

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 9
 BACK HOE

• Also known as hoe, back shovel and pull shovel

• It is used to excavate below the natural surface on which it
rests .
• Generally used to excavate trenches, pits for basements
and also for grading works, which requires precise control
of depths .
• The basic parts are boom, Jack boom, Boom foot drum,
Boom sheave, Stick sheave, Stick, Bucket and Bucket
sheave

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 10
 Back hoe

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 11
 Application

• It is the most suitable machine for digging below the

machine level, such as, trenches, footings, basements etc .
• It can be efficiently used to dress or trim the surface
avoiding the use of manual effort for dressing the
excavated the surface .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 12
 Drag line

• The drag line is so named because of its prominent operation of

dragging the bucket against the material to be dug .
• Unlike the shovel, it has a long light crane boom and the bucket is
loosely attached to the boom through cables .
• Because of this construction, a dragline can dig and dump over larger
distances than a shovel can do .
• Drag lines are useful for digging below its track level and handling
softer materials .
• The basic parts of a drag line including the boom, hoist cable, drag
cable, hoist chain, drag chain and bucket .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 13
 Application

• It is the most suitable machine for dragging softer material

and below its track level
• It is very useful for excavating trenches when the sides are
permitted to establish their angle of repose without
shoring .
• It has long reaches .
• It is mostly used in the excavation for canals and
depositing on the embankment without hauling units .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 14
DRAG LINE

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 15
 Clam shell

• This is so named due to resemblance of its bucket to a

clam which is like a shell -fish with hinged double shell .
• The front end is essentially a crane boom with a specially
designed bucket loosely attached at the end through cables
as in a drag line .
• The capacity of a clam shell bucket is usually given in
cubic meters .
• The basic parts of clam shell bucket are the closing line,
hoist line, sheaves, brackets, tagline, shell and hinge .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 16
 Application

• Used for handling loose material such as crushed stone,

sand, gravel, coal etc .

• Main feature is vertical lifting of material from one

location to another .

• Mainly used for removing material from coffer dam,

sewer main holes, well foundations etc .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 17
CLAM SHELL

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 18
 Comparison between different types of equipment

s.no. Items of comparison Power shovel Backhoe Drag line Clam shell

1 Excavation in hard soil or Good Good Not good Poor

rock

2 Excavation in wet soil or Poor Poor Moderately goodModerately

good
mud
3 Distancebetween footing Small Small Long Long
and digging
4 Loading efficiency Very good Good Moderately goodPrecise but slow

5 Footing required Closeto work Close to pit Fairlyaway from Fairlyaway from
pit pit
6 Digginglevel Digs at or Digsbelow Digsbelow Digs at or below
above footing footing level footing level footing level
level
7 Cycletime Short Shortly more More than powerMore than
the
thanpower shovel other equipment
CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT shovel 19
 Trenching machine
 Used for excavating
trenches for laying
pipelines, sewer,
cables etc .
 Operation is quick
giving the required
depth or width .
 Two types of
trenching machine
wheel type, ladder
type
CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 20
 Scrapers

• Unique machine for digging and long -distance hauling of

plough able materials .
• self -operating machine
• It is not dependent on other equipment .
• Wheels of machine cause some compaction .
• The basic parts of scrapers are the bowl, apron and tail
gate or ejector .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 21
SCRAPER

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 22
 Bull dozer
• The heavy blade attached to the tractor pushes the material
from one place to another .
• The tractor can be of the crawler or the wheeled type .
• Classification of bull dozer
1. Position of blades
a) Bull dozers in which the blade perpendicular to the
direction of movement
b) Angle dozers in which the blade is set at an angle with the
direction of movement .

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 23
2. Based on mountings
a) Wheel mounted
b) Crawler mounted
3. Based on the control
a) Cable controlled
b) Hydraulically controlled

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 24
 Bull dozer

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 25
 Applications
Bull dozers are mainly used for the following operations
1. For spreading the earth fill
2. For opening up pilot roads through mountainous and
rocky terrains .
3. Clearing construction sites .
4. Maintaining haul roads
5. Clearing land from the trees and stumps
6. back -filling trenches at construction sites by dragging the
earth from one place to another

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 26
 Tractors
• Multi -purpose machines used mainly for pulling and pushing the
other equipment .
• Tractors may be classified as
a) Crawler type tracto r- Used to move bull dozers, scrapers . The
crawler has a chain by which these tractors can be very effective even
in the case of loose or muddy soils . The speed of this type dose not
exceed 12 kmph normally .
b) Wheel type tractor - The engine is mounted on four wheels . The
main advantage is higher speed, sometimes exceeding 50 kmph it is
used for long -distance hauling and good roads .

CONSTRUCTIONEQUIPMENT

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 27
Comparison between crawler and
wheeled tractors
TRACTOR
Crawler type Wheeled type
1. Slow speed 1. Greater speed
2. More compact and powerful and can 2. Can handle only lighter jobs
handle heavier jobs
3. costly 3. cheaper
4. Cost of operation and maintenance 4. Operational and maintenance cost is less
is high
5. Stick control for steering 5. Wheel steering control
6. Moves on rough roads only 6. Moves on rough as well as good roads
7. Used for short distances 7.Used for longer distances
8. Requires skillful operation, 8. Lesser skills required for operations,
maintenance and repairs maintenance and repairs

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 28
 Carrying out excavation activities

The scope and application of excavation standards states that excavations include trenches which means that a
trench is a type of excavation. Moreover, a trench is further defined as a narrow excavation in relation to its length,
and it is generally greater in depth than width. The main difference is that “excavation” is the umbrella term that
encompasses any man-made cut in an earth surface, including trenches. While a trench can be called a trench
excavation and all trenches are excavations, not all excavations are made up of trenches only.

Hazards in Excavation
 The collapse of the sides of the excavation.
 Materials falling onto people
 Falls, either people or vehicles.
 Nearby structures collapsing into the excavation.
 Electrocution, explosion, gas leak, or flooding, caused by damage to underground services.

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 29
 Safety precautions handling excavation plant and equipment
 Collapsing should be avoided by supporting the sides by either battering them or supporting them with sheets.
 Materials from the excavation should be stored at a safe distance from the excavation, this will help reduce
the risk of them falling onto people.
 Adding barriers to excavation is an essential precaution to avoid people falling into the excavation.
 It is safer if vehicles are kept completely out of the excavation area, but if required the use of barriers and stop-
blocks should help mitigate that danger.
 Cable, pipe, and service plans should be used to ensure that underground services are known so they can be
marked on the ground or, ideally, the area avoided entirely.
 Around the areas where there are underground services, mechanical equipment should be avoided and instead
use spades and/or shovels.
 Picks and forks should be avoided as they are more likely to pierce cables and pipes.
 Flooding can be avoided by ensuring that there is appropriate pumping equipment so that any water that seeps
into the excavation can be easily pumped out to a safe area.

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 30