Introduction

It is a common fact that we find a wide variety of construction machines on every

construction sites, which make the construction jobs easy, safe and quicker. Good project
management in construction must vigorously pursue the efficient utilization of labor, material
and equipment.

The use of new equipment and innovative methods has made possible wholesale changes in
construction technologies in recent decades. The selection of the appropriate type and size of
construction equipment often affects the required amount of time and effort and thus the job-
site productivity of a project.

These act as a backbone 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. Equipments are use for highway projects, irrigation, buildings, power projects
etc. Almost 15-30% of total project cost has been accounted towards equipment and
machinery.

It is therefore important for site managers and construction planners to be familiar with the
characteristics of the major types of equipment most commonly used in construction.

Advantages of utilizing the construction equipments:

Increase the rate of output through work progress with the best effective and efficient
methods.

Reduce the overall construction costs especially for large contracts.

Carry out activities which cannot be done manually or to do them more economically
and much faster.

Eliminate the heavy manual work by human thus reducing fatigue and eliminates
various other hazards and health issues.

Maintain the planned rate of production where there is a shortage of skilled or

unskilled labor.

Maintain the high quality standards often required by present-day design and
specifications (technical standards).
 CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENTS

Depending on the application, construction machines are classified into various categories
which we are discussing here.

1. Earth-moving equipment

2. Earth-compacting equipment

3. Hauling equipment

4. Hoisting equipment

5. Conveying equipment

6. Aggregate production equipment

7. Equipments used in Concrete Construction.

8. Pile-driving equipment
 EARTH-MOVING EQUIPMENTS

SELECTION CRITERIA FOR EARTHWORK EQUIPMENTS

The selection of earthmoving equipment is mainly dependent on the following factors:

Quantities of material to be moved

The available time to complete the work the job conditions

The prevailing soil types, the swell and compaction factors, etc.

The job conditions include factors such as availability of loading and dumping area,
accessibility of site, traffic flows and weather conditions at site.

In order to plan the number of Earthwork Equipment needed, the planner first determines
the following:
 The suitable class of equipment for earthwork-for example, if the soil to be
excavated is loose and marshy, and bulk excavation is involved In the project, one may
opt for a dragline.

The appropriate model of equipment based on different characteristics such as

payload of bucket and speeds required. For example, draglines come in different
capacities ranging from 0.38 cum to 3.06 cum; scrapers in capacities ranging from 8
cum to 50 cum and so on.

The number of equipment needed for the project to carry out the given
quantity.

The number of associated equipment required to support the main equipment

1. Excavators
Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, stick,
bucket and cab on a rotating platform (known as the "house").
The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels.
Excavators are also called diggers
Excavators are used in many ways:
a. Digging of trenches, holes, foundations
b. Material handling
c. Brush cutting with hydraulic attachments
d. Forestry work
e. Demolition
f. General grading/landscaping
g. Heavy lift, e.g. lifting and placing of pipes
h. Mining, especially, but not only open-pit mining
i. River dredging
j. Driving piles, in conjunction with a pile driver
2. Back hoe
Backhoes are mainly used to clean up construction areas, to dig holes in the ground, to
smooth uneven ground, to make trenches, ditches and to help remove deep roots from
trees.
It can exert high tooth pressures and hence can excavate stiff material which normally
cannot be excavated by dragline. Out put of hoe is greatest when the excavation is done
near the machine, because cycle time of operation reduces.
A backhoe, also called a rear actor or back actor, is a piece of excavating equipment or
digger consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. They are
typically mounted on the back of a tractor or front loader.
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.
 The section of the arm closest to the vehicle is known as the boom, and the section
which carries the bucket is known as the dipper or dipper stick (the terms "boom"
and "dipper" having been used previously on steam shovels). The boom is attached
to the vehicle through a pivot known as the kingpost, which allows the arm to slew
left and right, usually through a total of around 200 degrees. Modern backhoes are
powered by hydraulics.

Applications:
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.
3. Front shovel

A front shovel (also stripping shovel or power shovel or electric mining shovel or
Dipper Shovel's power shovel) is a bucket-equipped machine, usually electrically
powered, used for digging and loading earth or fragmented rock and for mineral
extraction.

They are mounted on crawler tracks.

To excavate the earth and to load the trucks

It is used to excavate earth of all classes except hard rock and load it into wagons.

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.

Power shovels are used principally for excavation and removal of overburden in open-
cut mining operations, though it may include loading of minerals, such as coal. They
are the modern equivalent of steam shovels, and operate in a similar fashion.
Front shovel are mainly used for excavation purposes above its own track or wheel
level.
They are suitable for heavy positive cutting in all types of dry soils.
 Old Front Shovel or Rope excavator

New Front Shovel

A shovel's work cycle, or digging cycle, consists of four phases:

a. digging
b. swinging
c. dumping
d. returning

Applications of Front Shovel:

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.

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

4. Dragline
 They are used to excavate soft earth from below ground and to deposit or to load in
wagons. Output of dragline is measured in Cubic Meters per hour.
They are used for bulk excavation below its track level in loose soils, marshy land and
areas containing water.
The drag line is so name 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.
Applications of Dragline:

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.
5. Clamshell
It consists of a hydraulically controlled bucket suspended from a lifting arm. It is
mainly used for deep confined cutting in pits and trenches.
It is having bucket of two halves which are hinged together at top. It is used to excavate
soft to medium materials and loose materials.
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.
Applications of Clamshell:

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.
 Comparison between different types of equipment

Sr.no. Items of comparison Power shovel Back hoe Drag Clam shell
line
1 Excavation in hard soil or rock Good Good Not good Poor

2 Excavation in wet soil or mud Poor Poor Moderatel Moderately good

y good

3 Distance between footing and Small Small Long Long

digging

4 Loading efficiency Very good Good Moderatel Precise but slow

y good

5 Footing required Close to work Close to pit Fairly Fairly away from pit
away from
pit
6 Digging level Digs at or above Digs below footing Digs Digs at or below
footing level level below footing level
footing
level
7 Cycle time Short Shortly more than More than More than the other
power shovel power equipment
shovel

6. Bulldozers
A bulldozer is a crawler (continuous tracked tractor) equipped with a
substantial metal plate (known as a blade) used to push large quantities of
 soil, sand, rubble, or other such material during construction or conversion
work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device (known as
a ripper) to loosen densely-compacted materials.
They are used for moving earth up to a distance of about 100m and act as a
towing tractor and pusher to scraper machines. They can be track-mounted
or wheel-mounted.
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

Bull dozers in which the blade perpendicular to the direction of movement

Angle dozers in which the blade is set at an angle with the direction of
movement.

2. Based on mountings

Wheel mounted
Crawler mounted

3. Based on the control

Cable controlled
Hydraulically controlled
Applications

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
7. Scraper
It is a device to scrap the ground & load it simultaneously, transport it over required
distance. It can dig, load, haul and discharge the material in uniformly thick layers.
In civil engineering, a wheel tractor-scraper is a piece of heavy equipment used for
earthmoving.
The rear part has a vertically moveable hopper (also known as the bowl) with a sharp
horizontal front edge. The hopper can be hydraulically lowered and raised. When the
hopper is lowered, the front edge cuts into the soil or clay like a plane and fills the
hopper.
When the hopper is full it is raised, and closed with a vertical blade (known as the
apron). The scraper can transport its load to the fill area where the blade is raised, the
back panel of the hopper, or the ejector, is hydraulically pushed forward and the load
tumbles out. Then the empty scraper returns to the cut site and repeats the cycle.
They are used for site levelling, loading, hauling over distances varying between
150m-900m. They may be towed, two-axle or three-axle type.
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.
8. Grader
A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, a maintainer, or a
motor grader, is a construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat
surface.
Typical models have three axles, with the engine and cab situated above the rear axles
at one end of the vehicle and a third axle at the front end of the vehicle, with the blade
in between.
In civil engineering, the grader's purpose is to "finish grade" (refine, set precisely) the
"rough grading" performed by heavy equipment or engineering vehicles such as
scrapers and bulldozers.
Graders are commonly used in the construction and maintenance of dirt roads and
gravel roads.
In the construction of paved roads they are used to prepare the base course to create a
wide flat surface for the asphalt to be placed on. Graders are also used to set native
soil foundation pads to finish grade prior to the construction of large buildings.
It is used for grading and finishing the upper surface of the earthern formations and
embankments. They usually operate in the forward direction
It is self propelled or towed machine motor grader, Used for light or medium works. It
shapes the ground and spreads the loose material..
9. Loaders
A loader is a heavy equipment machine often used in construction, primarily used to
lift material (such as asphalt, demolition debris, dirt, snow, feed, gravel, logs, raw
minerals, recycled material, rock, sand, and woodchips) into or onto another type of
machinery (such as a dump truck, conveyor belt, feed-hopper, or railcar).
A bucket is attached to arms , capable of being raised, lowered and dumped through
mechanical control. Application-Land filling, road Maintenance.
Skid-Steer Loader:
A skid loader or skid-steer loader is a small rigid frame, engine-powered
machine with lift arms used to attach a wide variety of labor-saving tools or
attachments.
Though sometimes they are equipped with tracks, skid-steer loaders are typically
four-wheel vehicles with the wheels mechanically locked in synchronization on
each side, and the left-side drive wheels can be driven independently of the right-
side drive wheels.

Wheeled Loader
 Crawler Loader

The crawler loader combines the stability of the crawler tractor with the abilities of
a wheel loader.
However, to construct a reliable crawler loader it requires more than simply
attaching a loader bucket onto a crawler tractor. It must be designed with its specific
purpose in mind to ensure it has the strength to withstand heavy excavating.
The introduction of hydraulic excavators diminished the market for the crawler
loader because it was unable to match the excavator's lifting power and flexibility.
However, crawler loaders are capable of maneuvering across the entire construction
site under its own power, whereas most hydraulic excavators require towing or
transport. While crawler tractors are still being manufactured today for niche
markets, they reached their peak of popularity in the 1960s.

10. Trenching Machines

 Trenchers, or ditchers as they are sometimes called, are similar to excavators in
the sense that they penetrate the earth, breaking soil and rock, and remove it from
the ground. They differ from excavators in that the soil is removed in one
continuous movement. Trenchers are specifically used for digging trenches for
pipes, but other machines have been improvised in the past to serve this purpose.
Trenchers can come in two types: ladder trenchers and wheel trenchers, and can
dig trenches at speeds that other machines cannot compare to.
Used for excavating trenches for laying pipelines, sewer, cables etc.
Operation is quick giving the required depth or width.
Two types of trenching machine are wheel type and ladder type
11. Tractors
 Multi-purpose machines used mainly for pulling and pushing the other equipment.

Important Equipment for earthmoving, worked by Diesel engines, having horse power
ranging from 20HP to 200HP.

Tractors may be classified as

a) Crawler type tractor- 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.
Crawler type Wheeled type

1. Slow speed 1. Greater speed

2. More compact and powerful and can handle heavier 2. Con handle only lighter jobs
jobs

3. costly 3. cheaper

4. Cost of operation and maintenance is high 4. Operational and maintenance cost is less

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, maintenance and 8. Lesser skills required for operations, maintenance
repairs and repairs

Comparison between crawler and wheeled tractors

EARTH COMPACTION EQUIPMENTS

Compactors are machines frequently used to compact materials such as soil in order to
increase its density for construction.
1. In addition, compactors are utilized in landfill tasks.

2. Common varieties are plate tampers (also known as rammers)

3. Vibratory plates, compactors (also known as tamping foot rollers) &

4. Vibratory pad foot compactors.

These categories are further divided below.

1. Smooth-wheel rollers
These are most suitable for compacting gravels, sand and such like materials.
Examples are Three wheeled or macadam rollers and tandem rollers.
Plain steel rollers
Self-propelled type
Weighing from 5 to 15 tonnes
Used for ordinary rolling work where deep compaction is not required
These rollers may have one front and two rear wheels
The rear wheels being usually larger in diameter and the front one being
winder.
Weight of rollers may be increased by filling water or sand ballast in hollow
cylinder.
These rollers are effective in compacting granular soils, such as sand, gravel
and crushed stone.

2. Sheep-foot rollers
It consist steel cylindrical drum with projection extending radial direction outward
from surface of cylinder & may be propelled or towed by tractor. It is suitable for silty
& clay sand, medium and heavy clay.
 For compacting earth work in embankments and canals (where compaction deep into
the layer of the earth is required)

These gives best result in compaction when the soil is clay or predominantly cohesive
and impervious.

The sheep foot rollers may weigh upto 15 tonnes or more

Travel at a speed of 25 kmph

As roller moves over the surface, the feet penetrate the soil to produce a kneading
action and a pressure to mix and compact the soil from bottom to top layer.

With repeated passages of the roller, the penetration of feet decreases.

3. Pneumatic-tyred rollers
It gives kneading action as well as compression to the soil underneath. It is suitable
for moderately cohesive silty soils, clayey soils, gravelly and clen sand.
It consists of a base or a platform mounted between two axles.
 The rear of which has one more wheel than the front.
Most suitable for compacting fine-grained soil and well graded sands.
Ballasting is done using water, sand or pig iron in order to increase the self weight.
Major advantages are the ability to control the ground contact pressure by:

a) Altering the weights of machines,

b) Increasing the number of wheels,

c) Increasing the tyre width

d) Changing the contact area of the tyre by altering the contact pressure.

HAULING EQUIPMENTS
 The equipment used for transportation of material are known as hauling equipment or
simply haulers.

Haulers may operate on the roadways or railways

It involve

transportation of building materials,

carriage and disposal of excavated earth
Haulage of heavy construction equipment.

Haulage by road is carried out by trucks, rubber tyred tractor with wagons or crawler
tractor with wagons. It transports the earth, aggregate, rock, ore, coal and other
materials. Road vehicles used for haulage on construction work are two types.

1. On Highway Vehicle-Design to be used on Public Highways

2. Off Highway Vehicle-Designed to be used construction sites & designed and

manufactured to preclude there use on their use on public roads and they may or
may not comply highway limitation.

1. Truck

They have high mobility, good speed and adoptability. The truck capacity varies from
0.4 Cum to 20 Cum & speed vary from 10kmph to30 kmph.
2. Dump Truck
These are the trucks which are fitted with automatic unloading devices. The
loading is normally done by loading shovels or loaders. The trucks have capacity
as high as 53 tones. These trucks can be rear dump truck.
These are used for earth moving purpose.
 The selection of the type of dump trucks for a specific job depend on the soil
condition.
(a) Side or rear dump trucks-
These are heavy duty trucks with strongly built body which is hinged on the
truck chassis at the rear end and one side respectively, and can be fitted to
the rear in the case of rear dump and to the hinged side in case of the side
dump, through the action of hydraulic jacks.
These trucks are suitable for use in hauling wet clay, sand, gravel, quarry
rocks etc.

Side dump truck

Rear dump truck

(b) Bottom dump trucks

These are similar to semi-trailers in which their front is supported on the rear of
the hauling tractor and their rear is resting on their own wheels.

The body of the truck remains in the same position and the discharge of the
material takes place through its bottom after opening of two longitudinal gates.
 The gates are hinged to the side of the body.

These trucks are suitable for use in hauling free flowing material, such as, sand,
gravel, dry earth, hard clay etc.

3. Dumpers
A dumper is a vehicle designed for carrying bulk material, often on
building sites. Dumpers are distinguished from dump trucks by
configuration: a dumper is usually an open 4-wheeled vehicle with the load
 skip in front of the driver, while a dump truck has its cab in front of the
load.
The skip can tip to dump the load; this is where the name "dumper" comes
from. They are normally diesel powered. A towing eye is fitted for
secondary use as a site tractor. Modern dumpers have payloads of up to 10
tones and usually steer by articulating at the middle of the chassis.
High speed pneumatic wheeled trucks

4. Short chassis

5. Strong bodies

6. Loading, hauling and dumping is done very fast as compared to other

equipment

7. Suitable for short hauls on rough roads

8. Especially where a shuttle movement is required.

4. Tippers
 A truck or lorry the rear platform of which can be raised at the front end to enable
the load to be discharged by gravity also called tip truck.

Tippers are suited for the rough and tumble of mining & quarrying operations, as
well as for carrying bulk loads in construction and infrastructure industries.
Complete maneuverability, high performance and long-term endurance are
common to all trucks, resulting in lower operating costs.

5. Ttrailers
A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle.
 Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for transport of goods and
materials.

HOISTING EQUIPMENTS
 Hoisting is the lifting a weight from one location and moving it to another location
which is at a reasonable distance.

These equipments are used for lifting the loads, holding them in suspension during
transfer from one place to other and placing them at designated location.

Big projects such as, construction of dams, industrial buildings etc. require hoisting
equipment.

Hoisting equipment includes jacks, winches, chain hoists and cranes.

Crane is the only single machine which, as a single piece, is capable of providing
three-dimensional movement of a weight.

It constitutes a group of equipment which are employed mainly for lifting or lowering
of unit load and other.

Forklifts
A forklift truck (also called a lift truck, a fork truck, a forklift, or a tow-motor) is
a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials.

Forklift trucks are available in many variations and load capacities. In a typical
warehouse setting most forklifts used have load capacities between one to five tons.
Larger machines, up to 50 tons lift capacity are used for lifting heavier loads.
 HOISTS
A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-
wheel around which rope or chain wraps. It may be manually operated, electrically
or pneumatically driven and may use chain, fiber or wire rope as its lifting medium.
The load is attached to the hoist by means of a lifting hook

Also known as a Man-Lift, Buck hoist, temporary elevator, builder hoist, passenger
hoist or construction elevator, this type of hoist is commonly used on large scale
construction projects, such as high-rise buildings or major hospitals. There are many
other uses for the construction elevator.

Many other industries use the buckhoist for full time operations. The purpose is
being to carry personnel, materials, and equipment quickly between the ground and
higher floors, or between floors in the middle of a structure.
a. Boom Hoist
Boom hoists are used to lift weights on the hooks that are attached to the special
metal ropes designed to bear maximum loads.
Boom hoist is mostly used as industrial machine where it loads the weight on
containers.

b. Chain Hoist

Chain hoists are quite common example of hoist system and it can be seen at most
of the construction and industrial purposes. Basically, chain hoist consists of chain
rope and pulley that is used to move the load from up to down.
c. Electric Hoist

Electric hoist is modernized form of chain and boom hoist mostly used in the
industries for fast working.
It is very much popular in material handling industries because it saves labor costs
by handling maximum loads at a time with no damage threats.
Electric hoist is modernized form of chain and boom hoist mostly used in the
industries for fast working.
It is very much popular in material handling industries because it saves labor costs
by handling maximum loads at a time with no damage threats.

d. Tractor Hoist
Tractor hoist consist of a boom that is attached with base of tractor and a hook with
rope is installed on this boom that can operated through driver controls.
 CRANES
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains,
and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them
horizontally. It is mainly used for lifting heavy things and transporting them to other
places.

It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move
loads beyond the normal capability of a man. Cranes are commonly employed in the
transport industry for the loading and unloading of freight, in the construction
industry for the movement of materials and in the manufacturing industry for the
assembling of heavy equipment.

Cranes are considered to be one of the most important equipment used in construction
due to their key role in performing lifting tasks all over the construction site.
Plenty of crane models are available in different shapes and sizes.

SELECTION OF CRANES
Factors affecting the selection of cranes are

1. Building Design
 Building Height
Project Duration

2. Capability

Power Supply
Load lifting frequency
Operators Visibility

3. Safety

Initial Planning and Engineering

1. Derrick cranes-
Derrick cranes consist of a mast, a boom and a bull wheel on which the boom
rotates about a vertical axis and guys or supporting members.

Preferable for high-rise and apartment buildings.

Can be used for both long term and short term projects.

Cheaper than mobile and tower cranes. Not considered to be safe.

Used when clearance is inadequate for the other units and sufficient space is
unavailable for the erection of a tower foundation.

Electrically operated, diesel operated or diesel-electrically operated.

The boom can revolve through 360. This crane is used for heavy loads upto 200
tons.

2. Mobile cranes-
These cranes are mounted on mobile units which is either crawler type or wheel
type
 Truck cranes have high mobility while the crawler mounted cranes move slowly.

Crawler mounted cranes are capable of moving on rough terrain.

Adequate for all types of structures (up to 107 m)

Used for shorter projects duration (less than 4 months).

Not considered to be very safe due to lack of safety devices or limited switches to
prevent overloading.

Can operate in muddy terrain but requires good ground conditions.

Needs adequate operating clearance

3. Overhead or gantry cranes-

large service area,
 freedom from floor obstructions

and three-way mobility,

Widely used in erection, foundry, steel plants, storage yards and different types of
industrial works.

These type of cranes consist of two main parts i.e., the bridge and the crab.

The bridge consists of two main girders fixed at their end to end and capable of
moving on gantry rails.

The crab consists of the hoisting gear mounted on a frame.

The frame itself is mounted on another set of wheels and capable of travelling
across the main girder.

4. Traveler cranes
Travelling or bridge cranes have their crabs moving on girders which are supported
on legs instead of on overhead gantry track as used in overhead cranes.

The legs are capable of moving on tracks laid on the floor.

5. Tower cranes
Tower cranes are actually a derrick crane mounted on a steel tower.
 Tower cranes are usually used for industrial and residential high-rise buildings.
These are commonly used for assembly of industrial plants with steel structures.
The main parts of tower crane are under carriage, slewing platform, tower with
operators cabin and jibs.
The tower has a truss structure welded from steel bars and channels.
Preferable for high-rise (over 107 m).
Used for longer project duration.
Considered to be very safe due to the presence of limit switches.
Can operate where ground conditions are poor.
Does not need adequate operating clearance.

CONVEYING EQUIPMENTS
 A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves
materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications
involving the transportation of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow
quick and efficient transportation for a wide variety of materials, which make them
very popular in the material handling and packaging industries

Transporting material from one place to another over a stationary structure.

Caries material in continuous stream with its distinct feature such as endless chain or
belt.

Can be done horizontally, vertically or inclined.

When the equipment does horizontal conveying, it is known as conveyor and when it
does vertical, it is known as elevator.

Conveying are mainly used in mining, construction and in some of the industries.

In construction industry, conveyors are mainly used for concreting purpose.

Utility
The Advantage of using conveyors are as follows:-

It increases the output.

It facilitates continuity in operation.

It results in time saving.

There are no waiting periods.

1. Belt conveyor
Used when large quantities of materials have to be conveyed over long distances at
fast speed.

It consists of a belt running over a pair of end drums or pulleys and supported at
regular intervals by a series of rollers called idlers.

These idlers are supported on a conveyor frame.

The middle sag provided in the belt prevents the spilling of material.

Generally, rubber is most commonly used as conveyor belt.

The advantages of using belt conveyor are as follows:-

1. It can handle light as well as heavy materials, dry or wet, fine or coarse etc.

2. It can and for distances to convey several thousand tons of material per hour and for
distances of distances of several kilometers.

3. It can carry material horizontally or inclined.

4. It is lighter in weight then other conveyors.

5. It gives controlled discharge of material and discharge can be controlled by the speed
of the belt.
2. Screw conveyor
Widely used for handling granular or pulverized material.

The quantity of material conveyed is less compared to the conveyor, but at the same
time the cost is also less.

A screw conveyor consists of a helix mounted on a bearing at the ends and at

intermediate points and is driven by a motor from one end.

The material enters the through at one end is carried to the other end by screwing
action of helix.

The length of the conveyor is about 65m. with an inclination up to a maximum of

350.
3. Bucket conveyor
It has buckets in the shape of V which are open at the top.

They may be feeder loaded or may drag in a vertical movement or along an incline.

The length of these type of conveyors are generally limited to 25 m. (due to weight
of the conveyor and strength of the chains.)

This type of conveyer is mainly used in coal handling where bucket elevators carry
the material vertically.
4. Aerial transport
Aerial transportation through cableways, rope-ways and tram ways

Often used with advantage for transportation of material in hilly regions.

Reducing the distance of transportation as well as cost of transportation

The load being passed over intermediate towers or stations for long distances.
 Aggregate production equipment
Aggregate has to be produced at the site, if the quantity needed is very large.

Therefore, in any project where concrete requirement is very high, an aggregate

preparation and processing plant is essential to complete the concreting operations.

Aggregate production consists of two stages is recovery and processing.

Basic material, such as stone, is recovered from a rock quarry or from the river bed
and processing is done which consists of crushing, grading, washing and stock piling
of aggregate.

Crushers are used mainly to reduce the size of large stone or rock to smaller uniform
sized aggregates required for concrete mix.

Crushing consists of

Pressure,

Impact,

Attrition

A combination of these operations.

1. Jaw crushers
It is one of the primary crushers.

It operates by allowing stone to flow into the space between two jaws, one of
which is stationary and other is movable, which together constitute the crushing
surfaces.

The distance between the two jaws decreases as the stone travels downward under
the effect of gravity and ultimately passes through the lower opening.
 The moveable jaw is capable of exerting a pressure sufficiently high to crush the
hardest rock.

The movable jaw is suspended from a shaft mounted on bearings on the crusher
frame.

The jaw plates are made of manganese steel which can be removed, replaced or
reversed.

2. Gyratory crusher
This is another type of primary crusher.

This type of crusher comprises a hardened steel head has a long conical shape, with
a trough shaft suspended in a bearing at the top, and an eccentric base connection
connected to gears.

Thus, as the cone is rotated, the gap between itself and the walling changes from a
maximum to minimum for each cycle.

The rock is feed into the chamber at the top and as it moves downward, crushing is
done and finally emerges through the bottom gap.

The size of this type of crusher is the width of the receiving opening measured
between the concaves and the crushers head.

It is available in sizes varying from 20cm to 200cm.

3. Cone crusher
Cone crusher are used as a secondary or tertiary crusher.

These crusher are capable of producing large quantities of uniformly fine crushed
stone.

It has a shorter cone with smaller inlet and outlet openings as compared to the
gyratory crusher.
4. Roll crusher
Roll crushers are also one of the secondary or tertiary crushers.

This crusher consists of a heavy cast iron frame equipped with two counter rotating
rollers mounted on a separate horizontal shaft.

The crushed rock from the primary crusher is feed through the gap between the two
rollers for crushing further.

Usually one roller has a fixed axis while the other can be adjusted to give the
required setting.

The crusher is compact, light weight and low in cost.

5. Hammer mill
Hammer mill is one of the impact crushers mostly used as primary or secondary
crusher.

It consists of a housing frame, a horizontal shaft extending through the frame,

number of frames and hammers attached to the frame and one more hard steel
breaker plates.
 As the stone is feed to the mill, the hammers, which are driven by a motor, move at
the high speed and brake the stone into pieces and driving them against the hard
plate, further reduce their size.

6. Rod mill and ball mill

These are the tertiary crushers.

A rod mill consists of a circular steel shell.

The interior of the shell is lined on the inside with a hard material wearing surface.

The shell contains a number of steel rods.

The length of these rod is slightly less then the length of the shell.

Crushed stone is feed through the inlet and fine aggregate of the size of sand is
discharged at the other end.

If the rods are replaced by steel balls to provide the impact required the grind the
stones, the crusher are known as the ball mill crusher.

The size of the balls generally used is 50 mm dia. Size.

 CONCRETING EQUIPMENTS
They are mainly used for weighing and mixing large quantity of concrete constituents.
capacity:- 20cum/hr-250cum/hr

Concrete is basically cement, aggregate & water mixed together and then deposited
and permitted to solidify.

Operation involved in concrete production batching, mixing, handling and

transportation, placing, finishing curing.

In huge concreting concrete and quality depends on time of mixing, so mixers are
used.

1. Concrete production plants

 For mixing different ingredients in required proportion.

It consists of storage bins for storing materials like cement and admixtures.

Aggregate is mix in it with the help of a hopper which is fixed in plant.

2. Concrete mixers
A concrete mixer (also commonly called a cement mixer) is a device that
homogeneously combines cement, aggregate such as sand or gravel, and water to
form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the
components. For smaller volume works portable concrete mixers are often used so
that the concrete can be made at the construction site, giving the workers ample
time to use the concrete before it hardens.

Special concrete transport trucks (intransit mixers) are made to transport and
mix concrete up to the construction site. They can be charged with dry materials
and water, with the mixing occurring during transport. With this process, the
material has already been mixing. The concrete mixing transport truck maintains
the material's liquid state through agitation, or turning of the drum, until delivery.
 They are mainly used for mixing small quantities of concrete constituents.
Capacity:- 200lt/batch (small mixers)
200-750l/batch (large mixers)

3. Concrete transit mixers

They are mainly used for transporting concrete from batching point.
capacity:- 3cum- 9cum
4. Concrete pumps
They are used for horizontal and vertical transportation of large volumes of
concrete in short duration.
capacity:- 30cum/hr (ordinary construction)

120cum/hr(specialized construction)
5. Vibrator
For compacting the concrete after its placement concrete vibrator is used. It help
volume of concrete quickly placed, give high density , reduce air voids.

Types of Vibrators

Internal vibrators-Use on large work for flat slab.

External or form vibrators-uses for thin section of walls.

Surface vibrator-used to finish concrete surface such as bridge floor, road slab,
section platform.

Table Vibrator-used for consolidation of precast units.

Needle Vibrator

Surface Vibrator

Table Vibrator
 SELECTION CRITERIA FOR CONCRETING EQUIPMENTS
Selection of concreting equipment can be complicated and difficult. The decision will
involve many issues that have to be analysed. The following factors are noteworthy:

Site characteristics such as boundary conditions, noise limitations and other

restrictions.

Equipment availability-local availability of equipments, whether the contractor owns

that equipment

Continuity of operation

Effect of permanent work

Weather conditions

Temporary works

Time restrictions

Concrete specifications

Concrete-mixing equipment selection will depend on factors such as the

Maximum and the total output required in a given time frame

Method of transporting the mixed concrete

Requirement of discharge height of the mixer.

Concrete-placement equipment selection depends on factors such as the

Capacity of the vehicle

Output of the vehicle

Site characteristics

Weather conditions

Rental costs and the temporary haul roads.

 Pile driving equipment
The process of pile driving involves lifting the piles into position, holding it to refusal
or to a specified depth.

Driving is accomplished through hammering the pile top with a hammer.

Equipment are so designed for driven effectively at an economical cost.

Major pile driving equipment are:

Pile driving rigs

Pile driving hammers