CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

Chapter Two
Earth Work Equipment
2.1 General
Earth Work
is a process of moving soil or rock from one location to the other
and processing it, so that it meets construction requirements of
location, elevation, density, moisture content, etc.
Earth work includes:
• Site preparation, excavation, loading, hauling
• Embankment construction,
• Backfilling, dredging,
• Preparing base course,
• Sub-base and sub-grade,
• Compaction, road surfacing
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• All the above works involve the use of a large number of
highly efficient and versatile equipment's.
• The proper selection of these equipment's and the length
of time they will have to be used are an essential part of
the estimator’s work.
• Earth work equipments are broadly classified into earth
moving, compaction, grading and hauling equipments.
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Earth Work Equipment includes:
A. Excavators
B
B. Loaders A
C. Shovels
D. Clamshells
E. Draglines
F. Scrapers
G. Dumpers D
C
H. Dozers
I. Graders
J. Rollers
F G

E
H
I J
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Table below shows kinds of earth work and corresponding Equipment's
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Excavation Types
❑Common Excavation: refers to ordinary earth excavation.
The removal of common excavation will not require the use
of explosives, although tractors equipped with rippers may
be used to loosen consolidated formations.
❑Rock Excavation: rock excavation cannot be done by
ordinary earth handling equipment.
▪ Rock materials must be removed by drilling and
blasting or by some other methods.
▪ This normally results in a considerably greater
expense than earth excavation.
❑Muck Excavation: includes materials that will decay or
produce subsidence in embankments.
▪ It is usually a soft organic material having a high
water content.
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▪ Typically, it would include such things as decaying
stumps, roots, logs, and humus.
▪ These materials are hard to handle and can present
special construction problems both at their point of
excavation, and in transportation and disposal.
❑Unclassified Excavation: refers to the materials that
cannot be defined as soil or rock.
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General Soil Characteristics
❑As earth moving equipments are mostly related to works
related to soil, important aspects of soil shall be reviewed.
❑From the characteristics of soils trafficability, loadability
and volume change are vital for earth works. Accordingly,
▪ Trafficability - property that shows the ability of soil to
support repeated traffic loading
▪ Loadability - property that tells the ease or difficulty of
excavating and loading. Loose granular soils are highly
loadable, whereas compacted cohesive soils and rock have
low loadability.
▪ Soil Volume Change - property that is related with
volumes of soil samples on different stress or compaction
levels
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Soil Volume Change Characteristics
❑ There are three principal conditions or states in which soil
may exist: bank, loose, and compacted. The meanings of
these terms are as follows:
▪ Bank State - This is the state when the material is in its
natural state i.e. before disturbance. Often referred to as
“in – place’’ or “in situ.’’ This is the volume on which
payment usually is based.
▪ Unit - Bank cubic meter [Bm3]
▪ Loose State - This is the state after the material is
excavated or disturbed.
▪ Unit - Loose cubic meter [Lm3]
▪ Compacted State - This is the state after the material is
compacted.
▪ Unit- Compact cubic meter [Cm3].
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Soil Volume Change Characteristics and Relationship between the three states
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Load and Shrinkage Factors:
• In performing earth moving calculations, it is important to convert
all material volumes’ to common unit of measure.
• Bank cubic meter is most commonly used
• Pay load is the volume unit specified as the basis for payment in an
earth moving contract.
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❑Swell values for different class of earth
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Example Problem:
1. If a material swells 20%, how many loose cubic
meters will it take to move 1000 bank cubic
meters?
2. How many bank cubic meters were moved if a
total of 1000 loose cubic meters have been
moved? Swell is 25%.
3. Find the swell of a soil that weighs 1661kg/m3 in
its natural state and 1186 kg/m3 after
excavation?
4. Find the shrinkage of a soil that weighs
1661kg/m3 in its natural state & 2077kg/m3
after compaction?

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Load Factor
If the percent of material swell is known, the load factor (L.F.) may be
obtained by using the following relationship:
L.F. = ___100%____ OR
100% + % swell
To estimate the machine payload in bank cubic meter, the volume in
loose cubic meter is multiplied by the load factor:
Load (BCM) = Load (LCM) XL.F.
➢Assume one bank cubic meter of material weighs 3000 kg. Because
of material characteristics, this bank cubic meter swells 30% to 1.3
loose cubic meters when loaded, with no change in weight. If this 1.0
bank cubic meter or 1.3 loose cubic meter is compacted, its volume
may be reduced to 0.8 compacted cubic meter, and the weight is still
3000 kg.
➢Instead of dividing by 1 + Swell to determine bank volume, the loose
volume can be multiplied by the load factor. 14
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Shrinkage Factor
➢The ratio between compacted measure and bank measure is called
shrinkage factor (S.F.):
S.F. =Compacted cubic Meters(CCM)
Bank cubic Meters (BCM)
S.F= 1- Shrinkage
Shrinkage factor is either estimated or obtained from job plans or
specifications which show the conversion from compacted measure to
bank measure.
Shrinkage factor should not be confused with percentage compaction
(used for specifying embankment density, such as Modified Proctor or
CBR).
➢ The percentage of an available volume in a body, bucket, or bowl
that is actually used is expressed as the fill factor.
➢ A fill factor of 87% for a hauler body means that 13% of the rated
volume is not being used to carry material. Buckets often have fill
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factors over 100%.
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Example problem
1. A soil weights 1163kg/lcm,1661kg/Bcm, and
2077Kg/Ccm
a. Find the load factor(Lf) and shrinkage factor(Sf) of the soil
b. How many Bank Cubic Meters (BCM)and Compacted
Cubic Meters(CCM) are contained in 593,300LCM of this
soil

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Assignment problems
1. A soil weights 1483kg/loose,1839kg/in its natural state, and
2106Kg/compacted
a) Find the soil load factor(Lf) and shrinkage factor(Sf)
b) If you want to sign agreement with a dump truck owner for
hauling the excavated material with a price of 6birr/m3,how
much does it cost you to move 2000Bcm?
c) For the Question in B, If you sign agreement to pay per
trip/biyajo and the rated capacity of the d/truck is 18m3 and
the fill factor is 0.9 how much does it cost you to move
2000Bcm? If the price is 108/trip(biyajo)
2. Construct a 10,000Ccm bridge approach of dry clay with a
shrinkage factor(Sf) of 0.8 and load factor [Link] unit is rated
14Lcm struck and 20Lcm heaped
a) How many Bank meters are needed
b) How many loads/trips are required?
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2.2 Excavating and Loading
• These are construction equipments used to excavate and load earth
materials for various purposes.
• The major types of excavator equipments used in earth moving
operations include hydraulic excavators and the member of the
cable – operated crane shovel family

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I. Crane Shovel Family
❑ The crane shovel family is a group of excavators having the
following common features:
▪ Mounting
• They are mounted on crawlers, wheels or trucks.
• The crawler mounting provides excellent on – site mobility, and
its low ground pressure enables it to operate in areas of low
trafficability. Crawler mountings are widely used for drainage
and trenching work as well as for rock excavation.
• Truck and wheel mounting provide greater mobility between job
sites but are less stable than crawler mountings and require
better surfaces over which to operate.
▪ Superstructure or control room
▪ Front end attachment
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Crane Shovel Family
A. Face Shovel
❑ Face shovel is an equipment used mainly in quarries, pits
and on construction sites to excavate and load blasted rock.
❑ These equipments are more effective for excavations above
the wheel or grade level.
❑ The basic parts of a power shovel include the mounting,
cab, boom, dipper stick, dipper (bucket), and hoist line.
❑ Optimum depth of cut: is that depth which produces the
greatest output and at which the dipper comes up with full
load without undue crowding.
▪ The depth varies with the class of soil and the size of
the dipper.
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❑ The output of a shovel is affected by
numerous factors, including the following:
▪ Class of material,
▪ depth of cut,
▪ angle of swing,
▪ job conditions,
▪ management conditions,
▪ size of hauling units,
▪ skill of operator and
▪ physical condition of the shovel.

Wheel Grade Level

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Crane Shovel Family
B. Drag Line
❑ Draglines are used to excavate earth and load it into hauling units, such as
trucks or tractors-pulled wagons, or deposit it into levees, dams and spoil
banks near the pits from which it was excavated.
❑ These equipment are more efficient for excavation below the grade level and
have the longest reach for digging and dumping of all shovel equipment.
❑ A dragline can be used for dragging out sediments and is efficient for under
water construction.
❑ These equipment are weak while excavating hard materials and have a lesser
productivity than a face shovels.

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❑Wire ropes are used for the boom suspension, drag, bucket hoist,
dump lines.
❑The fairlead guides the drag cable onto the drum when the bucket is
being drawn in loaded.
❑The hoist line is used to raise and lower the bucket.
❑In the digging operation, the drag cable is used to pull the bucket
through the material.
❑When the bucket is raised and moved to dump point, releasing the
tension on the drag cable causes the mouth (open end) of the bucket
to drop vertically and gravity then draws the materials out of the
bucket.

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❑ Types of Drag Lines: Drag lines may be divided into three
types:
▪ Crawler-mounted
▪ Wheel-mounted, self-propelled
▪ Truck-mounted
 Crawler-mounted draglines can operate over soft ground
conditions that would not support wheel or truck - mounted
equipment.
▪ The travel speed of a crawler machine is very slow,
frequently less than 5 kmph,
▪ It is necessary to use auxiliary, hauling equipment to
transport the unit from one job to another.
❑Wheel and track-mounted units may have travel speeds in
excess of 45 kmph.

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Size of a Drag Line
❑ The size of a dragline is indicated by the size of the bucket,
expressed in cubic meter (m3).
❑ Most draglines may handle more than one size bucket,
depending on the length of the boom utilized and the class and
weight of the material excavated.
❑ Since the maximum lifting capacity of a dragline is limited by
the force which will tilt the machine over, it is necessary to
reduce the size of the bucket when a long boom is used or when
the excavated material has a high unit weight.
❑In practice, the combined weight of the bucket and its load
should not be greater than 75% of the force required to tilt the
machine.

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Output of drug lines
❑ The output of drag lines will vary with the following
factors
▪ Class of material
▪ Depth of cut
▪ Angle of swing
▪ Size and type of bucket
▪ Length of boom
▪ Method of disposal, casting, or loading
▪ Size of the hauling units, when used
▪ Skill of the operator
▪ Physical condition of the machine
▪ Job conditions

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Crane Shovel Family
C. Clamshells

❑ Clamshells are used primarily for handling loose materials

such as sand, gravel, crushed stone, coal, etc. and for removing
materials from inside cofferdams, pier foundations, sewer
manholes, sheet-lined trenches, etc.
❑ They are specially suited to vertically lifting materials from one
location to another, as in charging hoppers and overhead bins.
❑ The limits of vertical movements may be relatively large when
they are used with long crane booms.
❑Clamshell buckets are available in various sizes, and in heavy-
duty types for digging, medium-weight types for general-
purpose work and lightweight types for rehandling light
materials.
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❑Manufacturers supply buckets either with removable teeth or without teeth.
❑Teeth are used in digging the harder types of materials but are not required
when a bucket is used for re-handling purposes.
❑The holding, closing, and tag line control the bucket. At the start of digging
cycle, the bucket rests on the material to be dug, with its shell open. As the
closing line is reeved in, the two shell of the buckets are drawn together,
causing them to dig into the material.
❑The weight of the bucket is the only crowding action available for
penetrating the material. After the bucket is closed the holding and closing
lines raise the bucket and swing into the dumping point. The bucket is
opened to dump by releasing the tension on the closing line.

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❑ The capacity of a clamshell bucket is usually given in cubic meter.
❑ The variable factors affecting operations include:
▪ The difficulty of loading the bucket,
▪ The size load obtainable,
▪ The height of lift,
▪ The angle of swing,
▪ The method of disposing of the load, and
▪ The experience of the operator.
❑ Today there are hydraulic clamshell buckets that are mounted on the
stick of hydraulic hoe and performs better operation. However, the
hydraulic excavator clamshell have limited vertical reach.

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Crane Shovel Family
D. Hoes
❑ Hoes are used primarily to excavate below the natural surface of the
ground on which the machine rests.
❑ Hoe is sometimes referred to by other names, such as backhoe or
back shovel.
❑ They are adapted to excavating trenches, pits for basements, and
general grading work, which requires precise control of depths.
❑ Because of their rigidity they are superior to draglines in operating
on close-range work and dumping into trucks.
❑ Because of the direct pull on the bucket, backhoes may exert greater
tooth pressures than face shovels.
❑ In storm drain and utility work the hoe can perform the trench
excavation and handle the pipe, eliminating a second machine.

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Stick Bucket Boom

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Hoe Buckets
❑ There are special buckets for
everything from light sand to
hard rock digging.

Bucket option

Teeth option

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Comparison between the shovel family

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II. Heavy Earth moving Equipment
A. Excavators
❑ Replaced the cable operated crane shovel family
❑ Excavators are basically digging machines, having the
following three main components
▪ An undercarriage to give mobility. This may be crawler
track mounted or wheel mounted.
▪ A superstructure with operator’s cabin mounted on either a
slew ring to traverse through 360° or on a rigid frame.
▪ Hydraulically articulated boom and dipper arms with
bucket.
❑ Excavators are designed to excavate below the ground surface
on which the machine rests.
❑ Good mobility and versatility and excellent for general-purpose
work, such as excavating trenches and pits.
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Basic Parts of Excavator

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❑ Functions of excavators:
▪ Excavating – Earthworks
▪ Loading Excavated Material
▪ Scarification
▪ Making of Drains
❑ Advantages of hydraulic excavators include:
▪ Faster cycle time,
▪ Higher bucket penetrating force,
▪ More precise digging, and easier operator control.
▪ Many attachments can be made to increase the
versatility of the equipments.

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Types of excavators
❑ Excavators are of the following types based on the type of
carriers on which they are mounted:
I. Crawler mounted excavator
II. Truck mounted excavator
III. Self propelled excavator
IV. Excavators mounted on barge or rail
I. Crawler mounted excavator:
❑ These excavators are mounted on the crawler system and are
very suitable for carrying out large works in rough terrain.

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I. Crawler mounted excavators:
❑ Crawler excavators have the following main characteristics;
▪ Can be used for work on soft or wet grounds
▪ Can be used on sharp rocks or other adverse conditions
▪ These can climb steep grades (even up to 40 percent)
▪ Requires very less turning space
▪ Have very less speed for travelling
▪ Can be shifted from one site to another only on trailers

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II. Truck mounted excavators:
❑ These excavators are mounted on truck chassis and has the
following main characteristics:
▪ High road speed and mobility is the main advantage.
▪ Lower stability over sides and hence require counter-
weight or outriggers.
▪ Require more operating space.
▪ Tyres or outriggers give high ground pressure and hence
it requires firm and smooth operating locations.
▪ Have two engines and two cabs, separately for truck
chassis and excavator.

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III. Self propelled excavators:
❑ These excavators are self propelled and has rubber tyres. The
main characteristics are:
▪ Medium travel speed generally between 10-30 Km per
hour.
▪ Has one engine and one cab for control by one operator.
IV. Excavators on barge or rail:
❑ These excavators are mounted on barge or rail to carry out
work of excavation in water or near railway line respectively.

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Common attachments
❑ Some common attachments include:
▪ Augers: Drills holes for poles, posts,
soil sampling, and ground
improvement
▪ Jack Hammer: vibratory hammer
used to break up concrete and rock.
▪ Bucket Ripper: The bucket sides and
bottom are lined with ripper teeth to
break up hard soil or soft rock.
▪ Thumb Bucket: attached to bucket to
provide a hook capacity.

Assignment- Discuss the different type

of attachments

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❑Hydraulic power is the key to the versatility of many
excavators.
❑Hydraulic front shovel are another type of excavators which is
used predominantly for hard digging above track level and for
loading haul unit.
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Heavy Earth moving Equipment
B. Loaders
❑Used extensively in construction work to handle and transport bulk
materials, such as earth and rock; to load trucks; to excavate earth;
and to charge aggregate bins at asphalt and concrete plants.
❑ A bucket is attached to the arms and capable of being raised,
lowered, and dumped through mechanical or hydraulic controls.
❑ The loaders having bucket in the front, known as “front end
loaders” are very common.
❑ The loaders are versatile, self propelled equipment mounted either
on crawler or wheel-type running gear.
❑ These are equipments used primarily:
▪ To load excavated materials to a hauling unit,
▪ Excavate soft to medium materials,
▪ Loading hoppers,
▪ Stockpiling materials,
▪ Backfilling ditches, and
▪ Moving concrete and other construction materials.
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Basic Parts of a loader

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Types of Loaders
❑ Loaders are of the following two types:
▪ Crawler loaders
▪ Wheel Loaders

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I. Crawler loaders
❑ Crawler track types are generally preferred for digging and
loading jobs where ground conditions are poor and low pressure
characteristics are required.
❑ They are preferable for applications involving rock and sharp
stony ground as there is no possibility of tyre damage.
❑ These are best employed for short moves between loading and
dumping points.
❑ They should be transported from one site to another after
loading on the trailors.

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II. Wheel loaders
❑ As a result of the development of more capable power trains
(axel and tires), there was a steady trend towards wheel loaders
at the expense of crawlers.
❑ Wheel loaders are generally four wheel drive. However, for
handling light jobs on good ground conditions two-wheel drive
varients are also used.
❑ Four wheel drive loaders are generally used for construction
jobs, whereas, two wheel drive loaders are used for bulk
handling of coal, cement, fertilizer etc.

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❑ From manoeuverability point of view, wheel loaders are of
a. Articulated type (Pivot steer)
b. Rigid frame- two wheel steer or all wheel steer.
a. Articulated type of loaders
❑ They are hinged in the middle of the front and rear axels.
❑ Due to their operational characteristics and capability of
working in limited space and short turning radius, resulting
higher speed of work, they have become popular.
❑ The articulation permits the loader to pivot 30-45 degree either
side of the center.

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❑ Some advantage of articulated type of loaders are:
▪ Quick manoeuvring and thereby easier spotting of loads
▪ Less rolling resistance on turns
▪ Better mobility on soft surface
▪ Give better performance and high productivity.
b. Rigid frame type loaders
❑ These are comparatively cheaper than articulated frame type of
loaders.
❑ Manoeuvring back and forth before dumping is required in most
cases.
❑ Rigid frame loaders are of two types, namely two wheel steer
and four wheel steer.

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 Some models of wheel loaders are designed as a combination of a
backhoe and loader and often called backhoe loader.

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Backhoe loader features
❑Very common piece of equipment
❑Many subcontractors own/lease
❑Very versatile
❑Easily transported
❑“Low” maintenance costs
❑Operator “friendly”
❑Easily rented

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Operations
❑ Loaders are used to carry out the following main operations;
A. Loading
❑ Loading operation is the main operation performed by the
loaders.
❑ Loading consists of scooping, lifting, turning and dumping
materials such as sand, gravel, and crushed materials from
stockpiles, bank or construction site into the hauling units.
B. Hauling
❑ Wheel loaders are excellent for moving loose materials over
short distances to dump into hauling units, hoppers, conveyors,
bins, or any other place of work in the construction site.

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C. Excavating
❑ Crawler loaders and heavy duty wheel loaders are excellent for
many excavation jobs.
❑ These loaders can excavate as well as lift the excavated material
and dump it into trucks or on the stockpiles
D. Clearing
❑ Loaders can scoop up and load the debris of demolished
buildings into hauling units.
❑ Loaders are the first equipment to prepare the site for building
and construction operations; and also the last equipment in order
to backfill, spread, level and top with selected good soil.

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Attachments
❑ The following are main attachments which can be fitted to a
wheel loader
a) Back filling attachment
❑ Back filling can be done with the bucket of this attachment when
used with the loader.
b) Forklift attachment

❑ An industrial forklift when attached with the loader gives more

stability, more tractive power and greater clearance than the
normal.
c) Sweeping attachment
❑ A sweeping attachment can be fitted to a wheel loader for general
cleaning of roads and parking areas in the industries.

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d) Multi purpose bucket
❑ A multi purpose or four-in-one bucket can be used as a dozer,
scraper, clamshell and a general purpose loading.
e) Ripper-scarifier attachment
❑ These are mounted on the rear of the loader to loosen hard
surfaces.
f) Miscellaneous other attachments

❑ A large number of attachments for specialized jobs are also

available for fitting to the loaders. Some of these are pipe laying
attachments, pole handling attachments, boom for loader crane set
up.

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Heavy Earth moving Equipment
C. Dozers
 Dozers are machines designed primarily for cutting and
pushing the material over relatively short distance.
 They consist of a tractor equipped with a front–mounted
earthmoving blade controlled by hydraulic cylinders to vary
the depth of cut.
 A dozer moves earth by lowering the blade and cutting until a
full blade load of materials is obtained. It then pushes the
material across the ground surface to the required location.
❑ Rear mounted hydraulic scarifiers and rippers can be fitted to
loosen hard material prior to dozing.

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Application of Dozers
 The following are the main dozer application
▪ Clearing land of timber and stumps,
▪ Opening up pilot roads through mountains and rocky terrain,
▪ Moving earth for the haul distances up to approximately
100m,
▪ Helping load tractor-pulled scrapers,
▪ Spreading earth fills,
▪ Backfilling trenches,
▪ Side hill cuts
▪ Clearing construction sites of derbies, and
▪ Maintaining haul roads.

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Moving earth

Helping scrappers 59
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Dozer Blades
❑ A heavy blade of slightly concave profile is attached in the front
of the tractor.
❑ The blades has a replaceable cutting edge, which wears out
with the use of the blade.
❑ The dozer blades are available in sizes from 2m to 7.5m wide
and 0.8m to 1.5m height.
❑ Dozer blades are of the following types:
A. U-Blade: Used for moving big loads over longer distances;
curved shape and side and top extensions reduce the spillage of
loose material; best suited for lighter materials.

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B. Straight Blade: Used primarily for shallow surface removal,

land clearing; designed to push dirt for short distances,
versatile, lightweight and maneuverable, handles a wide range
of materials.
C. Angle Blade: It is designed to move material towards the sides
of a cut, backfilling or cutting ditches, and sustainably reduces
the amount of maneuvering.
D. C (cushion Blade): Used primarily with scrapers for ‘‘on the
go’’ push loading; can be used for lighter excavation and other
general tasks.
E. Land fill Blade: These blades are specially designed to handie
refuse and/or fill material.

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Dozer Blades

U-Blade SU-Blade Carry Dozer “CD” Blade

Straight “S” Blade Power Angle &

Variable Radius
Tilt Blade
“VR” Blade
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Dozer Blades

Angle “A”-Blade Cushion “C”-Blade V-Tree cutter -Blade

Rakes K/G -Blade

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Blade adjustments

Tilting
Angle adjustment
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Blade adjustments

Angle adjustment (Top View)

Pitch adjustment
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Dozer Blades and Material Evaluation

❑ Besides job requirement, several other consideration determine
choice of attachment.
❑ Moisture content, particle size, and number of voids are the
more important characteristics influencing dozing performance.
a) Moisture content: If the moisture content increases above the
optimum, material becomes heavy and will thus have a
negative effect on dozing performance.
b) Particle size: Large particles resist penetration more than
smaller ones, requiring more dozing power.
▪ Materials consisting of irregularly and sharp-edged
particles are more difficult to doze than material composed
of round-edged particles

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c) Voids: Relatively dense materials with few voids contain large

numbers of individual particles in close contact with each other
. Because of this more force is required to break up this tightly
bonded material.

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Rippers
❑ Crawler-tractor, mounted with ripper is finding increasing use
in construction, mining and quarrying.
❑ Characteristic of material to be ripped influence the selection
of ripper type; number of shanks required, ripping speed and
amount of ripper penetration.
Types of Rippers
A. Fixed multiple-shank ripper: used for comparatively simple
ripping operations.
B. Variable multiple-shank ripper: These are used where there
are many boulders, or where the quality of rock is not
consistent.

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Types of Rippers
C. Fixed giant ripper: has only one single powerful shank, but is
not common as compared to variable giant rippers.
D. Variable giant ripper: has a single powerful shank . The angle
of this ripper can be changed according to the ground
requirements.

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Ripping Efficiency
❑ In order to achieve high ripping efficiency, following
suggestion should be considered.
1) When material is not broken, loosen the surface in one
direction, then cross-ripping should be adopted.
2) If material is soft, use more than one shank ripper.
3) Ripping should be done downhill.
4) Avoid reversing when shank is in the ground.
5) When both dozing and ripping operations are required to be
done, it should rip going out and doze on the way in.
6) For hard material, use shorter tips, and for ordinary work use
longest and sharpest point.

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Crawler Vs Tyre Tractors

A. Crawler Mounted tractors B. Wheel Mounted tractors

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Crawler Vs Tyre Tractors

❑ Each type of tractor has certain advantages in certain conditions.
❑ Advantages of crawler mounted tractors:
1) More tractive effort, hence can also operate on loose or
muddy soil.
2) In absence of tyres, can easily operate in rocky conditions.
3) Where maintenance of haul roads is difficult, it can easily
travel, especially in rough terrain.
4) Crawler tractors are more compact and powerful and hence
can handle difficult jobs as well.
5) Greater floatation because of the lower pressure under the
trucks.

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Crawler Vs Tyre Tractors
❑ Advantages of wheel mounted tractors:
1) Can travel at higher speeds during operations and also from
one job to the other.
2) Ease in operation. Operator feels less fatigue.
3) Can travel on paved roads without damaging them.
4) Can travel long distances at its own power, whereas crawler
mounted needs trailors.
5) When work is spread over long area, these are found to be
producing more output.
6) Operation, maintenance and repair costs are less in wheeled
tractor as compared to crawler tractors.

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Heavy Earth moving Equipment
D. Scrapers
❑ Scrapers are capable of excavating, hauling, and dumping
material over medium- to long-haul distances.
❑ The scrapers are designed to dig, load, haul, dump and spread
and sometimes called as carry all.
Types of scrapers
❑ The scrappers are of three types:
I. Towed scrapers:
▪ They are provided with either cable or hydraulic control.
▪ They are becoming obsolete.
▪ When coupled to a suitably powered crawler tractor, they
can operate in extremely adverse conditions.
▪ Travel at slower speed and can be used for short hauls only.
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II. Self propelled or motorized or conventional scrapers:

▪ Generally manufactured in ranges from 10-20 cubic meters.
▪ Needs push loading by a crawler mounted or wheeled tractor.
▪ Have more hauling speed and hence are suitable for long
distance hauling .
III. Self loading or elevating scrapers:
▪ The problem of loading by a pusher is overcome by these type
of scrappers.
▪ These are twin engine scrappers and can work completely
independently of all other plants.
▪ Pay loads are restricted because of the additional weight of the
loading elevator and its drive system.

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❑ Another classification method of scrapers

I. Push-loaded (Conventional):
▪ Single powered axel
▪ Tandem powered axels
II. Self loading:
▪ Push-pull, tandem powered axels
▪ Elevating
▪ Auger

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Types of scrapers

Conventional (Push loaded)

Become uneconomical when
• Haul grades > 5%
• Return grades > 12%

Tandem powered Twin Engine

•Good for jobs having adverse grade
•Owning operating costs are about
25% higher

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Types of scrapers

Push pull scrapers

▪ Can work as a team or operate
individually with a pusher.
▪ Tire wear will increase in rock or
abrasive materials.

Elevating scrapers
▪ Good for short hauls and in
favourable materials.
▪ Can work alone in the cut.
▪ Cost more initially and to operate.

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Types of scrapers

Auger Scrapers
▪ Can self load in difficult condition,
laminated rock or granular material.
▪ The augers add weight to the
scraper during travel and it is more
costly to own and operate than the
conventional.

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Basic Parts of a scraper
❑ A scraper has the following main parts:
i. Bowl
▪ The bowl is a pan to hold the scraped dirt
▪ It is hinged at the rear corners to the rear axle inside the
wheels, and is capable of tilting down for digging or ejecting.
ii. Cutting edge
▪ The bowl has a cutting edge attached to the bottom.
▪ The cutting edge is lowered into the dirt to make a shallow cut.
iii. Apron
▪ This is a wall in front of the bowl, which opens and closes to
regulate the flow of the earth in and out of the bowl.

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Basic Parts of a scraper

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Basic Parts of a scraper
iv. Tail gate or ejector
▪ These are the rear of the pan which is capable of forward
and backward movement inside the bowl

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Operation
❑ Operation of a scraper is described here under for an earth work:
i. Loading or digging
▪ The operator moves to the cut with the ejector at the rear and
the apron raised approximately to 40 cm.
▪ The bowl is then lowered to the desired depth of cut, increase
engine speed, move forward in first gear keeping optimum
depth of cut.
▪ When the bowl is full, the apron is closed and the bowl is
then raised.
ii. Transporting
▪ The bowl is transported in high gear in raised position to
provide sufficient clearance.
▪ During transporting, apron should be fully closed to prevent
loss of material
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Operation
❑ Operation of a scraper is described here under for an earth work:
iii. Unloading
▪ The bowl should be positioned to spread the material to the desired
depth during this operation.
▪ A partial opening of the apron during the initial unloading will help in
even spreading.
▪ For wet and sticky material, the apron should be raised and lowered
repeatedly until the material behind it is loosened and drops out of the
bowl.
▪ Then the ejector is moved forward to push the remaining material out
of the bowl at a uniform rate.
▪ When the dump is complete, the tail gate is fully retracted, the apron
dropped and the ‘bowl’ raised to transporting position.

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Operation
❑ Following are some of the suggestions for increasing scraper
production:
▪ Construct and maintain smooth haul roads for faster travel.
▪ Depth of cut should be according to the type of soil being
cut.
▪ Use ripper teeth in hard or abrasive materials for easy
handling.
▪ Where possible, loading be done in down grade
▪ To increase the stability of the scraper during travel, carry
the bowl as close to the ground as possible.
▪ If necessary pre-wetting of the soil is done so that the soil is
reasonably moist, as most soils load easily when they are
moist.
▪ Whenever possible, plan the work to eliminate all avoidable
turns.
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2.3 Grading Equipment
Graders
❑ Grading is the process of bringing earth work to the desired
shape and elevation (grade).
❑ Motor graders are used for leveling and smoothening the
earthwork, spreading and leveling the base course in the
construction of roads and air fields.
❑ Motor graders can be used for the following types of works:
▪ Gravel road repairing
▪ Road shoulder reshaping, bank cutting and reshaping
▪ Ditch filling or digging
▪ Levelled or slopped ground finishing
▪ Base course spreading and levelling
▪ Material mixing, hard surface cutting, snow clearance,
▪ Land clearance, frozen top soil and asphalt breaking
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Comparison with dozers

❑ A grader is restricted to making shallow cuts in medium-hard
materials.
❑ They should not be used for heavy excavations.
❑ A grader can move small amounts of material but cannot
perform dozer-type work because of the structural strength and
location of its moldboard.
❑ Graders can work on slopes as steep as 3:1.
❑ Grader are capable of progressively cutting ditches to a depth of
3 ft.

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Basic parts of grader
❑ The components the grader that actually do the finishing are:
▪ Blade (Moldboard)
▪ Scarifier
▪ Rippers

Scarifier
log Rear
Ripper

Moldboard/
Circle Blade
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Basic parts of grader

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Blade
❑ The blade (Mould Board) is the main tool of the grader.
❑ It is carried by a rotating circle and is easily maneuverable to a
wide range of cutting positions with the help of hydraulic
controls.
❑ The blade and the circle are mounted on a frame and is
supported at the front of the machine by a ball joint.
❑ The blade can be adjusted to any position with help of levers as
indicated below:
▪ Side shift: the blade has Blade Sideshift Ram
▪ Lifting the blade: The blade can be lifted or lowered by
levers operating the two rams.
▪ Rotating the circle: A hydraulic motor is provided to rotate
the circle and blade. Blade can be rotated either in
clockwise or counter clockwise direction.
▪ Adjusting blade cutting angle (Blade pitch): The vertical
angle of the blade can be adjusted
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Blade

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Blade

Adjusting blade cutting angle

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Blade

Adjusting blade cutting angle

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Scarifier
❑ Scarifier is a special tool attached with the motor grader for
loosening the hard soil and has a set teeth mounted on
adjustable shanks.
❑ This attachment digs up hard ground like asphalt, old pavement,
frozen surface and hard soil with vegetation and brushes which
can not be removed by the blade.
❑ The teeth are replaceable, and the number of teeth can be varied
to suit the ground hardness.
❑ High strength alloy steel tips can be mounted on the teeth to
prevent teeth wear and extend their service for economical
performance.

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Scarifier

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Ripper
❑ The ripper is used to break up materials too hard to cut with
moldboard blade.
❑ The depth of cut is controlled by hydraulically operated ripper control
lever.
❑ Type of material to be ripped will determine position of the ripper
shank.

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Various Operations
A. Grading:
❑ Grading in road construction means flattening and smoothening
the road surface and others by the scrapping action of the blade,
includes working operation like, surface skimming, light duty
bulldozing, leveling, spreading and crowning.
❑ A cutting depth of 2 to 3cm is considered to be the best for
optimum efficiency. Under no circumstances it should be
greater than 5cm.
B. Spreading:

❑ Gravel together with binding material is spread by the motor

grader.
❑ For spreading the cutting angle is set at 60° nearly.
❑ Cutting edge of the blade is set above the ground at a distance
equal to the depth to which the material is to be spread.
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Various Operations
C. Finishing and Leveling:
❑ In final finishing and leveling, surface have to be finished to fine
limits.
❑ In such cases make the finishing pass with the blade only slightly
angled and set to skim the surface.
D. Ditch Digging:
❑ The front end of the blade is tilted down and the rear end is tilted up
above the road surface. The front end cuts into the ground.
❑ This is used to dig drainage ditches and road side ditches.
E. Cutting:
❑ For the purpose of cutting in soft dirt, set the blade to an angle b/n 40-
55 degree, while in hard dirt an angle of 30-45 degree is proper.

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Various Operations

Laser Blade controls Ditch Cutting

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2.4 Earth work Equipment Summary

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Earth work Equipment Summary
❑ Choice of Excavation Equipment for Building Site Excavation
depends on:
▪ Size of the job: - Bucket Size and Number of Excavators
▪ Activity time constraints: - Number of equipment
▪ Availability of equipment:
▪ Cost of transportation of equipment:
▪ Type of excavation:
▪ Soil characteristics:
▪ Geometric characteristics of elements of the soil to be excavated:
▪ Space constraints:
▪ Characteristics of haul units:
▪ Location of dumping areas:
▪ Weather and temperature:

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Earth work Equipment Summary

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Earth work Equipment Summary

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