CONSTRUCTION PLANTS

AND MACHINERIES

Why use plants and machineries?

• Increase rate of output
• Carry out activities which cannot be done
manually or to do them more economically
• Eliminate heavy manual work thus reducing
fatigue and increase productivity of manual
workers.
• Reduce the overall costs for large contracts

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Why use plants and machineries?
• Maintain a planned rate of production where
there is a shortage of skilled or unskilled labour
• Maintain the high standards often required by
present-day design and specifications.

Manual rodding, sometimes the Popoff Inc. workers use a

only way to get the job done, self-propelled laser screed,
takes a lot of time and requires requiring minimal pushing
awkward postures and and pulling while producing
repetitive, high-pinch forces, as a higher quality finish in less
this worker is demonstrating. time.

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Choosing Plant and Machineries

The importance of making the right choice:

• Increase efficiency and profitability of the

construction operation.

Selection
Selection depends on:
1. Size of operations/projects
– How much excavation, how much concrete,
how high the lifting.
– If proposed structure occupies the whole of
site it could eliminate the use of large batch
concrete mixers, dumpers and cement
storage silos.

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Selection
2. Type of operations
– New work or restoration.
3. Construction method
– Prefabricated or on site work.
4. Time allowed
– Contract period and finishing date.
.

Selection
5. Staff availability
– Competent person to select type of plant
– Plant operator must be a trained man
– Trained person for maintenance and
schedule for the plant maintenance must be
followed.

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Selection
6. Soil conditions
– Wet sites require machines with caterpillar tracks
– Dry sites are suitable for track and wheeled
vehicles.
7. Access to site
– Congested town sites limit use of many types of
machineries and plant
– Allowable weight and height of machineries to be
transported to site.

Selection
8. Safety
– Governed by law e.g. Health and Safety at work
– Construction regulations
9. Noise emission
– Under health and safety at work provision is made
for the protection of workers against noise
– Local authority requirements
• The type of machineries prohibited
• Hours during which works may be carried out
• Level of noise permitted during specific hours.

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Decision on Buying or Hiring
• Advantage of buying
– Plant is available when required
– Cost of idle time caused by severe
weather, work being behind planned
programme or delay in deliveries of
material will generally be less on owned
plant than hired
– Builders can distribute the plant costs to
the various contracts using the plant.

Decision on Buying or Hiring

• Advantage of hiring plants
– Hired as required and for short periods
– Hire firms are responsible for repairs and
replacements
– Contractor is not left with expensive plant after
completion of contract
– Hire rates can include operator, fuel and oil.

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Construction Plants Classifications
Construction
plants
and machineries

Small powered Earthworks Transporting

plant plant plant

Lorries, Trucks,
Electric hand tools, Excavate, Fill,
Dumpers, Fork lift
Vibrators, Compact,
Elevators,
Pumps Transport
Cranes

Earthworks Plant and Machineries

• Process of earthworks:
– Excavate existing land
to suitable
formation/reduced
level (cut)
– Formation of
embankments (fill)
– Disposal of the
products of excavation
– Compaction

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Excavation
Mechanical plant and equipment
•Mechanical plant and equipment save
considerable man-hours, and are standard
features on all sites.
•The type of plant varies with the nature of work
and the different construction stages.

•Plant is most commonly used for:

i. site clearance and light demolition;
ii. topsoil stripping;
iii. trench excavation;
iv. pits and boreholes;
v. site transport.

Site clearance
• Removal of hedges, trees, existing buildings
and undulations is the first of site operations,
to achieve a clear uninterrupted work space.
• Most tractors with face-shovel attachments
will be capable of pushing out trees and
shrubbery.
• A back-hoe attachment is useful for digging
out stumps and roots.
• Chains or wires secured to a tractor for
pulling out trees is also successful for
moderately-sized growths.

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 Site clearance

• Small buildings can be levelled with a dozer or

tractor with dozing attachment.

• Levelling, land clearance and stripping of the

topsoil are all easily achieved with a bulldozer.

• The bucket or blades vary to suit soil

composition and are usually dished to
encourage the soil to roll off rapidly.

Bulldozer
• Primarily for land clearing
and excavation up to a
depth of 400 mm
• Pushing soil, levelling,
stripping of top soil
• Generally tracked
• Incorporate hydraulic
attachments

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With the blade lowered and angled, slopes may
be cut, and the surplus spoil used to fill or level.
This is particularly useful for terracing sloping
sites.

Scraper

• Very large sites, airfields or motorways are

more effectively levelled with motorised
scrapers

• Scraper containing a large bowl with lowered

cutting edge for obtaining precise formation
levels.
− As the bowl fills, a hydraulic ram displaces
the spoil.

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Scraper

Scraper

– Excavate
– Transport soil
– Capable of
producing very
smooth and
accurate
formation level

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 Grader
• Grader
– Used to level out
deposited fill
– Cannot excavate

Trench excavation
• Most trench excavation for services and
foundations is with a back hoe or backacter.

• Small machines are wheeled tractors, and

larger versions are tracked.

• They span the proposed trench and the

toothed bucket and hydraulic boom extend out
and excavate towards the cab.

• Most spoil is retained for backfilling.

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 Trench excavation
Figure below shows typical range dimensions for
an average tractor-based machine.

Backhoe-loader
• Versatility and compact
make it the most popular
urban construction
machines
Tasks:
• small demolitions
• light transportation of
building materials
• digging holes
• breaking asphalt

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 Dragline/Grabcrane Excavator

• Where the volume is large the crane-mounted

dragline is preferred.
• The bucket is swung forward to penetrate the
subsoil and dragged back towards the cab.
• Discharge of spoil is to one side by forward
tilting of the bucket.
• Deep excavation into granular soils is more
effective with a grab or ‘clamshell’ operating by
gravitational penetration.

Dragline Excavator

– Excavation below
level of machine
– For loose and soft
soil
– Bulk excavation
where fine limits
are not important

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Compaction
• To increase density of soil
• To increase bearing capacity of soil
• Reduce soil compressibility
• Reduce water penetration
• Reduce the possibility of soil erosion

Compactor
• Gasoline
driven
vibratory
compactor
• Construction
of side walk

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 Compactor

Single drum vibratory Single drum pad foot

compactor vibrator

Transporting Plant
• Movement of material around and within
building site
– Lorries and trucks
– Dumpers
– Fork lift trucks
– Elevators and conveyors
– Cranes

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 Site transport
Transportation of most materials and light
equipment, the site dumper is ideal.

Site transport
• The dumper’s versatility has been challenged in
recent years by the site fork lift machine

• These are similar to the factory versions, but

have larger wheels.

• Fork lifting is practical because many materials

are delivered on pallets. And the lilting facility
can be used for direct loading onto a scaffold
frame.

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Site transport

Site transport

• Site haulage lorries are seen at an early stage

of site preparation for removing surplus spoil
and demolition materials.

• Capacities range from 5 to about 20 tonnes

and they all feature a tipping body

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Dump Trucks

– Transferring material
from one part of the
site to another
– Wheeled vehicles
– Lack of traction
– Always the first to get
stuck

Cranes
Classification
• Mobile cranes
• Static or stationary cranes
• Tower cranes

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 Mobile
Cranes

Static Crane

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Tower Crane

Tower crane
• Fix to the ground
• Combination of height and
lifting capacity –
• Construction of tall building

Tower Crane

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