Heavy Construction Equipment used in the Construction Sector

Heavy construction equipment is used for various purposes in large projects. Selection of different types of construction equipment depends on the size of the work and economy of the project. These make the construction process easier and faster.

Types of Heavy Construction Equipment

Different types of construction equipment commonly used in the construction are as follows:

• Excavators
• Backhoe
• Dragline Excavator
• Bulldozers
• Graders
• Wheel Tractor Scraper
• Trenchers
• Loaders
• Tower Cranes
• Pavers
• Compactors
• Telehandlers
• Feller Bunchers
• Dump Trucks
• Pile Boring Machine
• Pile Driving Machine

    1. Excavators

Excavators are important and widely used construction equipment in the construction industry. Their general purpose is excavation but other than that they are also used for many purposes like heavy lifting, demolition, river dredging, cutting of trees, etc.

Excavators contain a long arm and a cabinet. At the end of the long arm, the digging bucket is provided and the cabinet is the place provided for the machine operator. This whole cabin arrangement can be rotatable up to 360° which eases the operation. Excavators are available in both wheeled and tracked forms of vehicles.

   2. Backhoe

Backhoe is another widely used equipment which is suitable for multiple purposes. The name itself tells that the hoe arrangement is provided on the backside of the vehicle while loading bucket is provided in the front. This is well useful for excavating trenches below the machine level and using front bucket loading, unloading and lifting of materials can be done.

    3. Dragline Excavator

A dragline excavator is another heavy equipment used in construction which is generally used for larger depth excavations. It consists of a long length boom and digging bucket is suspended from the top of the boom using cable.

For the construction of ports, for excavations underwater, sediment removal in water bodies, etc. can be done by dragline excavator.

    4. Bulldozers

Bulldozers are another type of soil excavating equipment which is used to remove the topsoil layer up to particular depth. The removal of soil is done by the sharp-edged wide metal plate provided at its front. This plate can be lowered and raised using hydraulic pistons.

These are widely used for the removal of weak soil or rock strata, lifting of soil, etc.

     5. Graders

Graders, also called motor graders are another type of equipment used in construction especially for the construction of roads. It is mainly used to level the soil surface. It contains a horizontal blade in between the front and rear wheels and this blade is lowered into the ground while working. The operating cabin is provided on the top of the rear axle arrangement.

Motor Graders are also used to remove snow or dirt from the roads, to flatten the surface of the soil before laying the asphalt layer, to remove unnecessary soil layer from the ground, etc.

    6. Wheel Tractor Scrapers

Wheel Tractor Scrapers are earth-moving equipment used to provide flatten soil surface through scrapping. Front part contains wheeled tractor vehicle and rear part contains a scrapping arrangement such as a horizontal front blade, conveyor belt, and soil collecting hopper.

When the front blade is lowered onto the ground and vehicle is moved, the blade starts digging the soil above the blade level and the soil excavated is collected in hopper through conveyor belt. When the hopper is full, the rear part is raised from the ground and hopper is unloaded at soil dump yard.

     7. Trenchers

Trenchers or Trenching machines are used to excavate trenches in the soil. These trenches are generally used for pipeline laying, cable laying, drainage purposes, etc. Trenching machines are available in two types namely chain trenchers and wheeled trenchers.

Chain trenchers contain a fixed long arm around which digging chain is provided. Wheeled trenchers contain a metal wheel with digging tooth around it. To excavate hard soil layers, wheeled trenchers are more suitable. Both types of trenchers are available in tracked as well as wheeled vehicle forms.

     8. Loaders

Loaders are used in the construction site to load the material onto dumpers, trucks, etc. The materials may be excavated soil, demolition waste, raw materials, etc. A loader contains large-sized bucket at its front with the shorter moving arm.

The loader may be either tracked or wheeled. Wheeled loaders are widely used in sites while tracked or crawled loaders are used in sites where wheeled vehicles cannot reach.

     9. Tower Cranes

Tower cranes are fixed cranes which are used for hoisting purposes in the construction of tall structures. Heavy materials like pre-stressed concrete blocks, steel trusses, frames, etc. can be easily lifted to the required height using this type of equipment.

They consist mast which is the vertical supporting tower, Jib which is operating arm of the crane, counter jib which is the other arm carries counterweight on the rear side of the crane and an operator cabin from which the crane can be operated.

     10. Paver

Paver or Asphalt paver is pavement laying equipment which is used in road construction. Paver contains a feeding bucket in which asphalt is continuously loaded by the dump truck and paver distributes the asphalt evenly on the road surface with slight compaction. However, a roller is required after laying the asphalt layer for perfect compaction.

    11. Compactors

Compactors or Rollers are used to compact the material or earth surface. Different types of compactors are available for different compacting purposes.

Smooth wheel rollers are used for compacting shallow layers of soil or asphalt etc. sheep-foot rollers are used for deep compaction purposes. Pneumatic tyred rollers are used for compacting fine-grained soils, asphalt layers, etc.

     12. Telehandlers

Telehandlers are hoisting equipment used in construction to lift heavy materials up to the required height or to provide construction platform for workers at greater heights etc. It contains a long telescopic boom which can be raised or lowered or forwarded.

Different types of arrangements like forklifts, buckets, cabin, lifting jibs, etc. can be attached to the end of the telescopic boom based on the requirement of the job.

     13. Feller Bunchers

Feller buncher is tree cutting heavy equipment used to remove large trees in the construction field. They cut the tree and grab it without felling, likewise gathers all the cut-down trees at one place which makes the job easier for loaders and dump trucks.

     14. Dump Trucks

Dump trucks are used in construction sites to carry the material in larger quantities from one site to another site or to the dump yard. Generally, in a big construction site, off-road dump trucks are used.

These off-road dump trucks contain large wheels with huge space for materials which enables them to carry a huge quantity of material in any type of ground conditions.

      15. Pile Boring Equipment

Pile boring equipment is used to make boreholes in the construction site to install precast piles.

     16. Pile Driving Equipment

Another heavy equipment used in a construction site is pile driving equipment in case of pile foundation construction. This equipment lifts the pile and holds it in proper position and drives into the ground up to required depth.

Different types of pile driving equipment are available namely, piling rigs, piling hammer, hammer guides, etc. in any case the pile is driven into the ground by hammering the pile top which is done hydraulically or by dropping.

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