When it comes to completing large construction projects, heavy construction equipment is used for many purposes and plays an important role in construction management. Depending on the size and scale of the job, different types of equipment are used to completely various tasks throughout the project.
Without a doubt though, all of these tools have become invaluable in helping the work progress much faster and with a greater deal of ease. Although there are quite a few different types of heavy construction equipment, here are the eleven most popular heavy construction equipment and their uses:
1. Excavators
Excavators are important heavy construction equipment used regularly in the industry. In addition to excavating various types of terrain, they are also used for many jobs that require everything from heavy lifting to demolition and river dredging. Essentially a two-part mechanism, excavators typically consist of a long arm and a cabinet.
The digging bucket is attached to the end of the long arm which is attached to the cabinet on the other end and is where the machine operator is located. In order to make operation more manageable, the cabin arrangement is rotatable up to 360o. Depending on the intended use of the machine, excavators are available in both wheeled and tracked forms of vehicles.
2. Backhoe
Another important piece of heavy construction equipment, a backhoe also comes in handy for multiple purposes. As the name implies, the hoe arrangement is provided on the back side of vehicle while loading bucket is provided in the front. Useful in cases where there is a need for front bucket loading, backhoes are also used for excavating trenches below the machine level.
3. Dragline excavator
Similar in construction to the excavator mentioned above, dragline excavators are usually employed when there is a need for larger depth excavations. Used for the construction of ports, or exaction under water, such as the removal of sediment from river beds, on dragline excavators the digging bucket is suspended from the top of a boom using cable. This feature gives them a greater deal of maneuverability.
4. Bulldozers
Also a popular piece of equipment used for the excavation of soil, bulldozers are most effective when being used to remove the topsoil layer up to particular depth. Featuring sharp edges set on a wide metal plate, this piece of equipment is adjustable thanks to hydraulic pistons.
5. Graders
Especially important for the construction of roads, graders are primarily used to create a level surface. They hold a horizontal blade in between front and rear wheels which is lowered to the ground while the machine is working.
A necessary part of keeping cities which experience extreme weather livable throughout the year, motor Graders are also used to remove snow or dirt from roads or to remove the unnecessary soil layer from the ground when repairing roads.
6. Wheel tractor scrapers
With a similar function to graders, wheel tractor scrapers are used to flatten soil surface through scrapping. With these pieces of equipment, the front part contains a wheeled tractor vehicle and then rear part contain a scrapping arrangement such as horizontal front blade, conveyor belt and soil collecting hopper.
7. Trenchers
Trenching machines are used specifically to excavate trenches in soil, typically with the intent of laying in some sort of pipeline or cable. Trenchers can also be used for jobs that promote drainage and come in chained or wheeled versions. Chain trenchers contain a fixed long arm around which a digging chain is attached, while wheeled trenchers contain a metal wheel with a digging tooth wrapped around it.
8. Loaders
Used on construction sites to load various types of material onto dumpers and tracks, loaders contain a large sized bucket at their front and work by using a shorter moving arm. They can be either tracked or wheeled.
9. Tower Cranes
Tower cranes are fixed pieces of equipment which are used for hoisting purposes in construction of tall structures. Heavy materials like pre-stressed concrete blocks or steel trusses can be easily lifted thanks to the engineering of this special piece of equipment.
Tower cranes are built from a mast which is the vertical supporting tower, a jib which is operating arm of crane, and a counter jib, which carries counter weight on the rear side of crane. They also have an operator cabin from which the crane is controlled.
10. Compactors
Compactors or rollers, as the name suggests, are used to compact material or earth on a surface. They come in different versions depending on the intended use, with smooth wheel rollers being compact shallow layers of soil or asphalt and sheep-foot rollers used for deep compaction purposes.
11. Dump trucks
Used in construction sites to carry material from one to another, dump trucks usually have off-road wheels that allow them to easily cover any kind of terrain or ground condition while carrying huge quantities of material.
