30 Types of Construction Equipment

Construction Equipment refers to heavy-duty vehicles, specially designed for executing construction tasks, most often ones involving earthwork operations.

Type of Construction Equipment

The following is a list of different heavy construction equipment,

1. Power Shovel

• There are three types of power shovels, crawler-mounted, truck-mounted, wheel mounted.
• It is used to excavate earth of all classes except rock and load it into the wagon.
• It has major parts mounting, cab, boom dipper stick, and hoist line.
• It is useful to excavate the soil at or above the operating level of the ground.

2. Drag Line

• A dragline type of excavator is used for digging at or below the operating level.
• They are used to excavate soft earth.
• The basic part of the dragline is the mounting, cab, boom, hoist cable, dump cable, bucket, drag cable, etc.

Dragline is useful under the following conditions:

 1. The bottom conditions are wet. i. e. dredging in river beds.

2. The ground to be excavated is soft medium-hard.

3. The digging is to be done well below the ground level.

4. The stuff is to be dumped as far from the unit as possible.

3. Clam Shell

• It is used to excavate soft materials and loose materials at or below the existing ground surface.
• It consists of a bucket of two halves which are hinged together at the top. The bucket is allowed to reach the top of the loose material to be dug. As the bucket is lifted, the two halves close entrapping the material into the bucket.
• It is also used for stockpiling.

Read More: Cavity Wall – Construction, Advantages & Disadvantages

4. Trenching Machine

• These machines excavate trenches of constant width with accuracy and speed. The width of trenches ranged from 250 to 450 mm, while depths up to 4m.
• Trenches for mains, gas lines, oil pipelines, telephone cables, drain ditches, sewers, etc. are dug with the help of a trenching machine.
• These machines are generally crawler mounted. These machines can either wheel type or ladder types

5. Hoe

• It is used to excavate below the natural surface to keep precise control depth of excavation at close-range work.
• It can exert high tooth pressures and hence can excavate stiff material that normally cannot be excavated by dragline or power shovel.
• A hoe is used to dig at moderate depths and the outputs of the hoe decrease with an increase in depth.

Read More: 10 Types Of Retaining Wall With Full Details

6. Tractor

• It is an important piece of equipment for the earth’s movement.
• They are either: Crawler mounted or wheel types.
• A crawler-mounted tractor is used for uneven and rough ground. When tractor operates best on smooth roads.
• Tractors are used to pull or push other equipment. Hence they are provided with various attachments such as a dozer, scraper, narrow, plow, etc.

7. Bull Dozer

• A bulldozer is one type of tractor, fitted with a blade at the front.
• It is used to move, compress, or tear the material.
• It is used for the following purposes:

i) To clear the site of work.

ii) To make the land level.

iii) to prepare pilot roads through mountains.

iv) it is used to excavate the material and haul it for a distance of about 100m.

8. Graders

• The main function of the grader is leveling and finishing earthwork.
• It is used for the maintenance of earth roads.
• A blade can be attached to the grader.

9. Scrapers

• The equipment consists of a large bucket called the scraper and is attached to a tractor. Its capacity varies from 3 to 9 m3.
• The scraper has a cutting edge or blade at the bottom and it is possible to dig earth to a depth of about 25 cm.
• The scraper ‘combines three operations, namely, digging, conveying, and dumping.

10. Rippers

• It is used to break up the ground and pull up the roots.
• The loosened material can then be removed by the scraper.
• It is sometimes, attached to a tractor. It can be used to level the bed of a rock mine.

Read More: What Is Curing Of Concrete And Different Methods Of Curing

11. Trucks

• Used for transporting earth, sand, aggregates, bricks, and cement bags.
• It is used for long-distance transportation.

12. Wagons

• These are suitable for laying materials in layers.
• Suitable for the construction of earthen darns, embankments, highways, etc.

13. Dumpers

• Used for transporting sand, gravel, aggregates, earth, etc.
• It is suitable for transporting material for short distances on rough roads.

14. Cableways

• It is suitable to transport material in a narrow gorge.
• In this method, a carrier (bucket) moves on one or two cables.

15. Aerial Tramway

• In this method, a bucket is suspended from wires supported on towers at the ends.
• It is suitable for long-distance transportation.

16. Belt Conveyors

• It is used to transport sand, aggregate, concrete, soil, etc. from one place to another, continuously at a constant rate.
• It is suitable for uneven ground.

17. Buckets

• They are used for transporting material in a horizontal or inclined direction.
• Suitable for transportation of liquid or semi-liquid matters.

18. Concrete Chutes

• Used for transportation from a higher level to a lower level.

19. Buggies

• It is used for transporting concrete.
• Its capacity is 4 to 9 cu. ft.
• It works on smooth and hard road surfaces.

20. Mobile Crane

• They are used in big construction projects for lifting heavy loads.
• It is used for loading and unloading materials in coal mines.
• Loading and unloading of ships
• Also, they are used to the load from ground level and placing it into the trucks.

21. Tower Cranes

• These are cranes of swing jib type and are mounted on high steel towers.
• The height of the tower may be 25 to 30 m and these cranes are found to be suitable for the construction of tall buildings in congested areas.
• The ground required for such cranes is very small.

23. Winch Machine

• A winch is a mechanism in the shape of a cylinder or drum, over which rope or chain is wound.
• Sometimes it is used only for raising and lowering. It is sometimes referred to as a host.
• The winches are of two types. Hand winches and power winches.

Read More: Prestressed Concrete – Method, Advantages & Disadvantages

24. Hoist

• It is also called an elevator.
• It is useful for lifting concrete from the ground level to the higher floor in the construction of multistoried buildings. 
• It is, suitable for buildings up to 50 stories.

25. Crushers

They are used for crushing rocks to obtain aggregates of different sizes.

Types of crushers are:

• Jaw crusher
• Roll Crusher
• Cone Crusher
• Impact Crusher etc.

26. Ball Mills

• In a ball mill, metal rods are fixed in a metal cylinder.
• Stone pieces are fed into the cylinder and fine aggregates are obtained at the outlet.
• Sometimes, instead of steel rods, steel balls are fed into the cylinder, then is called a ball.

Read More: How To Make Concrete – Batching, Mixing, Transporting & Placing

27. Screens

Screens are used to separate out an aggregate of different sizes.

Types of the screen are:

1. Revolving screen

2. Shaking screen

3. Vibrating screen.

28. Compacting Equipment

1. Smooth wheel rollers
2. Sheep foot rollers
3. Pneumatic rollers
4. Grid roller
5. Tamping roller
6. Vibrating plates
7. Vibratory compaction

29. Internal vibrator

• Internal vibrators are the most widely used concrete vibrator.
• This vibrator comes up with a needle that vibrates.
• Vibrators are generally used to compact concrete by removing air pockets left in the concrete.
• The main advantages of needle vibrators are that they can go deep in a section like a column deep formwork.

30. Surface Vibrator

• Surface vibrators are generally used for thin sections like road and bridge slabs.

31. Platform Vibrator

• Platform vibrators are mainly used for vibrating prefabricated structural members.

32. Form vibrator

• Form vibrators are generally used in cast-in-situ modular construction.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the diverse range of construction equipment plays a pivotal role in enhancing productivity, efficiency and safety in the construction industry, from heavy machinery such as bulldozers, excavation and cranes and small construction equipment such as jackhammer, and drills, each types of equipment have their specific purpose in various construction activity.

This equipment enables to the execution of complex operation such as excavation lifting, grading and concrete pouring, contributing to timely project completion and cost-effectiveness.

FAQs

You May Also Like:

• 75+ Construction Tools Name and Their Uses with Image
• 12 Civil Site Engineer Responsibilities on
• 14 Types of Compaction Equipment used on Construction | Compacting Machines | Types of Compactors | Soil Compaction Equipment
• 26 Construction Vehicle Names and Pictures
• Top 10 Construction Companies In India