Construction projects: Machinery & Methods

• Construction involves transforming a design into a useful structure via men and women directing machines.
• Prudent use of machinery is key to converting engineering plans into reality.
• Evolving project requirements drive the continuous evolution of machines.
• Machine application decisions require careful evaluation to account the environment.
• Understanding both construction methods and equipment economics is important with the increasing array of available machines.

New Construction Environment

• A shift in project delivery methods involves owners seeking accelerated project delivery while transferring risk and financing to contractors.
• Owners are using Design-Build (DB) and Public-Private Partnership (P3s or PPP) methods for large projects, but Design-Bid-Build (DBB) remains common.
• The Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) formed in 1993.
• By 2010, the design-build model was used in approximately 40% of non-residential construction projects in the United States.
• Public-private financing for transportation, energy and water infrastructure hit $107.5 billion in emerging economies by 2014.
• Superior critical thinking is now a necessity among project planners given changes in contracting methods.
• Successful project execution hinges on critical thinking about planning.
• Planning has to include analysis of equipment utilization with thought to project site conditions.
• Physical constraints, community impact, sustainability, and available labor skill levels must also be accounted for in planning.
• Backup plans must exist for weather and other disruptive possible events.
• Success requires imagination, deep thinking, and knowledge of equipment productivity in an age of information overload.
• Understanding engineering fundamentals, and applying analysis to construction merged with economic comparisons of options are all a part of the text focus.
• The ability to win contracts and execute work at a profit is determined by people and equipment.
• Costly repairs on older machines make it hard to compete with newer equipment's lower repair costs and higher production rates.
• Equipment is normally used as part of a linked production system, not as a stand-alone unit.
• An excavator, a fleet of trucks, a dozer, and a roller make up an equipment spread.
• Optimization in the management of an equipment spread is critical in achieving competitive pricing and financing project capabilities
• Understanding machine capabilities linked with the ability to calculate its productiveness enables matching capabilities to project requirements.
• Selection of machinery for a given task is always influenced by external environmental conditions.
• Noise, vibration, and a machine’s impact on surrounding areas affect machine selection.
• Proximity to residences, noise, lighting and codes may all restrict operations.
• Selecting a machine involves site environmental conditions assessment and consideration to the surrounding environment.

The History of Construction Equipment

• Machines amplify human energy and control, and today many have onboard computers.
• Modern machines are a vital resource for construction projects.
• Machines are instrumental in resolving obvious issues such as transporting heavy materials.
• Planners are measured in how well they select machinery via end contract profit.
• Construction was originally accomplished via muscle of both man and animals - John Henry with his hammer.
• Construction equipment advancement closely relates to the changes in transportation.
• Water travel systems prompted builders to imagine machines able to dredge ports, rivers and canals.
• Venetian Giovanni Fontana dreamed and diagrammed dredging machines in 1420.
• Leonardo da Vinci designed dredging machines in 1503, using a treadmill power source.
• Middlesex canal (Massachusetts), a 27-mile Merrimack River to Boston ditch, was built in 1793.
• Ground was broken for the 363-mile-long Erie Canal near Rome, New York, and completed by 1817.
• Local laborers and Irish immigrants constructed canals and railroads originally
• Railroads usurped canal building in America.
• The Middlesex Canal lasted only 32 years before ending in 1835 due to the introduction of the Boston & Lowell Railroad.
• Construction was originally still accomplished by manpower even through canal and railroad builds.

Steam Power Machines

• Civil engineer William S. Otis (1813-1839) built the first practical powershovel excavating machine in 1837.
• His machines were the first "Yankee Geologist," and first used in 1838 on a Massachusetts railroad project.
• Steam shovels were driven by demands for mass excavations in the early 1880's.
• Ferdinand de Lesseps's French company started Panama Canal work in 1881.
• The Bucyrus Foundry and Manufacturing Company of Ohio became a leading steam shovel builder.
• Bucyrus became a major supplier of steam shovels for the Americans' Panama Canal work 25 years later.
• Railroad builds were the most important driver in excavator development.
• About 70,000 miles of railway were constructed in the United States between 1885 and 1897.
• William Otis created his excavator machine for Carmichael & Fairbanks because his uncle Daniel Carmichael was a senior partner.
• The Bucyrus Foundry and Manufacturing Company was started because Dan P. Eells, a bank president in Cleveland, was linked to several railroads.
• In 1882, Ohio Central Railroad became the company's fist steam shovel order, and sales rose from there with railroads.

Internal Combustion Engines

• Nikolaus Otto, a German engineer, designed the first internal combustion capable of burning petroleum-based fuel in a piston chamber.
• Many engineers had patents for such engines between 1861-1890, but the four-cycle gasoline engine use was restricted.
• Companies experimented with gasoline-engine-powered carriages after courts ruled the four-cycle gasoline engine was too valuable.
• The Best Manufacturing Company (later Caterpillar, Inc.) displayed a gasoline tractor in 1893.
• Monighan Machine Company of Chicago shipped a dragline powered by an Otto engine, and used it on excavating equipment first in 1910.
• Henry Harnischfeger produced a gasoline engine-powered shovel in 1914.
• After WWI, diesel engines began to emerge on excavators, pioneered by C.L. "Clessie" Cummins.
• Warren A. Bechtel utilized motorized trucks, tractors, and diesel-powered shovels due to railroad grading success started in 1898 Oklahoma Territory.
• First gas-powered shovel was used in Connecticut in 1922-1923 and first employed in a federal-add road project from spring 1923.
• The third phase of construction has begun as contractors required equipment for road building.

Incubators for Machine Innovation

• Large projects provide testing areas for equipment innovation.
• William Mulholland directed 5,000 workers constructing the Los Angeles Aqueduct and served for five years as Los Angeles city engineer.
• The Los Angeles Aqueduct stretches 238-miles from Owens River to Los Angeles.
• The Holt Manufacturing Company (Caterpillar, Inc.) sold three gas-engine caterpillar tractors to the city of Los Angeles for aqueduct construction in 1908.
• Aside from traveling thru mountains, the aqueduct cut through Mojave Desert, and it was an extreme test for any machine.
• Holt machines, mountains and desert worked together to help Benjamin Holt improve his machines via experimentation.
• Holt machines were modified to replace sand-damaged cast-iron gears with steel. Suspension springs broke and two-speed tractor transmissions burned out.
• Holt improved his tractors and built repair facilities in the work camps alongside Russell Springer his shop manager.
• Mulholland's final report cited the Holt tractors were the only unsatisfactory purchase for the aqueduct project, even with machine improvements that came of the project.
• The Boulder Dam project (Hoover Dam) became an enormous testing and breeding ground for construction equipment and techniques.
• The Nevada desert project was testing for LeTourneau's advances in welded equipment and cable operated attachments .
• LeTourneau went on to build airfields quickly during World War II.
• Bolted connections were ended for machine project assembly
• Other developments from the Boulder Dam Project includes aggregates productions plants, concrete preparation improvements, and material delivery via long flight conveyor systems.

Torque Converter

• Fluid-type coupling allowing an engine to be independent of the transmission.

Three Significant Developments

• Road building surged after WWII and President Eisenhower chartered the Legislation for the Interstate Highway Program in 1956.
• Scrapers were increased in capacity from 10 to 30 cubic yards (cy) to support efforts
• Front-end loaders dislodged “dipper” stick shovels with the development of the torque converter and power shift transmission.
• Concrete batch and mixing plants switched from manual contraptions to hydraulic and electronically controlled equipment.
• Developments include high-strength steels, nylon cord tires, and high-output diesel engines.

High-Strength Steels

• WWII Machine frames were using 30,000-35,000 psi yield range steels, however 40,000-45,000 psi range steels were introduced after.
• Higher fatigue properties with new steels were also introduced.
• High strength steels allowed machines to have reduced overall weights
• 40-ton off-highway weight was reduced from 25,000 - 16,000 lbs without compromising reliability
• Nylon cord tires
• Nylon cord material usage saw larger tires with increased load capacity, and heat resistance.
• Nylon lowered plies by ~ 30%.
• Allowed cooler run and better traction, and improved machine productivity.

High-Output Diesel Engines

• New approaches coaxed greater horsepower from a cubic inch of engine displacement

• Raised compression ratios and engine speeds with perfected art of turbocharging.

• 10-15% increase in flywheel horsepower as a direct result.

• Future equipment currently continues to build upon past inventions, and attachments meant to improved utility for contractor fleets.

• Future of technology is divided into 3 categories.

• Level of control: operational transfers from operator to machine.

• Amplification of human energy: Shifts energy needs from man to machine.

• Information processing: Processes information via machine gathering.

The Future

• The base machine might only be a mobile counterweight with hydraulic power plant.

• Versatility through multiple attachments on base machine for many tasks.

• Hydraulic excavators already utilizing attachments like hammers, compactors, shears, material handling equipment.

• Wheel loaders have introduced tool-carrier concepts along with brooms, forks, and stingers.

• Loader attachments create ability to perform multiples of tasks

• More attachments mean contractors make versatile base investment.

• Automatic blade control mounted on a dozer. * GPS guidance reducing surveyors on project site.

• digital terrain models are being used to load into machine onboard computer (OBC) to guide the machine.

• Cut or fill information and machine position showing on screen in front of the operator at all times.

• May turn an operator into a video game of sorts. GPS

• Highly precise satellite-based navigation system.

• Eliminating operators in machine cabs has also been developed.

• Automated mining rock-hauling units (driverless trucks) are in production and linked by radio to an office and GPS tracking.

• Start signals sent via a laptop from superintendent.

• Trucks leave in lineup and at set internals following course.

• Superintendent can track machine progress, and truck problems are signaled to the superintendent for action.

• Authorities report driverless tech could yield output increase of 15-20%, fuel consumption decrease of 10-15%, and maintenance decrease of 8%.

• Future could include operation from home via projected field operations on display devices enhanced with 3D glasses, and directing activities and sharing data with other relevant parties.

The Construction Industry

• Contractors have unique production conditions, affecting directly equipment management.
• Manufacturers have permanent factories wherein raw materials flow finished products exit in repetitive assembly lines.
• Contractors relocate their "factory" to job site to produce a one kind product.
• Projects run smoothly and on time to generate profit.
• Equipment intensive projects have largest financial risks.
• Earthwork bidding on a unit price can vary between estimates and actual quantities.
• Projects have large equipment commitment in terms of machine value.
• Contractors are forced into sequential job runs to support long-term equipment payment.
• Risks include financing, work activity levels, labor legislation, agreements, and safety regulations.
• Size and weather impact project length.
• Projects routinely last 2 years plus.
• Governmental actions like labor and machine emissions effect contracting operations.
• Influences include wage rates via Davis-Bacon Act, workplace safety by OSHA, and EPA's diesel emissions standards.
• Over half of work’s dollar volume are in fields that follow wage determination by the Davis-Bacon Act affecting costs for contractors.
• OSHA’s ROPS requirements have substantially increased costs through the mandate.
• Sound and emissions is receiving regulatory attention as manufacturers introduce systems for new engines because owners are limiting construction noise in contracts.

Safety

• Construction employs near 6.6 million people (6% of workforce), however has worst record in worker deaths per full time workers.
• Translates into 12 deaths daily and $17 billion spent on accidents
• Contributes in large part to the "Fatal Four" including: falls, struck by object, electrocutions, and caught between.
• Safety is paramount on site and key to public safety as well, key is to develop and maintain a strong culture, planned heavily.
• Management needs to develop and maintain proper programs to prevent accidents and provide leadership.
• Congress started investigation over 45 years ago that created the Williams-Steiger Act of 1970.
• Act created comprehensive regulatory framework with safety record keeping, procedures, regulations, across construction builds nationwide.
• Act enables states to create their own rules and regulations only if as stringent as those federally.
• Obligation on employers to maintain safe workplaces, keep records, and maintain safety measures.
• Act developed The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), with offices locally and internationally.
• OSHA handles administration, legislation, development, and rules for implementing the act.
• OSHA's safety rules published in The Federal Register and in The Code of Federal Regulations.
• The Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29, Part 1910 reviews features that engineers must take into account on a project, in safety.
• The Construction and Health Regulations, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1926 focuses directly on constrictors and construction builds.
• The act also features both private and criminal penalties for OSHA regulation failures resulting in possible imprisonment.
• Intent is to offer proper standards for constructs, followed with current updates, and actively enforced.

The Contracting Environment

• Contractors work within a exclusive market situation because clients and plans are set.
• Equipment intensive yields are often done on a bid basis, either open or selective tender.
• D-B-B method has the contractor put a price in after cost estimation based of a design furnished by the owner, with estimated expenses of the build.
• Includes the tasks required plus materials, overhead, contingencies, and desired profit.
• Moves toward D-B contracts, which gives more total control to the contractor for the design itself to state a guaranteed price with unknown final plans.
• Advantage stems contractor ability to use corporation structure in design.
• Wining is premised on low work plans, low overhead, and willingness to work at lower profit margins
• Prices vary greatly in price depending on multiple considerations

Planning Equipment Utilization

• Equipment is to be used efficiently to get the most of out of certain mechanical applications.
• Engineers match machine set to jobs in project planning
• Performance is to to measured via matching machines to job at hand.
• Job performance is also a measure of equipment spread’s production as related its cost.
• Performance or work include materials, pile quantity, square yardage, and progress.
• Estimators must first determine productivity governed by engineering fundamentals (machine power, and the resistance encountered.) with cost for effort expanded.
• Throughput includes machine ownership, use and means of analyzing as related to chapter 2.
• Types of machines can effect project. A job must use the most cost effective means to obtain a result after visit and planning.
• It is up to an estimator to see how best to utilize machinery.
• Rate of production must be accounted for.
• Project personnel need to asses projects using machines.
• Techniques for the application are used at the best sites and follow the best material applications.
• Quantity needs to make sense as applied to site.
• Volume and kind of material for excavation is calculated here.
• Depth, location of table, and dimension is related these projects also.
• Chapters 5, 7-17, and 20 detail the proper processes to take into account. Careful planning, identification, and risk usage is implemented during this time.

Summary

• Two projects are never alike, ergo planners need to begin projects and review all prospects from scratch.
• Machinery is forever is development and needs are always evolving.
• Heavy equipment has identified as function or how they act.
• A bulldozer identified as both or support at a aggregate or excavation plant.
• Primary reason is to explain performance.
• Ideas constantly advance due to contractors and manufacturers leading to increase operations and greater economies
• Engineers and personnel are tasked to link equipment.
• Civilizations have been the result of construction efforts, and had advancements to their growth via their processes.
• Work can carry risks and equipment has historic and growing functions, but proper performance has to equate equipment to projects.
• Productivity only one part in planning and critical training can better operations.