CTC-375 Construction

Methods
Earthwork
Get SUNYIT email account
 Construction Order
• There is an order to all projects
– What activities get done first
– What activities need to be done in a specific
order
– What activities can be done at any point in
time
 Start at beginning
• Earthwork
– Moving rock or soil from one location to
another
– Processing it to meet location, elevation,
density moisture content, etc
– Efficient earthwork requires: accurate
estimating of work quantities and conditions,
proper equipment, competent job mangement
 Equip Selection
• Proper equipment has major impact on
efficiency and profitablility
• Can equipment perform required work
• Also look at profitablility, other uses for
equipment, return on investment,
availability of parts and services, effect of
downtime on other construction equip
 Equipment planning
• Need to plan to effectively use equipment
• Production of equipment
– Production = Volume per cycle/cycles per
hour
– Cycles per hour is based on efficiency of
equip
• Swing angle and elevation to truck bed
• Soil hardness and Soil type
• Room to manuever
 Equipment planning
• Cost per production unit = equip cost per
working hour/equip production per hour

• Table 2-1 show efficiencies

 Soil And Rock
• General Soil Characteristics
• Trafficability – ability of soil to support weight of
vehicles under repeated traffic
– Controls traffic on unimproved access roads
– Also gives measure of how earthmoving equip will
operate
– Primarily function of moisture conditions and soil type
• Loadability – how difficult to excavate and haul a
soil
– Granular – high
– Compact cohesive - low
 Soil And Rock
• Unit Soil Weight
– Pounds /cy
– Depends on soil type, moisture content,
degree of compaction
– Relation between soil weight and bearing
capacity
• So soil weight is used as a measure of compaction
• Soil weight is also a factor in hauling
 Soil And Rock
• Moisture Content(%) = (moist wt – dry
wt)/dry wt X 100

• Soil sample 120#

• Dry weight 100#
• MC = (120-100)/100X100 = 20%
 Soil ID
• Boulders
• Cobbles – over 3” diameter
• Gravel 1/4” – 3” diameter
• Sand 0.7mm (200 sieve) – ¼” diameter
• Silt 0.002 – 0.7 mm
• Clay less than 0.002mm
• Organic Matter decaying organic matter
• Soils classified using these types
 Soil Classification Systems
• Unified System
– All material 3’’+ removed
– Separates soils into two main groups- Fine grained
and coarse grained
– Table 2-2, Figure 2-1
• AASHTO System
– 7 classes of soil
– Based on suitability of soil for subgrade
– Table 2-3
– Table 2-4
 Soil Volume Change
Characteristics
• Soil Conditions
– Bank – material in natural state before
disturbance – Bank cubic yard
– Loose – material that has been excavated or
loaded loose cubic yard
– Compacted – material after compaction
compacted cubic yard
 Soil Volume Change
Characteristics
• Swell
– Soil increases in volume when it is excavated
• Soil grains are loosened and air fills voids
• So 1 unit of soil in bank is smaller than the soil
once it is excavated
• Swell(%) = ((weight/bank vol)/(weight/loose vol)-
1)X100
• Soil wt = 2800#/cy in bank
• Soil wt = 2000#/cy loose
• Swell = ((2800/2000)-1)X100 = 40%
 Soil Volume Change
Characteristics
• Shrinkage
– Soil decreases in volume when it is
compacted
• Air is forced out of soil
• So 1 unit of soil compacted is smaller than the soil
in the bank or once it is excavated
• Shrinkage(%) = (1-(weight/bank
vol)/(weight/compacted vol))X100
• Soil wt = 2800#/cy in bank
• Soil wt = 3500#/cy compacted
• Swell = (1-(2800/3500))X100 = 20%
 Soil Volume Change
Characteristics
• Load and Shrinkage Factors
– Need a common unit of measure for
earthwork (get rid of calculations )
– Can use any of the three measures
• Called pay measure in contract
• Load factor = 1/(1+swell)
• Shrinkage factor = 1- shrinkage
– Table 2-5
 Spoil Banks
• Material removed from excavation
– Longer than wide – spoil bank – triangular x
section
– Conical – spoil pile
– To determine the size of the bank or pile need
swell and angle of repose for soil
– Angle of repose = angle that soil on side of
bank naturally form
• Varies with moisture content and type
• Table 2-6
 Spoil Banks
• Spoil bank
– Vol = X-sect area x length
– B = (4V/(L x tan R))^1/2
– H = (B x tan R)/2
– B – base width
– H height
– L length
– R angle of repose
– V volume
 Example
• You have to store 30,000 BCY of soil in an
area no wider than 80 feet
– How long is the spoil bank?
– Swell = 25%
 Spoil Banks
• Spoil pile
– Vol = 1/3 p(D/2)^2 X H
– D = (7.64V/tan R)^1/3
– H = D/2 x tan R
– D – diameter of base
– H height
– R angle of repose
– V volume
 Estimating earthwork
• 3 types of excavations
– Small pit
– Trench
– Large areas
• Roadways
– Find cut and fill using cross sections
– Mass diagram
 Estimating earthwork
• Pit Excavations
– Area X average depth
– Depending on size and ground may break into
several geometric shapes to get volume
– Give bank volume
 Estimating earthwork
• Trench Excavations
– V = x sectional area X length
– Take x sections every 50 feet and compute
volumes between x sections
 Estimating earthwork
• Large Areas
– Use a grid to find volume