Earth Work : Civil Engineering

All civil engineering work will involve some form of earthworks. This work may be a small or a large part of the construction but however big some form of mechanical equipment called ‘Plant’ will be employed to carry out the earth-moving operations. In general earthwork can be classified into four broad categories: 1-         Initial clearance of vegetation and trees and stripping of top soil 2-      Excavation to form trenches or pits known as confined excavations 3-       Cuttings known as open excavations 4-       Construction of embankments and filled areas For the earth-moving operation to be economic we must match the right plant to the job. Plant is expensive to buy and operate and must be managed effectively to be economic. Civil Engineers are often responsible for the management of plant and must at the outset be completely familiar with the equipment and its capabilities. A suitable choice of plant can only be made after due consideration of the type of soil to be handled geography of the site volumes of soil etc. Table 5.1 is a summary of the types of plant best suited for different job classifications relating to material. We shall consider in more detail the most commonly used plant in earthmoving operations: