Topic 2-- External Works

Site Formation
Site formation works include:
• Site Clearance
• Cut and Fill
• Road and Drainage Works

Site Clearance
This may involve:
• felling trees, grubbing out of bushes and stripping,
• demolition of existing building

Felling trees:
• Chain saws can be used for cutting down trees.
• The roots of trees and shrubs which have been cut down
shall be grubbed up.
• Tree roots can be removed by backactors or rippers.
• For deep tree roots, blasting may be necessary.

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Stripping:
• The top 300mln or so will contain plant life and decaying
vegetation and should be strip off.
• Stripping can be best performed by· bulldozers.
• Topsoil is unsuitable for backfilling but will be valuable
for finishing off embankments and general areas to be
grassed.

Demolition:
• To be discussed in the subject 'Building Maintenance and
Adaptation'.

Cut and fill

• Very few sites are level and therefore the area must be
leveled before any building work can be done.
• Many factors which affect the practical planning and cost
of cut and fill and should be carefully planned before the
work can be commenced.

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 • Three methods can be used and it is the most economical
one which is usually employed.

1. Cut and fill - if properly carried out, the amount of cut

will be equal the amount of fill.
2. Cut - has the advantage of giving undisturbed soil
over the whole of the site but would
increase the cost of disposing the spoil.
3. Fill - compaction must be properly performed to
prevent settlement.

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Mass Haul Diagram

• Commonly used in road schemes

• The volume of cut or fill (after adjusting for bulking and

shrinkage) for each section is m easured and calculated by
survey staff.

• The calculated volumes against the chainage are then

plotted graphically.

• The distance that the materials have to be hauled can be

Planned to minimum.
Bulking and Shrinkage

• Bulking:- During excavation, soil and rock are loosened

and sometimes broken down leading to a bulking-up. Thus
one cubic metre of material in the ground will occupy more
than one cubic metre in the transporting vehicle.

• Shrinkage:- After the material has been laid down, and

during compaction, the material is rendered more dense.

• The a mount of bulking up or shrinkage depend on the

nature of the materials and the degree of compaction
after backfilling.

• This must be allowed for in balancing the volume of cut

and fill and the amount of transport required and therefore
the cost of transporting materials.

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Weather prospects
Earthworks are subject to two forms of change due to
weather.
• A superficial change due to immediate weather conditions,
e.g. heavy rainfall;
• A change due to seasonal conditions, by which soil may
be affected for a longer period of time.

Compaction of soil is affected by the moisture content:

• If the soil is too wet, it may render satisfactory compaction
impossible.
• If the soil is too dry, it may involve much more wetting
and rolling to achieve satisfactory results.

Methods to counteract the problems:

• Commence the earthwork programme in dry seasons.
• Leaving fill material in position, i.e. unexcavated, until
immediately before it is required for use; this will protect it
from getting wet or drying out.

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Underground Utilities

• Care should be taken to establish the position of all pipes,

cables and underground services. (Refer to Site
Investigation)
• Clearly marked before earthworks commence.
• Where excavation involves the disturbance of services,
they should be carefully unearthed and supported to
prevent damage.

Disposal or storage of soil

The disposal of soil is achieved by one of the following

methods:
• Immediate use as backfilling elsewhere on the site
• Storage in spoil heaps, for use at a later stage.
• Immediate removal from site to tip or other destination.

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If the spoil has to be stored for further use:
• The spoil heaps should be so positioned to reduce the
amount of handling they received.
• They should not interfere with access to work areas or
become a danger or nuisance because of slumping in bad
weather.
• Consideration must also be given to the stresses induced
by spoil heaps on structures or services below ground or
adjacent to the spoil heap.

The immediate removal of spoil from the site may involve:

• The control of the number of lorries to allow maximum
utilization of earth moving plant.
• The cycle time for removing spoil and the ‘turn round
time' of returning lorries to site should be calculated with
allowance for traffic delays.
• Some consideration must also be given to spillage of soil
when leaving the site, public highways must be kept
reasonably clean at all times.

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Bulk Excavation Technique

Staking
• Lay out the subdivision property· by driving rows of stakes
in the ground
• On each stake, mark the centerline, and give the cut or
fill to the finished level

Excavation
• Study the cut and fill stakes carefully and figure out a cut
and fill pattern to eliminate any long hauls.
• Choose suitable earth moving plants for the job as this
will increase the efficiency and reduce the cost.

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Earthmoving Plants

Backactor /Backhoe
• Designed for digging below track level
• Also digs above track level but in reduced efficiency.
• Suitable for trench and bulk excavating.
• For trench excavation, using a bucket width equal to the
trench width can be very accurate with a high output
rating.
Loader Shovel

• Designed for loading loose materials such as aggregate

and loosened soil.
• Other tasks: spreading soil and rough grading
• Require a level working platform when operating.
Bulldozer
• Mainly designed for excavating, spreading or pushing soil
from one position to another.
• Excavation is carried out by lowering the mould board
or blade into the soil and pushing the soil in front of the
machine.
• Other tasks:

• clearing vegetation
• stripping topsoil
. excavating and opening up pilot roads
• maintaining haul roads
• as tractor for towing other plants
Face Shovel (Front Shovel)

• Designed for digging above track level.

• Extensively used in quarries and pits and on construction
sites. It is useful in excavation of blasted rock in cuttings,
etc.
Multipurpose Excavator
• Both backhoe and loader shovel attached in one machine.
• Multi-function.
• Useful in confined site.
• The two components cannot be operated at the same time.
Grader
• It has a highly flexible mould board slung under the
centre of the body of the machine.
• Not a true excavator as they do not actually excavate.
• Only for grading (trim and level)
• Commonly used for grading sub-grade or sub-base.
• Other task:
• cutting roads and banks
• smoothing off walls on earth fill dams
• maintaining haul roads
• carrying out contour grading
Dragline
• A bucket controlled by two ropes:- lifting rope & drag
rope
• In excavating, the bucket is cast out by swinging and
dragged towards the machine.
• It has high output and long reach.
• Suitable for bulk excavation where limits of excavation
are unimportant.
• Can excavate under water with perforated bucket.
• Useful for cleaning river beds.
• Requires experienced operators.
Grab
• A grab is a crane
fitted with a bucket.

• Either hydraulically or
rope operated.

• Designed for

• loading loosened soil, aggregate or debris

• basement excavation
• pile, deep trench excavation

Road lorries
• For hauling on public roads.
• Sizes up to about 38 tonnes gross vehicle weight.
• Loaded by other plant but unloaded by side or rear
tipping.

Unlicensed lorries
• They are often old and with no license.
• Caution! Running on I traversing public roads are illegal.

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Dump trucks and dumpers.
• Vary in size from 1 to about 80 tonnes capacity.
• Large capacity machines are generally used in large
. .
mines or quarries.
• The speed of tipping is increased over a road lorry by the
absence of a tailgate.
• Small dumper units are available for work on small sites
and commonly have the load carried in front of the driver.

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Compaction

Places where needs compaction:

• earth dams
• airport runways
• roads
• others:- backfilling of foundation, trenches....etc.

Advantages of good compaction:

• reduce or prevent settlement
• construction can be done immediately on top of fill area
• lower permeability
• reduce risks of landslides
• improve bearing capacity

Compaction Control
Specifications governing compaction:
• by method specification
• by performance specification

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Method Specification

For particular types of materials, the following is specified:

• minimum static load per mm width of roller
• maximum compacted thickness of each layer
• minimum number of passes of compaction

This type of specification is commonly used for rock fill or

hardcore where density test is difficult to perform.

Performance Specification

• The maximum thickness of each layer of compacted fill is

specified.
• For each type of earth, the Maximum Dry Density
(MDD) is determined by Proctor Test.
• In-situ density tests will be performed on completion of
compaction of each layer.

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• Based on Proctor Test density, the minimum degrees of
compaction are normally:
• 85% for fills within 300mm above utilities
• 95% for general filling areas
• 98% for road formation

Compaction plants
• In order to achieve satisfactory compaction in the vast
range of soils, several different types of compaction plant
have been developed.
• Compaction is attained by applying energy to a soil by
one or more of the following methods:
• Static weight .,.

• Kneading (mix and press)

• Vibration
• Impact

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Smooth-wheel rollers
• towed or self propelled
• ballast with sand or water to increase self-weight
• suitable for granular soils, such as sand and gravel
• various types available:
• single axle roller
• tandem roller
• three wheeled

Single Axle Roller

Three Wheeled Roller

Vibrating Rollers
• vibration greatly improves compaction performance
• for compacting granular soil
• various size available:
. manually guided tandem roller (1 tonne baby roller)
• up to 20 tonnes vibrating roller
diesel powered engine
hand giving 3 300 vibrations
controls ---, per minute
Manually Guided

.
double vibratory rollers
with water sprinkler system . _,

Heavy Vibrating Roller

Pneumatic Tyre Rollers
• a kind of
compactor
• two axles
seven tyres (3 front and
rear) or nine tyres (4
and 5 rear).
• tyres so arranged that the paths of the rear overlap those
of the front
• suitable for loamy soil
• commonly used in road works for the compaction of
sub-base and black top.
• A major advantage lies in the ability to control the ground
contact pressure by:
• altering the weight of the machine by ballasting
• increasing the number of wheels
• increasing the tyre width
• changing the contact area of the tyre by altering the
tyre pressure

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Sheep's Foot Rollers

• a kind of kneading compactor

• consist of hollow steel drum fitted with projecting feet at
100 - 200 mm centres.
• may be static or vibratory
• the projecting feet 'knead' the soil while rolling
• for compacting cohesive soils and waste at landfill areas

Sheep's Foot Roller

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Vibrating plate
• manually guided
• for light compaction
• useful in utility trenches, confined space and awkward
situations
• maximum compaction thickness: 150mm

:..-Engine .

Power Rammers
• manually operated
• suitable for compacting soil in narrow trenches and
around foundations
• effective compacted depth about 200mm

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Ground Consolidation

Vibro-replacement method
Procedure
• penetrate a heavy probe vibrator (about 2 tonnes) into the
ground under vibration and its own weight (may be
assisted by jetting) to form a borehole
• withdraw the vibrator and fill the borehole with granular
material to above 500mm in depth
• re-introduce the vibrator to compact the material
• repeat the process until a stone column is built up to the
ground level

Function
• for consolidating thick layer of cohesive soil or loose fill
• effective compacting radius of 1.5 to 2.7 m
• on large sites, the vibrator is inserted on a regular
triangulated grid pattern with centres 1.5 to 3m

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Vibro-replacement method
Free Fall Hammers

• a heavy weight drop from height

• can compact a thick layer of soil

• disadvantages: vibration will damage adjacent
structures and utilities

Free Fall Hammer