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WHEEL BULLDOZERS AND THEIR USAGE AT QUARRIES, MINES AND

CONSTRUCTION SITES

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 WHEEL BULLDOZERS AND THEIR USAGE AT QUARRIES, MINES
AND CONSTRUCTION SITES

Dr. Metin ÖZDOĞAN, İdeal Makine Danışmanlık Ltd. Şti., Ankara

Hakkı ÖZDOĞAN, Elektrik Elektronik Müh., İdeal Makine Danışmanlık Ltd.,

Şti., Ankara

Abstract:

A wheel bulldozer is a tractor having a heavy blade in front for pushing and
excavating (shoving) earth and debris at mines, quarries and construction sites.
Evolving of farm bulldozers powered by mules or horses to modern ones and
their application in mines, quarries and engineering projects are given. Wheel
dozers versus crawler dozers and wheel loaders are discussed with emphasis to
traction forces. Bulldozer blade types and their usage are cited and definition of
specific pushing (cutting) power and specific production power are given.

Key Words:

Wheel bulldozer, Pushing (Tractive) force, Blade types, Specific pushing power,
Specific production (earthmoving) power

1. INTRODUCTION

A wheel bulldozer is a tractor having a heavy blade in front for pushing and
excavating (shoving) earth and debris at mines, quarries and construction sites.

Prior to engine powered tractors, farming tools were pulled by horses, mules or
oxen power, See Figure 1. The first engine driven tractors were steam powered
ones. Second generation tractors were gasoline combustion engine driven, and
third generation farm tractors were diesel and/or diesel electric driven ones.
These tractors have got articulated frames and four wheel drive systems. Blade
movements such as lowering, raising and tilting are controlled by hydraulic
power.

By the advent of farm tractors, dozing plates are mounted in front of them for
pushing the soil and earth. Normally, farm tractors are good in pulling farming
(agriculture) tools like ploughs, cultivators, shredders band cutters, seeders and
planters and sprayers and leveling accessories (farming machinery). So using
farm tractors for pushing the earth was a new concept. In the first and second
generation dozers the blades were controlled by wire ropes via winches, See
Figure 2. In modern bulldozers blade movements are controlled by the hydraulic
system.

Type of terrain the dozer will be working; the specifics of the project; the size of
the workspace and the type of material to be moved are the major factors to be
considered in choosing a buldozer for the task.

Modern Bulldozers are strong machines that mainly assist with pushing,
digging, excavating, and leveling materials like soil and debris at a work site.
They come with large, heavy blades in the front that push material. Some come
with other modifications like rippers in the rear to help break down tough
ground (Weaver 2019).

Wheel dozers do not require trailers for travelling short and medium distances
like tracked ones. Tyres make them mobile and hydraulic articulated steering
makes them easy to maneuver, moves on a smaller axis.

2. HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF BULLDOZERS

As in the case of early loaders and backhoes, dozers are also developed to farm
vast agricultural lands in the USA. In a sense these primitive agricultural
equipment and attachments gradually reduced and replaced African slave man-
power in cotton and tobacco fields starting from 19th century.

Ever since need for rearranging the surface of the earth continues. So, there has
been a need to push piles of dirt and rock and, especially, to push it into holes or
over the edge of a bank. It could certainly to be shoved with hand tools, but only
with great effort and much time. The difficulty arose with how to do it
mechanically, (Berry, 2016).

Horses were great at pulling machinery, and did reasonably well with pull
graders to spread material behind them as they walked. But how to use horses to
spread material ahead of them. In the mid- to late-1800s a device was developed
to solve this problem. Details vary, but the general design consisted of a long
beam with a perpendicular, vertical blade at one end and an axle and teamster’s
seat at the other. With horses attached to both sides of the beam, it provided a
handy means of using the original form of horsepower to push material in
advance of the team, See Figure 1.
Berry (2016) points out that the earliest examples of horse driven dozer blades
were built in late 19th century about in 1880s, and these primitive “bulldozers”
were produced as late as the early 1920s,

Figure 1. An advertisement of a horse pushed (driven) bulldozer in year 1915

(Anon a, 2020) .

This horse-powered early primitive bulldozer’s weight was about 400 kg. and
wheel diameter was 75 cm, and dimensions of the earth pushing blade were 120
cm by 60 cm. The advertisement claimed that the dozer can replace 40 men
shoveling the earth in front. The manufacturer of the horse driven dozer was
Stroud & Company of Omaha, the USA, See Figure 1, (Berry, 2016).

Figure 2. A rigid frame wheel buldozer with cable controlled Straight (S) blade
from 1950s, (Anon b, 2020) (wheeldozers.wordpress.com)

By the advent of hydraulic control systems cable drive diminished, Figure 2.

Modern dozers are fully hydraulic controlled and tilt of blade is possible for
angular moving of the earth.
Figure 3. A rigid frame wheel dozer with a hydraulic blade control from 1950s
(Berry, 2016, Anon a, 2020).

3. MODERN WHEEL BULLDOZERS AND THEIR APPLICATION

Wheel bulldozers are suitable for light and medium duty earthmoving
applications. Their tractive force is weaker compared to crawler bulldozers
hence blade pushing force is weaker. Wheel dozers are widely used at quarries
and open-pit mining for cleaning up of bench floors of excavating and loading
equipment and spreading the spoil heaps at earth dumping areas of haulers.

Unlike crawler bulldozers they serve multiple excavators and dump areas since
they are mobile and agile and speedy, they can travel as fast as 35-40 km per
hour. Thus saving from the number of buldozer fleet of the mine. They are also
handy in repair and maintenance of hard faced highways since they are mobile
and not disturbing the surface of the paved roads like tracked bulldozers. They
are also favoured in urban area jobs for not damaging the delicate pavements
etc.

Table 1. shows some wheel buldozer capacities available in the market.

Table 1. Some wheel dozer blade capacities and dimensions, (Anon d, e &f,
2020) .

Blade (SAE), m3 (S-Blade)-5m3, (S-Blade) - 8m3 (Semi U-Blade)-26m3-

(4,19 m x 1,22m) (U-Blade)- 10,6m3 Width-6,47m
(Coal Blade)- 45m3-
Width-7,40m
Dimensions&Specs
(A) Overall Length 7,69 9,83m 12,04
With Blade on
Ground, m
(B) Width Over 3,17 3,57m 6,47
(between) Tires, m
(C) Height to Top of 3,96 4,25 5,22
Cab.,m
(D) Wheelbase, m 3,53 4,10 5,45
(E) Ground 0,48 4,95 ------
Clearance, m
Turning Circle, m 13,96 18,42
Operating Weight, t 30-(S-Blade), 48,10 (S-Blade) 100
Blade Dimension 49,12 (U-Blade)
4,19x1,22m
Max. Lift Above ------- 5,10 (S-Blade) Semi U-Blade-1,58 Coal
Ground, m 1,34 (U-Blade) Blade-1,56
Max. Drop Below ------- 0,45 (S-Blade) Semi U-Blade-0,68 Coal
Ground, m 0,49 (U-Blade) Blade-0,68
Articulated Steering 43° 43° 40°
Angle each direction
Engine Power, kW 235 393 637

4. DISCUSSION

Earlier bulldozers were only used by the farmers for landscaping and plowing
but the modern ones can be used in many different fields of work. Today,
bulldozers can be seen on engineering, construction and mining sites.

Wheel dozers are ideal for large mining operations and road maintenance where
mobility and versatility are required. They are also favored in areas with delicate
surfaces like hard faced squares and asphalt paved roads etc.

Wheel dozers are also ideal for projects requiring operation in soft ground and
sensitive surfaces like urban areas and highways. Because of the fact that tyres
are less detrimental to asphalt paved roads and delicate surfaces than tracks,
(Muth, R., 2019).
Wheel dozers are widely used handling coal heapswhen equipped with coal
blades, See Figure 4.

Figure 4. A modern wheel buldozer is pushing coal (Anon m, 2020).

Wheel dozers are physically larger than that of equivalent capacity tracked ones.
Because of the fact that the pushing power (force) is a function of friction
coefficient between the soil surface and the tyre, and weight of the dozer. The
higher the friction and the heavier the buldozer, the higher the tractive force ie
the higher the pushing force (Özdoğan, 2020).

Table 2. Coefficient friction (traction) of various material surfaces for wheel and
crawler bulldozers (Aksakkaf, 2003).

Surface type Traction Coefficient for Traction Coefficient for

Wheel Dozer Crawler Dozer
Dry Rough Concrete 0,80-1,00 0,45
Dry, Clay 0,50-0,70 0,90
Wet, Clay 0,40-0,50 0,70
Wet sand & Gravel 0,30-0,40 0,70
Loose, Dry Sand 0,30-0,30 0,30
Dry Snow 0,20 0,15-0,35
Ice 0,10 0,10-0,25

Crawler bulldozers’ tractive (pushing) forces are much higher than that of wheel
dozers, See Table 2.

In Wheel dozers, the weight of the equipment is transmitted to the surface of the
ground at four points ie at four wheels, therefore, the pressure exerted to the
surface of the ground is higher. Whereas, in tracked dozers the pressure exerted
to the ground is comparatively lower because of the fact that equipment weight
is distributed to a greater surface underfoot. For this reason it has a higher
tractive force which implies higher pushing forces.

Another primary tool of the crawler bulldozer is the ripper. It is a claw-like

device which can be seen at the back of a dozer. As its name implies, it rips,
breaks, and shatters hard, earth materials for easy handling and transporting.
Wheel bulldozers generally are not equipped with rippers because of the
comparatively lower tractive power.

Wheel loaders get stuck when they encounter soft and muddy material like sand,
soil, and muddy formations and loosing the advantage. Crawler bulldozers have
superiority on soft and muddy ground and on ondulated terrain. They do not
stick like wheel dozers, and have higher tractive forces. Thus, have got higher
pushing capability. The tracks distribute the weight of the buldozer evenly,
particularly around the engine itself. This feature allows for much greater
pushing power transferred to the blade, especially for those times when moving
heavy bulk material, (Anon k, 2020).

Another superior feature of wheel dozer is flexibility and having higher

maneuvering ability because of having a fully articulated frame and fully
hydraulic steering. Wheel dozers have large and heavy tyres that enables better
traction as much as possible.
Figure 5. An articulated wheel buldozer with a straight (S) blade from 1960s
cleaning bank of an electric shovel excavator, (Berry, 2016).

Wheel dozers have generally four-wheel drives and usually have not got rippers
(Anon k, 2020).

Wheel dozers and wheel loaders look similar at the first glance. Both dozers and
loaders are heavy equipment used in quarries, mines and construction sites.
Loader doesn’t push the material from the ground. It scoops and lifts the
material to load a hauler. It has a bucket instead of a blade.

If the work of a dozer is to push and shove, the main function of a loader is to
load materials such as soil, asphalt, rocks, gravel, sand, snow, debris, and many
other materials. It loads these materials in order to transfer them to carrying
machinery such as a dump truck or conveyor belt, (Anon c, 2020).

5. BULLDOZER BLADES

5.1. Blade Types and Their Use

The blade is described as a heavy, metal plate which is securely attached on the
front of the dozer. With this heavy, metal blade, the dozer can do its work of
pushing and shoving earth materials like soil, rubble, sand, and debris (Anon c,
2020). As the hydraulics evolved, the adjustable angle dozer and angle blade
were developed which are ideal for earth moving in which spoil to be moved
aside, See Figure 6e. Angle dozers are favoured for cutting roads and trails
along cross sloped terrain (Berry, 2016).

The buldozer blade’s function is to push, to shear, to cut and to roll the material
ahead of the tractor. The dozer is an effective and versatile earthmover. It can
economically move the material to 100 m away, (Aksakkaf, 2003).

There are three basic dozer blade types: Straight blade, or S blade; universal
blade, or U blade; and the S-U combination blade, and the variations like coal
blades and angle dozer blades. The S blade is primarily used for fine grading
while the U blade can carry more material than the latter one. And the S-U
combination blade is typically used in quarry and mine sites, (Anon h, 2019).

Straight Blade

(a)

Figure 6a. Straight buldozer blade, S-blade, (Anon h, 2019).

Straight Blade (S-Blade): It is a short blade that has no lateral

curvature and side wings. It is used for fine grading, stripping and
ditching in fine grained, medium to hard material.
 U-Blade

(b)

Figure 6b. Universal bulldozer blade (U-Blade).

Universal Blade (U-Blade): It is tall and very curved laterally and has large
side wings to carry more material. It is ideal for pushing and material handling
tasks in soft to medium soil.

S-U Blade

(c)

Figure 6c. Semi universal buldozer blade (S-U Blade).

Semi-U Blade: It is the combination of Straight (S) blade and Universal (U)
blade. It is shorter and less lateral curvature and smaller side wings. S-U blade is
ideal for pushing piles of large rocks as in the case of quarries and mines (Anon
h, 2019).
 Coal Blade

(d)

(e)

Figure 6e. Angle buldozer blade (A-blade).

Angle Blade (A-Blade): It has the ability to push materials to lef tor right. Its’
ideal application is in making windrows, digging drainage ditches, backfilling
trenches and grading roads. A-blade is efficient in handling coarse materials,
soils and gravel (Anon h, 2019).

Figure 6. Types of buldozer blades (Anon h & m, 2019)

Figure 7. A wheel dozer with an U- blade operating at an open pit mine,
(Weaver, 2019).

5.2. Blade-Dozer Performance (Specific Blade Pushing Power)

A bulldozer’s pushing potential is measured by two Standard ratios:

5.2.1 Specific Blade Penetration and Pushing Power, (HP/m)

Ratio of tractor’s horse power to the cutting edge length of the blade, kW/m or
HP/m, can be termed as specific cutting and pushing power of the buldozer
similar to wheel loader’s specific bucket penetration power (Ozdogan &
Ozdogan, 2020). This ratio, specific blade penetration power, provides an
indication of the ability of the blade to penetrate and obtain load. The higher this
ratio is the more agressive the blade attacks to the earth (Aksakkaf, 2003).

5.2.1 Specific Loose Earth Retaining and Moving Power of the Tractor,
(HP/m3)

Ratio of the tractor power to the loose cubic meter of material retained in front
of the blade. This ratio (HP/m3) measures the blade’s ability to push a load. A
higher HP/m3 ratio implies that the buldozer can push a load at a greater speed,
(Aksakkaf, 2003).

5.3. Blade Adjustments

5.3.1. Tilting

Tilting is the vertical movement of the blade end. This movement is within the
vertical plane of the blade. Tilting permits concentration of tractor driving power
on limited length of blade (Aksakkaf, 2003).

(a)

Figure 8a. Tilting of a buldozer blade (Aksakkaf, 2003)

5.3.2. Pitching

The control which allows the operator to vary the angle of attack of the blade
cutting edge with the ground is called pitch. It is the movement of the top of the
blade toward or away from the tractor, (Aksakkaf, 2003).
 (b)

Figure 8b. pitching of a buldozer blade (Aksakkaf, 2003)

5.3.3. Angling

Turning the blade so that it is not perpendicular to the direction of tractor’s

travel is called angling. This causes the pushed material to roll off the trailing
end of the blade. Rolling material off the endof the blade is called “side casting”,
(Aksakkaf, 2003).

(c)
 (c)

Figure 8c. Angling of a buldozer blade (Aksakkaf, 2003)

Figure 8. Adjustments of buldozer blades (Aksakkaf, 2003).

6. CONCLUDING REMARKS

Wheel dozers evolved as farming tools like loaders and backhoes. Dozer blades
existed prior to motorized vehicles. They were pulled by mules or horses or
oxen and used in farms for moving, leveling and grading the soil in the fields.
Today, they are the main and vital equipment of not only farms but also mines,
quarries and construction sites.

Wheel dozers are mobile, versatile and agile equipment suitable for dry surfaces.
Wheel dozers fail in muddy, sandy and soft soil conditions, they get sunk since
the weight of the equipment is exerted to surface via tyres at only four points
unlike tracked undercarriage. However, in the case of crawler bulldozers tracks
the weight of the equipment distributed out evenly to a large area on the earth,
so they can easily move through and perform the task in muddy, sandy soil and
in soft ground and on rough terrain.

Traction of bulldozers is a function of equipment weight and coefficient of

friction between tyres or tracks and surface of material below.

Wheel bulldozers are especially favoured for open pit mine sites for cleaning up
the bench floors of hydraulic and electric shovels, and pushing truck loads
dumped at dirt dumping areas. Instead of assigning a crawler dozer for each
bench and each dumping site, a wheel loader can carry out the both tasks
because of the mobility and speed of travel. Crawler equipment are not designed
to propel to much, otherwise the life of the expensive undercarriage will be
prematurely worn out.

Wheel dozers are favored for comparatively lighter duty earthmoving jobs as
explained above due to comparatively lower traction forces involved. Crawler
equipment have much higher tractive force and have higher pushing and towing
power. Crawler equipment are convenient to work at weaker underfeet and
bulldoze higher strength material like rocky formations.

The early wheel bulldozers were of rigid frame. Today’s wheel dozers are of
articulated frame for better maneveurabiliy; the articulation angle is being about
40° to 45°degrees. This feature makes wheel dozer more agile and more
maneveurable in tight working areas.

Wheel dozers do not require trailers for travelling to short and medium distances
as in the case of tracked ones. Tyres make the wheel dozers mobile; and
hydraulic articulated steering makes them easy to maneuver and to move on a
smaller axis.

Wheel bulldozers have three major blade types: Standard (Straight) (S) blade
which is designed for production in stockpiles, and in general earthmoving
work. It has spreading characteristics. Universal (U) blade is used for moving
large amount of earth to long distances as in the case of mining applications.
Semi-Universal blade is the combination of straight and universal blade types.
Capacity of straight blade is increased by adding short wings to both corners.
Thus the blade has spreading characteristics and increased capacity.

Specific penetration and cutting power is the horsepower of tractor per blade
length (HP/m) which implies the ability of the blade to penetrate the material
and obtain a load. Specific production is defined as horsepower of tractor per m3
of blade (HP/m3) which is a measure of its capability of pushing a load.

The buldozer blade’s function is to push, to shear, to cut and to roll the material
ahead of the tractor. The dozer is an effective and versatile earthmover. It can
economically move the material to 100 m distance.

REFERENCES

Aksakkaf, I, 2003: “Dozers” College Park, University of Maryland, U.S.A.

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Anon b, 2020: “Wheel Dozers.wordpress.com”,

Anon c, 2020: “Differnces Between a Dozer and a Loader”,

http://www.differencebetween.net/business/product-
services/differences-between-a-dozer-and-a-loader/
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WD900-3”, http://speceps.com/spec/building-7582/komatsu/wd900-3.html

Anon e, 2020:”Komatsu 600D Wheel dozer” (Komatsu-wd600.jpg)

Anon f, 2020: “Cat 824C Wheel Loader”,

https://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/equipment/dozers/wheel-
dozers/18591262.html

Anon g, 2020: “History of Bulldozers”,

https://www.google.com/search?q=early+wheel+dozers&tbm

Anon h, 2019: “Dozer Blades” www.Dozer_Blade_Types.pdf

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https://www.ironcladcompany.com/blog/news/post/types-and-uses-of-dozers

Anon l, 2020:” Large Specalog for 824K Wheel Bulldozer”,

http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/content/Caterpillar/C10281576

Anon m, 2019: “Dozer blades” www.Dozer_Blade_Types.Pdf

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Muth, R., 2019:”The (3) Three most Common Types of Dozers”,

https://www.heavyequipmentrentals.com/about/news/types-of-dozers

Özdoğan,M and Özdoğan, H., 2020:”Tekerlekli Yükleyicide Kepçe Saplanış

Kuvveti ve Etkileyen Öğeler”. İMMB Dergisi, Nisan-Mayıs-Haziran 2020, Sayı
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https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/tracking-the-history-of-crawler-loaders-
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