Chapter Four

Earthmoving Materials and Operation

Earthmoving is the process of moving soil or rock from one location to

another and processing it so that it meets construction requirements of:

• Location

• Elevation

• Density

• Moisture content

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 1
Activities involved in this process include:
• Excavation

• Loading

• Hauling

• Placing (dumping & spreading)

• Compacting

• Grading

• Finishing

Efficient management of the earthmoving process requires accurate estimating of

work quantities and job conditions, proper selection of equipment, and competent job

management.
9/22/2022 Anwer H. 2
 Equipment Selection

The choice of equipment has a major influence on the efficiency and

profitability of the construction operation.

The ability of the equipment to perform the required work is most

important criterion.

The should also maximize the profit.

Other factors should be considered when selecting an equipment:

• The future use of the equipment

• its availability and the availability of parts and service

• the effect of equipment down-time on other construction equipment and operations

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 3
 Production of Earthmoving Equipment

The basic relationship for estimating the production of all earthmoving

equipment is:
𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 = 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆 ∗ 𝑪𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓

The cost per unit of production may be calculated as follows:

𝑬𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓

𝑪𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 =
𝑬𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓

There are two approaches to estimating job efficiency in determining the number of
cycles per hour to be used in the Equation.

• One method is to use the number of effective working minutes per hour to calculate
the number of cycles achieved per hour
9/22/2022 Anwer H. 4
Management conditions include:
• Skill, training, and motivation of workers

• Selection, operation, and maintenance of equipment

• Planning, job layout, supervision, and coordination of work

Job conditions are the physical conditions of a job that affect the
production rate (not including the type of material involved). They
include:
• Topography and work dimensions

• Surface and weather conditions

• Specification requirements for work methods or sequence

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 5
 Earthmoving Materials

Soil and rock are the materials that make up the crust of the earth and
are the materials of interest to the constructor.

It is essential to consider the characteristics of soil and rock that affect

their construction use, including their volume-change characteristics,
methods of classification, and field identification.

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 6
 Typical soil volume change during earthmoving

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 7
This table shows typical swell and shrinkage factors for different material types:

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 8
 Conical Spoil Pile
𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 = 𝟏/𝟑 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂 ∗ 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

𝑫 ∗ 𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝑹
𝑯=
𝟐
𝟏 𝝅 𝟐 𝑫 ∗ 𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝑹
𝑽= ∗ 𝑫 ∗
𝟑 𝟒 𝟐

𝟏/𝟑
𝟕. 𝟔𝟒𝑽
𝑫=
𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝑹

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 9
 Estimating Earthwork Volume
When planning or estimating an earthmoving project it is often necessary to estimate

the volume of material to be excavated or placed as fill.

The procedures to be followed can be divided into three principal categories:

1. pit excavations

2. trench excavation

3. excavating or grading relatively large areas

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 10
9/22/2022 Anwer H. 11
9/22/2022 Anwer H. 12
Earth moving item includes; excavation, loading, hauling, placing, compaction, grading and finishing. The main equipments
are: shovels, excavators, bulldozers, scrapers, graders trucks and compacters.

Some characteristics of soil:

1- Volume-Change: there are three states in which earth moving may exist:
a- Bank volume (Bm3), materials in its natural state before disturbance. b- Loose
volume (Lm3) materials that has been excavated or loaded.
c- Compaction volume (Cm3), materials after compaction.

2- Swell (𝐒𝐰): a soil increases in volume when it is excavated because soil grains are loosed during excavation and air fill
void spaces created as a result a unit volume of soil in the bank condition will occupy more than one unit volume after
excavation, Swelling soils, also known as expansive soils, are ones that swell in volume when subjected to moisture.
Bd
Sw % = ( − 1) ∗ 100%
Ld

Bd: density of undisturbed (Bank density) = weight / bank volume.

Ld: density of loose earth = weight / loose volume.

3- Load factor (𝑳𝒇 ): is used to convert loose volume to bank volume.

B 𝐿𝑓 = 1+S1 %
𝐿𝑓 = Ld or w
d

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 13
 4- Shrinkage (𝐒𝐡 ): when a soil is compacted some of air is forced out of the soil void spaces as a result, the soil will occupy less volume
than if did under either the bank or loose conditions.

Bd
Sh % = (1 − ) ∗ 100%
Cd
Cd: is compacted density.
Shrinkage factor (𝑺𝒇 ):
𝑆𝑓 = 1- Shrinkage%

Example 1:
Find the swell and shrinkage of a soil that weight 1.68t/m3 at the natural bank and 1.2t/m3 after excavation and 2.1 t/m3 after compaction.
Solution:
Sw% = (1.68/1.2 – 1)*100% = 40%, this mean 1m3 at bank of material will expand to 1.4m3 loose after excavation
Sh% = (1- 1.68/2.1)*100% = 20%

5- Spoil Construction: Spoil is the size of pile of material that will be created by the material removed from excavation; generally there are
two shapes of spoil:

a- Triangular spoil: here the length of spoil is long compared to its width.

Angle of repose (R), is the angle that the soil sides of a soil bank naturally form with the horizontal when the excavated soil is dumped on
the pile, it depends on type of soil

Volume = Area * Length 2

𝐴 = (0.5 ∗ 𝐵 ∗ 𝐻 ) ∗ 2 = 𝐵𝐻
2 2

𝐵 tan 𝑅
𝐻=
2

9/22/2022 Anwer H. 14
 𝐻𝐵𝐿 𝐵 2 𝐿 tan 𝑅
𝑉= =
2 4
0.5
4𝑉
𝐵=( )
𝐿 tan 𝑅

b- Conical spoil: formed when the materials are dumped at fixed position:

𝑉 = 𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 ∗ 𝐻
3

𝐷 tan 𝑅
𝐻= 2
𝐷2 ∗ 3.14 ∗ 𝐷 tan 𝑅
𝑉=
2∗3∗4
7.64 𝑉 1⁄3
𝐷=( )
tan 𝑅

Example 2:
Find the base width and height of a triangular spoil bank containing 76.5m3, if the length of the spoil is 9.14m, the soil angle of repose is
37o and swell is 25%
Solution:
Loose volume = 76.5 * 1.25 = 95.6 Lm3
B= (4*95.6/9.14 tan 37)0.5 = 7.45m
H= (7.45 tan37)/ 2 = 2.8m.

Example 3:
Find the diameter and height of a conical spoil pile that contain 76.5m3 of excavation if the soil angle of repose is 32o and swell 12 %.
Solution:
Loose volume = 76.5*1.12 = 85.7m3
D= (7.64*85.7/tan32)1/3 = 10.16m

9/22/2022 Anwer H.
 H= 10.16/2 *tan32 = 3.17m

Procedure for embankment construction:

The procedure is valid for earth dams, embankment of canals and road construction:
1 Complete strip survey must be done along the alignment with reference lines must be fixed at both sides of the alignment.
2 Detail drawings must be prepared including longitudinal and cross sections for the embankment, the interval depends on the shape
and slope of the land.
3 The width of the embankment must cleaned and all vegetations must be removed.
4 The materials must be spread in layers not exceed:
• 30 cm when using sheep rollers with vibration
• 5 cm for pneumatic rollers
5 Clods shall be broken up by disking and harrowing.
6 The materials must be spread over the full width of the embankment and extra materials must be placed beyond the line of the side
slope.
7 Priors to the compaction the depth of any layer must be scarified.
8 The materials should approximately at optimum moisture content.
9 If the materials are too wet, they should be aerated by disking and harrowing till the moisture content be within optimum, and if it is
too dry extra moisture should be added by spreading water over the layers.
10 Rolling should be begun at the edge of the fill towards the centreline and overlapping on strips by at least one half the width of the
roller width.
11Samples should be taken for each layer to find the degree of compaction and actual moisture content.
12- The final grade must be smoothed using graders and extra materials should be cut.
13- It is favourable to make trial embankment to determine number of passage of the rollers which give the required degree of
compaction.

Specifications for soil for embankment construction:

1- Atterberg limits

9/22/2022 Anwer H.
 Soil condition Poor Fair Good Fair Poor
Liquid limit % <25 25-30 30-40 40-50 >50
Plastic limit % <10 10-15 15-25 25-30 >30

2- Gradation analysis:
Good soil Clay% Silt% Sand%
5-15 15-30 60-80

3- Organic materials content

Material condition Organic content %
Poor >2
Fair 0.2-2
Good <0.2

4- Proctor compaction test:

Material condition Maximum dry density (t/m3)
Modified proctor Standard proctor
Poor <1.7 <1.6
Fair 1.7-1.8 1.6-1.7
Good >1.8 >1.7

5 Gypsum content, must be less than 5% (especially for embankment in contact with water

6 Materials which have been previously compacted shall not be used for construction of embankment.

Required tests of soil before and during construction

I- Tests before construction:

1- Soil classification for finding type of soil

9/22/2022 Anwer H.
 2- Proctor test {standard or modified proctor test} for finding maximum dry density at optimum moisture content.
3- Consolidation test
4 Shear test
5 Chemical test including {PH, Total soluble salts, Chloride and Sulphur content, Organic content, Gypsum content…etc}

II- Test during construction (field tests), the aim is for quality control of the construction, samples are taken during the construction for
finding degree of compaction and actual moisture content using:

1- Sand replacement method

2- Rubber ballon method
3Nuclear determination of moisture and density of soil, the device uses gamma-ray scattering for density. The emitted rays enter the
ground where they are partially absorbed and reflected. The main advantages of this method are:
• Decreases the time of the test to few minutes.
• Does not require removal of soil sample from the site.
• Reduces or eliminate the effect of personal possible error.
Instruments are available that will measure moisture and density of soil at depths up to 200ft below the ground level.

The main disadvantage is the exposure to radiation for the user.

Homework:
A soil weighs (1163 kg/Lm3), (1661 kg/B m3), and (2077 kg/Cm3).
a) Find the load factor and shrinkage factor for the soil.
b) How many bank cubic yards (BCY) or meters (BCM) and compacted cubic yards (CCY) or meters (CCM) are contained in 1 million
loose cubic yards (593,300 LCM) of this soil?
Solution
(a) Load factor [=1163/1661 =0.70]
Shrinkage factor [= 1661/2077 = 0.80]
(b) Bank volume [= 593300 x 0.70 = 415310 BCM]
Compacted volume [= 415310 × 0.80 = 332248 CCM]

9/22/2022 Anwer H.