It is the branch of roadway or highway engineering that deals with all kinds of activities and technology or operation and uses materials on the road for changing existing ground to the short, easy safe, and economical shape and slope and to provide all necessary facilities for smooth safe and efficient traffic operation. Road construction may be done.
Road Construction Technology
If you getting more than more knowledge about road construction Technology, you can visit below for details. I will discuss what is road construction Technology, activities of road construction, and using materials on the road.
The main techniques of road construction are major two ways. which are given below:
Manually- Labour based
Using Construction equipment- Machine-based
Although road construction may be done manually it takes a lot of time to complete the road project. The quality of work may not be achieved to the required degree and can not be maintained strictly by using an intensive labor force.
While using construction equipment, the construction of works can be completed with a high degree of quality, construction, and within the allocated project period.
For small projects, labor-based work can be appropriate due to cost-effectiveness.
But for big projects machine-based work is conducted to finish within project time and to achieve a high quality of work.
Different types of tools, equipment, and plants are used in road construction Technology. Without tools, plants, and equipment in road construction wouldn’t be possible to develop road construction. I will list some tools, plants, and equipment for road construction Technology as below.
Tools for Road Construction Technology
Hand shoves, cheese spade, hand rammer, brushes wheelbarrow, trowel, etc.
Equipment
| Earthmoving | Compaction equipment | Leveling equipment | Lifting equipment | Transporting equipment | Paving Equipment |
| Dozer( bulldozer, angle dozer, tree dozer) Scraper Loader Excavator | Smooth wheel roller Vibration roller Pneumatic roller Sheep foot roller Rammer | Motor grader | Backhoe loader ( for low load) Crane ( different capacity ) | A dumping truck which is called a tipper Trucks ( flat body) Mini dampers | Binder spreader Binder storage tank with a heating device. Aggregate spreader Cement concrete mixes. Bituminous paver. Cement concrete paver. |
Plants
- Cement concrete plant
- Asphalt concrete plant
- Cold mix plant
- Aggregate crushing plant
- Washing plant
- Sand slowing plant
- Screening plant
Different types of compacting equipment
Soil compaction can be achieved in the field either by rolling ramming or by vibration. Hence the compaction equipment may also be classified as rollers, rammers, and vibrators.
Compaction of sand is also achieved by watering, pounding, and setting.
Trucks and heavy equipment also compaction of loose materials to some extent.
Roller
The principle of the roller is the “operation of pressure, which is slowly increased and then decreased.”
The various types of roller that are used for compaction are smooth-width Pneumatic tired roller and sheep foot roller.
Smooth wheel roller
- There are two types of roller, namely:
- Three-wheel roller or macadam roller with a gross weight of 4 to 18 tons
- Tandem roller two-wheel with gross weight of 1 to 14 tons.
- They are suitable for compacting gravel, sand crushed rock, and any material where crushing action is required.
- The compacting efficiency of the smooth wheel roller depends on the weight, width, and diameter of this roller.
- They are useful for finishing operations.
Pneumatic tired roller.
- They are most effective for compacting both cohesive soil and cohesion-less soil, especially nonplastic silt and fine sand.
- The weight of such roller may be as large as 50 tons and two to four passes are generally sufficient to achieve compaction of a 60 cm thick soil layer.
- Light roller weight up to 20 tons is useful for soil layers of small thickness up to 15 cm and heavy roller is useful for a layer of thickness up to 30 cm.
Sheep foot roller
This type of roller consists of a hollow steel cylinder with projection feet. The weight of the roller can be increased by filling water or wet soil in the dump. The weight, diameter, and width of the roller may be varied as the shape and size of the feet.
They are most suitable for compact cohesive soil.
Factors of Compacting Roller
- Contact pressure
- Number of passes
- Layer thickness
- Speed of roller
- Weight of roller
- Width of roller
- Size of roller
Rammers
It is the block of iron or stone attached to a wooden rod and may be of the following two types
Hand-operated of weight around 3.5 kg.
Mechanical
It is useful to compact relatively small areas where the roller can’t operate due to space limits such as trench foundation and slope.
Vibrators
They are most suitable for compacting dry cohesionless granular material. They are also mounted rollers to give combined effects of rolling and vibration. A vibrator is the most suitable machine to compact cohesionless material in road construction Technology.
Watering (jetting and pounding)
Watering is considered to be an efficient method of compacting cohesionless sands in road construction Technology.
Activities involved in road construction
As per nature, the type of rocks, and elements of the road to be constructed various activities are broadly divided into several works as follows:
Earthwork
Site clearance
Earthwork in filing embankment
For cutting
To a borrow pit
Structural foundation
Disposal of surplus earth.
Drainage works
Minor bridges
Culverts
Causeway
Side drain
Subsurface drains
Other water management structural
Protection work
Earth retaining structures
River training works
Gully control works
Landslide stabilization works
Bridge protection works.
Pavement work
Subgrade preparation works
Sub-base works
Base course
Surface or wearing coursework
Miscellaneous equipment
Rock driller
Core cutter
Traffic sign/signal/marking etc.
Bioengineering works.
Earthwork
It is the process to prepare the subgrade level bringing it to the design grade and shape by earth layer by compacting adequately.
The Earthwork may either be in embankment for filling or in excavation for cutting in the road construction technology.
Site clearance
It is the most important work in road construction technology. In this phase clearing grass, bushes, shrubs, weeds, and top organic soil.
Removal of existing trees, and roots along the alignment within the right of way.
Removal of the existing structure along the alignment within the right of way.
Earthwork in embankment
It is the filling of earth or soil to achieve the desired grade line shape and slope with the consideration of vertical alignment.
Whenever it is required to rage a subgrade of the highway above the existing ground level it becomes necessary to construct an embankment.
The grade line may be raised due to the following reasons
To keep the subgrade above the groundwater table.
To prevent drainage to the pavement due to surface water and capillary water.
The design element in the highway embankment for filling are as follows
Height
Fill material
Settlement
Stability of foundation
Materials
Soil is suitable for embankment in road construction technology with the following properties.
Liquid limit less than 75%
The plastic index is less than 40%
Equipment required for Earthwork in the embankment
Grader, roller, tipper, and water tanker or manually for small projects.
How to construct Earthwork in the embankment?
Laying layer by layer no exceeding 30 cm in loose layers
Grading each layer
Each layer is compacted with a roller to the desired degree of density before the next layer is placed.
Quality control
Checking of the suitability of filling materials by testing liquid limit of less than 75% and plastic index of less than 40 %.
Checking of field moisture and dry density of each layer.
Proper finishing of formation slope as per design.
Earthwork in Excavation in Road Construction Technology
It is the process of cutting or loosening and removing earth including rock from its original position, transporting and dumping it to the site as fil or spoil bank is known as excavation.
It may be needed soil, soft rock, or even hard rock before preparing the subgrade.
The design element in highway excavation for cutting are as follows
Height
Fill material
Settlement
Stability of foundation
Materials
Soil is suitable for subgrade preparation in cutting with the following properties.
Liquid limit less than 75 % and plasticity index less than 40 %.
Equipment
Grader, roller, tipper, and water tank or manually for a small project.
Excavation or cutting
Grading subgrade layer
Compaction with a roller to the desired degree of density.
Quality control
Checking of the suitability of filling materials by testing cutting material by testing liquid limit less than 75 % and plasticity index less than 40 %.
Checking of field moisture and dry density of each layer.
Proper finishing of formation slope as per design.
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