Heavy construction equipment are used for various purposes in a construction site.This equipment are usually designed for heavy tasks and their selection in a construction site is determined by the kind of work that is to be done. In this article we look at the 5 common construction equipment in kenya,and they include;
Excavators
Excavators are the most commonly used construction equipment in Kenya .
They main purpose is excavation but can also be used to
- Lifting Heavy Materials
- Demolition of structures
- River Dredging
- Forestry work
- Material Handling.
Bulldozers
Bulldozers is a type of soil excavating equipment which is used to remove the topsoil
layer up to a particular depth.The removal of soil is done by the sharp edged wide metal plate provided at its front. This plate can be lowered and raised using hydraulic pistons.These are widely used for the removal of weak soil or rock strata, lifting of soil etc.
Graders
Graders also known as motor graders are equipment that are for the construction of roads.One of its main purpose is to level the soil surface .It contains a horizontal blade in between front and rear wheels and this blade is lowered into the ground while working .
Loaders
Loaders are used to load the material onto dumpers, trucks etc.A loader contains large sized bucket at its front with shorter moving arm.Loader may be either tracked or wheeled. Wheeled loaders are widely used in sites while tracked or crawled loaders are used in sites where wheeled vehicles cannot reach.
Tower Cranes
Tower cranes are fixed cranes which are used for hoisting purposes in construction of tall structures. Heavy materials like pre-stressed concrete blocks, steel trusses, frames etc. can be easily lifted to required height using this type of equipment.
They consists mast which is the vertical supporting tower, Jib which is operating arm of crane, counter jib which is the other arm carries counter weight on rear side of crane and an operator cabin from which the crane can be operated.
Compactors
Compactors are used to compact the material or earth surface. Different types of compactors are available for different compacting purposes.Smooth wheel rollers are used for compacting shallow layers of soil or asphalt . sheep-foot rollers are used for deep compaction purposes. Pneumatic tyred rollers are used for compacting fine grained soils, asphalt layers etc.