REPORT ON ADVANCED MACHINERY AND CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL

INTRODUCTION:-

                 It is a common fact that we find a wide variety of construction machines on every construction sites, which make the construction jobs easy, safe and quicker. Depending on the application, construction machines are classified into various categories which we are discussing here

                    The construction industry has historically been slow to adapt to new technologies, but with a recent push from Silicon Valley, a lot of money is being poured into research and development. Just a few short years ago, robotics on the construction site was thought of as a pipe dream, but now there are several companies around the world that are making it a reality. It still may be years away from being adopted in a large scale, but the industry should begin to take note of the technological changes that are happening around them.

 Advanced machinery used in constraction:-

1) GRADER :-

                        

   A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, a maintainer, or a motor grader, sa construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface during the grading process.

2) Excavators :-

are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression from the steam shovels and often mistakenly called power shovels. All movement and functions of a hydraulic excavator are accomplished through the use of hydraulic fluid, with hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic motors.

3) Tractor :-

                  A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver at high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in construction.

4) BACKHOE :-

     A backhoe loader is a heavy equipment vehicle that consists of a tractor like unit fitted with a shovel/bucket on the front and a small backhoe on the back. Due to its small size and versatility, backhoe loaders are very common in urban engineering and small construction projects as well as developing countries.

5) LOADER :-

               A loader is a heavy equipment machine used in construction to move aside or load materials such as asphalt, demolition debris, dirt, snow, feed, gravel, logs, raw minerals, recycled material, rock, sand, woodchips, etc. Into or onto another type of machinery.

6) Crane :-

A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist rope, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It is mainly used for lifting heavy things and transporting them to other places.

It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of a human.

Cranes are commonly employed in the transport industry for the loading and unloading of freight, in the construction industry for the movement of materials and in the manufacturing industry for the assembling of heavy equipment.

7) Road Roller :-

                               road roller is a compactor type engineering vehicle used compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations, similar rollers are used also at landfills or in agriculture.

8) Compactor :-

A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of material such as waste material or bio mass through compaction. A trash compactor is often used by a home or business to reduce the volume of trash. A baler-wrapper compactor is often used for making compact and wrapped bales in order to improve logistics

9) PAVING:-

A paver is a piece of construction equipment used to lay asphalt on roads, bridges, parking lots and other such places. It lays the asphalt flat and provides minor compaction before it is compacted by a roller.

10) HIGHWAY :-

A dump truck (or, UK, dumper/tipper truck) is a truck used for Transporting loose material (such as sand, gravel, or dirt) for construction. A typical dump truck is equipped with an open-box bed, which is hinged at the rear and equipped with hydraulic pistons to lift the front, allowing the material in the bed to be deposited (“dumped”) on the ground behind the truck at the site of delivery.

11) concrete mixer :-

A concrete mixer is a device that homogeneously combines cement, aggregate such as sand or gravel, and water to form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the components. For smaller volume works portable concrete mixers are often used so that the concrete can be made at the construction site, giving the workers ample time to use the concrete before it hardens. An alternative to a machine is mixing concrete by hand. This is usually done in a wheelbarrow; however, several companies have recently begun to sell modified tarps for this purpose.

Advance construction materials :-

1. ) Cross Laminated Timber :-

CLT is a sustainable and resilient form of engineered wood which does not require burning of any fossil fuels during its construction. It is made by gluing layers of solid-sawn lumber together and layers lay perpendicular to each other making it more tensile and greater compressive strength. Originated in Europe, CLT is now worldly used, plays to be an excellent building material due to faster production, great quality and flexibility in design. The initial costs of the material are higher but when taken an account on the complete building costs, it saves up. Due to its natural-looking aesthetics and strength, designers and builders are now coming up with building CLT based skyscrapers.

2) Rammed Earth

The rammed earth construction mainly based in Ghana is a locally available material used in a construction system in which earth is compressed into wooden boxes. The abundant clay is then placed in layers of 15cm height and compacted with tools to achieve the resiliency and durability. This material has been highly observed as an aesthetic material in Sub-Saharan continent along with its ecological and economic benefits in constructing housing for 1.7 million homes.

3) Concrete

                   is an achromatic symbol of strength that triggers harsh and roughness with human feelings when exposed. However, when appropriate pigmented admixtures added to cement, gravel, sand and water can result in coloured concrete mixtures. Other than aesthetics, it adds a sense of perspective and contrast with surroundings while reducing the dependence on paints and sealants.

4) The Cabkoma Strand Rod

It is a thermoplastic carbon fibre composite used in the exteriors of the building solely for resiliency purpose and protecting the structures from earthquakes mainly in Japan. It is the lightest seismic reinforcement, delicate and hence extremely strong adding aesthetics to the structure.

Easily transportable, sustainable and extremely strong building material creates tension and compression while supporting the structure. It transfers all the lateral loads hence protecting the building against any tremors. It is 5 times lighter than classic metal rods contributing to even a lighter structure.

5) Light Generating Cement :-

An interesting yet notable invention where the cement absorbs the sunlight in the day and emits it in the night time. This technique allows the materials crystallisation properties to break up and allow the light to pass through making it opaque. This highly energy efficient material rules over the architecture industry and is expected to be used in – bathrooms, swimming pools, facades, roads, parking areas and kitchens. It could also be used in road signs because of the light emitting properties. This material is composed of silica, river sand, industrial waste, alkali and water.

6) Cigarette Butt Bricks :-

There are about 1 billion smokers in the world. Do you imagine how much waste is produced in the world with just those cigarette butts alone? On sidewalks, around the buildings and almost everywhere! RMIT has come up with a solution to offset the waste and use it efficiently in the manufacturing of bricks. About 1% of the butts must be used in the production that would result in more sustainable, lighter and energy efficient building material. The result is an even fair product which increases the insulation properties of the material and solving the problems of the future.

7) Hollow Clay Bricks :-

Can we use the traditional materials in an innovative way that solves our problems and helps the users of the building in controlling the heat entering in a building? The clay bricks are the solution to that. The unusual shape of this brick helps majorly in blocking the sun and letting the building breathe through its hollow cores in letting the air pass. This structure helps in noise intrusion from the exteriors in the building in contributing to the thermal comfort of the building users. The 3D properties give an aesthetic look to the façade and can be used in forming several shapes and patterns on the wall exteriors

8) Transparent Wood :-

We all love the wood finish on the floors, as a structural material and on our ceilings. This material being one of the oldest is on its way to get a makeover when researchers are experimenting with making it transparent. Being a great alternative to glass and plastic, transparent wood is environmental-friendly and energy efficient. In the production process, the lignin is replaced with polymers to make it transparent.

9) Modular Bamboo :-

Modular Bamboo fits for the most versatile building construction material. Being light weight, availability in abundance and stronger than steel, this material can take any shape in construction and also act as a major earthquake resistant structure in various parts of the world. Bamboo can grow upto 4 feet in a couple of hours and is majorly used in low-cost housing in Philippines, Indonesia and other low-lying islands.

10) Aluminium Foam :-

These panels are formed through air injection in molten aluminium and at a certain temperature, when air bubbles stabilize forming foam panels which create intriguing patterns and layers for opacity, texture, transparency and brightness. As per its manufacturing process, the foam panels can be formed with varied densities, shapes and visibility.

Conclusion :-

             Incorporating advanced construction technology into practice can increase levels of quality, efficiency, safety, sustainability and value for money. However, there is often a conflict between traditional industry methods and innovative new practices, and this is often blamed for the relatively slow rate of technology transfer within the industry.

Refrance :-

1) B. Xu and H.Y.Li., Advanced Building Materials and Structural Engineering, Edition 2012.

2) H. Zhang, Building Materials in Civil Engineering, 1st Edition, Wood head Publishing.

3) Li, Guangfan; Huang, Yong; Chen, Chaohe, Advanced Building Material, Trans Tech Publications Ltd.

4) Varghese.P.C. Building Materials, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., Google eBook.