What machines are used in building construction? In the process of building construction, a variety of machines are used. Here are some common equipments:
1. Earthmoving equipment
- Excavator: This is one of the main equipments in earthmoving works. It conducts excavation operations through the bucket installed at the front end and can excavate materials such as soil and sand. There are various types of excavators, such as crawler excavators and wheeled excavators. Crawler excavators have good stability and are suitable for working in various complex terrain conditions, such as muddy sites or mountains on construction sites; wheeled excavators have the characteristic of fast movement speed and are suitable for operating on relatively flat sites and can quickly transfer between different construction sites. For example, when excavating a large pit for the foundation of a building, a crawler excavator can exert its strong excavation ability and quickly dig out the earth and load it onto transportation vehicles.
- Loader: It is mainly used for loading loose materials. Its working device is a bucket that can be lifted and turned over. Loaders can load the excavated earth, sand and gravel and other materials into transportation tools such as dump trucks, and can also be used for short-distance material handling. For example, in the construction stage of building foundations, loaders can transport the excavated earth to the soil storage yard, or load building materials such as sand and stones from the material pile to near the mixer to facilitate subsequent construction.
- Bulldozer: Used for operations such as pushing earth and leveling the site. It has a wide track and a bulldozer blade and can push a large amount of earth to make the site reach the designed flatness. In the preparatory work for a construction site, bulldozers can level the uneven ground to create good basic conditions for subsequent building construction. For example, when building a large industrial park, bulldozers can level a large wasteland to facilitate the construction of factory building foundations.
2. Concrete construction equipment
- Concrete mixer: This is a key equipment for preparing concrete. Through the rotation of the mixing drum, it mixes cement, sand, stones and water in a certain proportion into uniform concrete. Concrete mixers are divided into two types: forced mixers and gravity mixers. Forced mixers have good mixing effects and can quickly mix various materials evenly. They are suitable for mixing dry-hard concrete and high-performance concrete; gravity mixers have a simple structure and mainly rely on the rotation of the mixing drum to make the materials freely fall and mix in the drum. Generally, they are used for mixing plastic concrete. In building construction, whether pouring the foundation, columns or floors of a building, a concrete mixer is needed to prepare concrete.
- Concrete pump: Used to transport concrete from the mixing station to the pouring site. It can transport concrete to higher floors or longer distances through pipelines, greatly improving the pouring efficiency of concrete. Especially in the construction of high-rise buildings, concrete pumps can continuously transport concrete to the work surface dozens of floors high to ensure the continuous progress of concrete pouring work. For example, in the construction of skyscrapers in cities, concrete pumps are essential equipment that can quickly and efficiently transport concrete to the required location.
- Concrete vibrator: During the concrete pouring process, vibrators are used to vibrate concrete and discharge air bubbles in concrete to make the concrete more compact. There are mainly two types of vibrators: insertion vibrators and surface vibrators. Insertion vibrators can be inserted into the concrete for vibration and are suitable for vibrating the concrete of structural components such as beams and columns; surface vibrators are mainly used for vibrating thinner concrete structures such as floors and grounds. By vibrating on the concrete surface, the concrete is compacted. If the concrete is not vibrated densely enough, it may cause quality problems such as honeycombs and pockmarks in the concrete structure, affecting the strength and durability of the building.
3. Lifting equipment
- Tower crane: Commonly known as tower crane, it is the most common large lifting equipment on construction sites. Its tower is towering and the boom can rotate, covering a large construction range. Tower cranes can lift various building materials such as steel bars, formworks and prefabricated components and place them accurately at the required construction positions. In the construction of high-rise buildings, tower cranes play a crucial role. They can lift building materials from the ground to dozens of meters or even hundreds of meters high floors. For example, when building a high-rise residential building, tower cranes can lift bundles of steel bars to the steel bar processing area on the roof and also lift prefabricated floor slabs to the designated floor for installation.
- Truck crane: It has the characteristic of strong mobility and is equipped with a lifting device on the vehicle body. Truck cranes can quickly move between different construction sites. After reaching the designated position, they stabilize the vehicle body by extending outriggers and then perform lifting operations. It is suitable for lifting large and heavy building components such as large steel structures and bridge segments. In some local lifting operations or temporary lifting tasks of large construction projects, truck cranes are a very convenient choice. For example, when building the steel structure frame of a large exhibition hall, truck cranes can lift each steel structure component one by one and install it at the designated position.
4. Pile driving equipment
- Pile driver: Used to drive pile foundations into the ground to provide a stable foundation for buildings. There are various types of pile drivers, such as diesel pile drivers and hydraulic pile drivers. Diesel pile drivers drive the pile hammer to move up and down through the power of the diesel engine to drive the pile into the ground; hydraulic pile drivers use the pressure generated by the hydraulic system to drive the pile hammer and have the advantages of high piling accuracy and low noise. In projects that require deep foundations such as bridge and high-rise building construction, pile drivers are essential equipment. For example, in the construction of a bridge across a river, pile drivers need to drive the pile foundations of piers into the hard stratum at the bottom of the river to ensure the stability of the piers.
- Bored pile machine: This equipment is used for drilling and pouring concrete piles. It first drills a pile hole underground through a drill bit, then places a reinforcement cage in the hole, and then pours concrete to form a pile foundation. Bored pile machines can select different drill bits according to different geological conditions. For example, spiral drill bits can be used in soft soil geology, and impact drill bits are needed in rock geology. In some construction projects with high requirements for foundation bearing capacity, such as large industrial plants and high-rise office buildings, bored pile machines can produce high-quality pile foundations.
5. Steel bar processing equipment
- Steel bar cutting machine: Used to cut steel bars according to the length required by the design. It cuts off steel bars through the rapid movement of cutting tools and can ensure the accuracy of steel bar length. In building construction, different components have different requirements for steel bar length. Steel bar cutting machines can efficiently complete the cutting work of steel bars. For example, when making the reinforcement cage of a building column, steel bars of different specifications need to be cut into appropriate lengths and then tied.
- Steel bar bending machine: Mainly used to bend steel bars into various shapes, such as the hooks of stirrups and the bent steel bars of beams. Steel bar bending machines can perform precise bending operations on steel bars according to the set bending angle and radius. In the steel bar processing yard, workers can use steel bar bending machines to process steel bars into shapes that meet the requirements of building design drawings to meet the reinforcement needs of building structural components.
- Steel bar straightening machine: When steel bars are bent and deformed during transportation or storage, steel bar straightening machines can straighten them. Through a series of rollers and traction devices, it pulls the bent steel bars through the machine to restore them to a straight state. In building construction, only straightened steel bars can be better used for steel bar processing and tying to ensure the quality of the steel bar structure of buildings.