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Earthworks (engineering)

 
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Earthworks (engineering)
 
 
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Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving of massive quantities of soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
 or unformed rock
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
. Engineers need to concern themselves with issues of geotechnical engineering
Geotechnical engineering

Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. Geotechnical engineering includes investigating existing subsurface conditions and materials; determining their physical/mechanical and chemical properties that are relevant to the project considered, assessing risks posed...
 (such as soil fluidity and friction) and with quantity estimation to ensure that soil volumes in the cuts
Cut (earthmoving)

A cut, in the context of earthmoving, generally means the removal of soil or rock material. When used in reference to transportation routes, it has the more particular meaning of removal directed along the line of a railway or roadway, in order to reduce the Grade of the route....
 match those of the fills
Fill dirt

Fill dirt is earthy material which is used to fill in a depression or hole in the ground or create mounds or otherwise artificially change the grade or elevation of real property....
, while minimizing the distance of movement. In the past, these calculations were done by hand using a slide rule
Slide rule

The slide rule, also known colloquially as a slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer. The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division , and also for "scientific" functions such as Nth roots, logarithms and trigonometry, but does not generally perform addition or subtraction....
 and with methods such as Simpson's rule
Simpson's rule

In numerical analysis, Simpson's rule is a method for numerical integration, the numerical approximation of definite integrals. Specifically, it is the following approximation:...
.






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Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving of massive quantities of soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
 or unformed rock
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
. Engineers need to concern themselves with issues of geotechnical engineering
Geotechnical engineering

Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. Geotechnical engineering includes investigating existing subsurface conditions and materials; determining their physical/mechanical and chemical properties that are relevant to the project considered, assessing risks posed...
 (such as soil fluidity and friction) and with quantity estimation to ensure that soil volumes in the cuts
Cut (earthmoving)

A cut, in the context of earthmoving, generally means the removal of soil or rock material. When used in reference to transportation routes, it has the more particular meaning of removal directed along the line of a railway or roadway, in order to reduce the Grade of the route....
 match those of the fills
Fill dirt

Fill dirt is earthy material which is used to fill in a depression or hole in the ground or create mounds or otherwise artificially change the grade or elevation of real property....
, while minimizing the distance of movement. In the past, these calculations were done by hand using a slide rule
Slide rule

The slide rule, also known colloquially as a slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer. The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division , and also for "scientific" functions such as Nth roots, logarithms and trigonometry, but does not generally perform addition or subtraction....
 and with methods such as Simpson's rule
Simpson's rule

In numerical analysis, Simpson's rule is a method for numerical integration, the numerical approximation of definite integrals. Specifically, it is the following approximation:...
. Now they can be performed with a computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
 and specialized software, including optimisation on haul cost and not haul distance (as haul cost is not proportional to haul distance).

Due to the massive amounts of material to be moved—millions of cubic yards in the case of large dams—earthwork engineering was revolutionised by the development of the (Fresno
Fresno Scraper

The Fresno Scraper was invented in 1883 by the Scotland immigrant and entrepreneur James Porteous who, having worked with farmers in Fresno, California, had recognised the dependence of the Fresno Valley on irrigation and the requirement for a more efficient means of constructing canals and ditches in the sandy soil....
) scraper
Wheel tractor-scraper

In civil engineering, a wheel tractor-scraper is a piece of heavy equipment used for Earthworks . The rear part has a vertically moveable hopper with a sharp horizontal front edge....
 and other earth-moving machines
Engineering vehicle

Engineering vehicles, known by the other terms: construction equipment, earth movers, heavy equipment or just plain equipment, are machines,vehicle machines, in the most basic form, are compound machines composed of simple machines....
 such as the loader
Loader (equipment)

A loader is an engineering vehicle that is primarily used to "load" material into or onto another type of machinery ....
, production trucks, the grader
Grader

A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, a maintainer or a motor grader, is an engineering vehicle with a large blade used to create a flat surface....
, the bulldozer
Bulldozer

----A bulldozer is a Tractor crawler , equipped with a substantial metal plate , used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc, during construction work....
, the backhoe
Backhoe

A backhoe, also called a rear actor or back actor, is a piece of excavating equipment consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm....
, and the dragline excavator
Dragline excavator

Dragline excavation systems are heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. In civil engineering the smaller types are used for road construction and port construction....
.

Typical earthworks include roads
Road

A road is an identifiable Road number, way or Trail between Location . Roads are typically smoothed, Pavement , or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel; though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or Maintenance, repair and operations....
, dams
Dam

A dam is a barrier that Reservoirs surface water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates, levees, and Dike are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions....
, dikes, canal
Canal

Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: Aqueduct canals, which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterways, which are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans....
, bunding
Bunding

Bunding, also called a bund wall, is the area within a structure designed to prevent inundation or breaches of various types....
, and berm
Berm

A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas. Berm is a loanword from Dutch language....
s ("noise mounds").

In military engineer
Military engineer

A military engineer is primarily responsible for the design and construction of offensive, defensive, and logistical structures for warfare. Other duties include the layout, placement, maintenance and dismantling of defensive land mine and the clearing of enemy minefields and the construction and destruction of bridges....
ing, earthworks are, more specifically, types of fortification
Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs....
s constructed from soil. Although soil is not very strong, it is cheap enough that huge quantities can be used, generating formidable structures. Examples of older earthwork fortifications include moat
Moat

A moat is deep, broad trench, usually filled with water, that surrounds a structure, installation, or town, normally to provide it with a preliminary line of Defense ....
s, sod
Sod

Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of this material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns....
 walls
Defensive wall

A defensive wall is a fortification used to defend a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements....
, motte-and-bailey
Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle. Many were built in Britain in the Middle Ages, Ireland and France in the 11th and 12th centuries, favoured as a relatively cheap but effective defensive fortification that could repel most small attack forces....
 castles, and hill fort
Hill fort

A hill fort is type of fortification refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age and Iron Ages....
s. Modern examples include trenches
Trench warfare

Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static. Trench warfare arose when a revolution in fire power was not matched by similar advances in mobility , resulting in a slow and grueling form of defense-oriented warfare in which both sides constructed elaborate and heavily arme...
 and berm
Berm

A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas. Berm is a loanword from Dutch language....
s.

See also

  • Cut and fill
    Cut and fill

    Cut and Fill in Earthworks is the process of constructing a railway, road or canal whereby the amount of material from cuts roughly matches the amount of fill needed to make nearby embankments, so minimizing the amount of construction labor....
  • Earth movers
    Engineering vehicle

    Engineering vehicles, known by the other terms: construction equipment, earth movers, heavy equipment or just plain equipment, are machines,vehicle machines, in the most basic form, are compound machines composed of simple machines....
    , construction/engineering vehicles used for earthworks civil engineering
  • earthwork software: DynaRoad


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