Compaction Equipment

There are diverse types of compaction equipment available and generally they all trend along the light soil compactor equipment and also the heavy soil compactor equipment. Most times with these equipment, it is the usage of the compactor on the soil that determines what class of compactor an equipment belongs to. Most times the soil texture, soil moisture and the type of soil that it is, is what determines what kind of equipment would be most suitable for diverse kind of soils. Typically, the light soil compactor equipment are utilized in a small area of land and they are also most useful in circumstances where the efforts needed on compacting the soil is not much. On the other hand also, the heavy soil compactor equipment are utilized when the equipment is to be used on a large area of land and also when the project is large and on different types of soils when choosing the heavy compactor equipment, the determining factor is the type of soil that would be worked upon and also the moisture content of the soil that should be worked up. This then takes us to the aspect of examining the types of compactor equipment based on this divisions.
April 26, 2024

Types of Light Compaction Equipment

These are just a few of the most common light soil compactor equipment. However it must be noted that when it comes to Light soil compactor equipment, they outnumber this list.

Rammers

Masterpac Tamping Rammer

Rammers are generally used for the purpose of compacting a small area of soil and this is done by putting so much load on the soil. Rammers are generally not heavy and they can either be hand operated or machine operated. Most times when these are the machine operated ones, they always weigh between 30kg to many tons. They are mainly used for the purpose of compacting rocky fragments in the soil.

Vibrating Plate Compactor

The vibrating place compactor is used mainly to compact coarse soil and it is often used within a small area of soil. The equipment weighs between 100kg to 10 tons depending on the size.

Vibro Tampers

This type of light soil compactor equipment is used in a small confined area of soil. Generally the equipment could be used on all kinds of soil and this is the more reason why the vibro tampers is unique. Unlike other light soil compactors too, they are always used manually and they weigh between 50kg to 100kg.

Types of Heavy Compaction Equipment

Smooth Wheeled Rollers

Articulated Tandem Roller

Generally, smooth wheeled rollers are classified into two kinds and they are the static smooth wheeled rollers and the vibrating smooth wheeled rollers. Most times these rollers are used based on their susceptibility to the soil around them and the most suitable kind of soil that can be used with these rollers include the gravel, the asphalt soil, the graded sand and the crushed rock. In this kind of soils, crushing might be required and this is the more reason why the rollers would be required. It must be noted that the roller are also suitable for soil types that do not require so much pressure. They are also generally used for the purpose of compacting the surface sand and cannot be used with the uniform kind of soil. How far the smooth wheeled rollers can go depends largely on the load per cm width of the drum the drum at the lower part of the rollers. The best way to identify the smooth rollers is with the wheeled drum that are placed at the front part of the roller and also the two drums that exist at the rear side of the roller. Unlike the other light soil compactors, the smooth rollers weight between 8 to 10 tons and there is a special type of smooth wheeled rollers which is called the tampers roller; it weighs between 6 to 8 tons It must be noted that while the wheel drums look heavy, they can also be increased in weight with water or weight sand being placed on the inside of the drums. Also, the speed that this equipment can work at, depends largely on the type of soil that it is and also the location that one desires to work on using the equipment.

Vibrating Smooth Wheeled Rollers

The vibrating smooth wheeled rollers work when they vibrate or rotate the mass of soil that they work on. With this rollers however, high compaction can be derived with the use of maximum work and the rollers can be used when trying to break beyond the surface soil. The eventual result of using these rollers on the soil is that the output of the work done is deeper than that of other type of compacting equipment. If what needs to be done is the act of excavation, it is advisable to make use of the vibrating smooth wheeled rollers and although they are expensive, they always end up justifying the reason why they need to be used.

Sheepsfoot Roller

This kind of roller is used when dealing with heavy clay soils and silt kind of soils. They are mainly used for the larger project work environment such as railway construction sites, dams among others. Also, just like the wheeled rollers, they have their division under the static and vibrating type. The vibrating sheepsfoot roller are used when dealing with finely grained sands or a combination of soils. Also like it is done with the wheeled rollers, the mass within the drums that are attached to this type of rollers can be increased with the use of wet sand or water. The effectiveness of this rollers is best seen when one attaches a few logs when they are in motion. The speed that this equipment can work under, depends largely on the amount of pressure that is mounted on it and also how deep the penetration into the soil needs to be.

Tools for Measuring Soil Compaction

compaction equipment