Methods and Techniques in Highway Design

1
HNCB 18- CIVIL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY
By Name
Course
Instructor
Institution
Location
Date

2
Task 1
Earthwork
Earthwork is an engineering process which involves the excavation, transportation and
placement of soil to create space for construction of engineering projects. Earthwork involves
three process i.e.
1. Soil excavation
2. Transportation of the excavated soils
3. Placing and compaction of the excavated soils
Equipment used in earthwork process
The tools used in the earthwork process usually depends on the available resources, site
conditions and the amount of earth to be excavated1. For the given scenario different equipment
will be used during earthwork process, and they have been grouped according to the earthwork
process in which they are used for instance:
Excavation equipment
These are the equipment that will be used for excavating the ground and they include; Bulldozers
o Power shovels
o Draglines
o Backhoes,
o Scrapers
1 John Newman, Earthwork Slips and Subsidences upon Public Works: Their Causes, Prevention, and
Reparation. Especially Written to Assist Those Engaged in the Construction or Maintenance of Railways,
Docks, Canals, Roads, Waterworks, River-banks, Reclamation Embankments, Drainage Works, Texas,
E. & F.N. Spon, 2014.

3
o Clamshells
Equipment used for transportation
Once the soil has been excavated it will need to be transported to an area where it will be placed.
With that different equipment are used and they include;
o Dumpers
o Tippers
o Trucks
o Belt conveyors
o Graders
Compaction equipment
Once the excavated soil has been transported to the region where it will be placed, equipment for
compaction will be required and they include; sheep foot rollers, smooth wheel rollers,
pneumatic rollers and the vibratory roller equipment.
Earthwork techniques
For the given scenario different approached and techniques will be used for the earthwork
process to be carried out successfully, and some of the techniques that will be employed include;
Borrowing, U-cut and the crossbill and cut and fill approach2.
Methods to create complex foundation
There are many types of foundations that can be used for the given project depending on the
factors such as cost, ground conditions, the available materials and the nature of the load to be
2 Alex Trenter, Earthworks: A Guide, London, Thomas Telford, 2011

4
supported. Different foundations will be adopted will either be deep or the shallow foundations.
The shallow foundations will be used where the load imposed on the structure is relatively
low as compared to bearing capacity of the soil Where else the deep foundations are used
where the bearing capacity of the surface soil is insufficient to support the imposed loads
and thus there is need for the loads to be transferred to deep layers which have a higher bearing
capacity3.
Method used for pilling works
The piles will be installed through the drilling of the vertical holes into the soil by the use of a
bore pilling machine. This will be achieved by the use of the pile drivers. The pilling work will
be preferred in regions that have unstable surface soil. Different techniques can be used for
pilling works depending on the material, function and the installation procedure. The following
are the different types of the pile foundations methods;
Based on use or function
 Friction piles
 Soil compaction piles
 Load bearing piles
 End piles
 Sheet piles
Based on material and construction methods
 Timber piles
3 John Macneill , Tables for Calculating the Cubic Quantity of Earth Work in the Cuttings and
Embankments of Canals, Railways, and Turnpike Roads, Chicago, Roake and Varty, 2016