Earthworks are engineering works created through the processing of parts of the earth's surface involving quantities of soil or unformed rock.
Shoring structures
An incomplete list of possible temporary or permanent geotechnical
shoring structures that may be designed and utilised as part of earthworks:
Gallery
File:Mechanically stabilized earth diagram.gif|Mechanically stabilized earth
File:GroutCurtain.gif|Grout curtain
File:Retaining Wall Type Function.jpg|Retaining wall types
File:Soil Nail.jpg|Soil nailing
File:FEMA - 6044 - Photograph by Larry Lerner taken on 03-15-2002 in New York.jpg|Tieback
File:Sbh s600.JPG|Trench shoring
File:Caisson Schematic.svg|Caisson
File:Vyrnwy dam.JPG|Dam
File:Gabion 040.jpg|
File:Cross section of a ground freezing pipe as used in the big dig.gif|Ground freezing
Excavation
Excavation may be classified by type of material:
[Frederick S. Merritt, M. Kent Loftin, Jonathan T. Ricketts, Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1995.]
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Topsoil excavation
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Earth excavation
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Rock excavation
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Muck excavation – this usually contains excess water and unsuitable soil
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Unclassified excavation – this is any combination of material types
Excavation may be classified by the purpose:
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Roadway excavation
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Drainage or structure excavation
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bridge building excavation
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Channel excavation
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Footing excavation
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Borrow excavation
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Dredge excavation
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Underground excavation
Civil engineering use
Typical earthworks include road construction, , causeways, dams, , , and . Other common earthworks are land grading to reconfigure the topography of a site, or to stabilize slopes.
Military use
In military engineering, earthworks are, more specifically, types of 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 , sod defensive wall, motte-and-bailey castles, and . Modern examples include trench warfare and .
Equipment
Heavy construction equipment is usually used due to the amounts of material to be moved — up to millions of cubic metres. Earthwork construction was revolutionized by the development of the (Fresno Scraper) scraper and other earth-moving machines such as the loader, the dump truck, the grader, the bulldozer, the backhoe, and the dragline excavator.
Mass haul planning
Engineers need to concern themselves with issues of geotechnical engineering (such as soil density and strength) and with quantity estimation to ensure that soil volumes in the cuts match those of the Fill dirt, while minimizing the distance of movement. In the past, these calculations were done by hand using a slide rule and with methods such as Simpson's rule. Earthworks cost is a function of hauled amount x hauled distance. The goal of mass haul planning is to determine these amounts and the goal of mass haul optimization is to minimize either or both.
Now they can be performed with a computer and specialized software, including optimisation on haul cost and not haul distance (as haul cost is not proportional to haul distance).
See also
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, construction/engineering vehicles used for earthworks civil engineering
Calculation software
Earthwork software is generally a subset of CAD software, in which case it often an add-on to a more general CAD package such as AutoCAD.
A few programs are specialised in earthworks transport optimization and planning the construction works.
External links
