What construction equipment is commonly used in water conservancy projects? Water conservancy project construction involves multiple steps, including earthwork excavation, rock crushing, concrete pouring, lifting and hoisting, drainage and anti-seepage measures. Equipment selection must be based on factors such as project scale, geological conditions, and construction intensity. The following summarizes commonly used equipment, their uses, and their characteristics, categorized by core construction steps:
I. Earthwork Construction Equipment (Core: Excavation, Transportation, and Compaction)
1. Excavators: Used for excavation of foundation pits, river desilting, earthwork/sand and gravel excavation, and slope grading;
2. Loaders: Used for short-distance earthwork/sand and gravel transport, loading dump trucks, and site leveling;
3. Bulldozers: Used for site leveling, clearing surface obstacles, assisting with excavation (loosening earthwork), and paving dam soil;
4. Road Rollers: Used for compacting earthwork/sand and gravel cushion layers (e.g., for dam filling and embankment construction);
5. Motor Graders: Used for site leveling (e.g., for concrete pouring tanks, road leveling), and slope grading (e.g., dam and channel slopes);
II. Rockwork Construction Equipment (Core: Rock Drilling, Crushing, and Excavation)
1. Rock Drilling Equipment
① Down-the-hole drill: This mainstream device uses "impact + rotation" to crush rock. It is suitable for medium-hard rock (compressive strength 30-100 MPa) and can drill deep holes (≤30 m). It is commonly used for tunnel excavation and pre-splitting blasting of foundation pit rock.
② Cone drill: Suitable for hard rock (compressive strength >100 MPa), it has high drilling efficiency and is often used in large quarries or deep rock excavation in dam foundations.
③ Handheld rock drill: This small device is suitable for localized rock drilling (such as dealing with isolated boulders and shaping rock surfaces). It has high maneuverability but low efficiency.
2. Crushing Equipment
① Jaw crusher: This is a coarse crushing device that handles large rocks (particle size ≤1 m). It is commonly used for raw material crushing in quarries and provides coarse aggregate for concrete aggregate.
② Cone crusher: This is a medium-to-fine crushing device that further crushes the coarsely crushed rock to a particle size ≤50 mm. It is suitable for processing concrete aggregate (such as gravel).
③ Mobile Crushing Plant: Integrates "feeding-crushing-screening" functions, suitable for distributed operations (such as tunnel slag crushing), eliminating the need for a fixed site.
III. Concrete Construction Equipment (Core: Mixing, Transporting, Pouring, Vibrating)
1. Concrete Mixing Equipment
① Fixed Concrete Mixing Plant: Mainstream for large-scale projects, consisting of a batching machine, mixer, powder tank, and control system. It offers high output (≥50 m³/h) and is suitable for long-term, centralized pouring (such as for dam main structures).
② Mobile Concrete Mixing Plant: Used for smaller projects or distributed operations, it can be moved as a whole and has lower output (≤30 m³/h), such as channel lining and small aqueduct construction.
③ Forced Mixer: Core component, utilizing double helical blades for forced mixing, suitable for various types of concrete (such as normal concrete and roller-compacted concrete), achieving high mixing uniformity.
2. Concrete Transportation Equipment
① Concrete Mixer Trucks (Tank Trucks): Connect the concrete mixing plant to the pouring site. The rotating tank prevents initial setting of the concrete. Suitable for medium- and long-distance transportation (≤10 km), they are the "core" of concrete circulation.
② Concrete Pump Trucks (Sky Pumps): Transport concrete to the pouring silo via boom pipes. Suitable for high-rise/high-altitude pouring (such as the upper part of a dam body and the crown of a tunnel), they offer flexible concrete placement.
③ Concrete Trailer Pumps (Ground Pumps): Transport concrete via fixed pipes. Suitable for long-distance (≤1000 m) or underground pouring (such as foundation pits and tunnels). They require a concrete placing boom.
3. Concrete Vibration Equipment
① Insertion Vibrator: The most commonly used, this vibrator rod is inserted into the concrete to eliminate bubbles and compact the aggregate. It is suitable for large concrete volumes (such as dam pouring). The vibration depth can reach 1-2 m.
② Attached vibrator: Attached to the outside of the formwork, it transmits vibrations through the formwork. Suitable for thin-walled components (such as gate channels and aqueduct sidewalls) to prevent damage to rebar caused by the vibrating rod.
③ Flat plate vibrator: Used for vibrating the concrete surface (such as channel linings and road pavement pouring) to ensure surface flatness and density.
4. Formwork Equipment
① Steel formwork: The mainstream formwork, featuring high strength and high reusability, is suitable for regular components (such as dam corridors and gate piers). Requires scaffolding for anchoring.
② Formwork trolley: Specifically designed for tunnels/corridors, this integral steel formwork can be moved along rails, allowing for single-casting (e.g., water transfer tunnels with a diameter of 5-10m). This is significantly more efficient than loose formwork.
IV. Lifting and Hoisting Equipment (Core: Component Installation and Material Lifting)
1. Gantry Crane: Rail-mounted, high-capacity (50-500t), fixed operating range (along the rails), and excellent stability.
2. Crawler Cranes: They have a large track contact area, exert low ground pressure (suitable for soft foundations), and offer flexible lifting capacities (20-1000t).
3. Tower Cranes: Fixed or track-mounted, they have a large operating radius (30-80m) and are suitable for high-altitude, small-tonnage (≤50t) lifting.
4. Hoists: They have a simple structure, low cost, and a small lifting capacity (≤10t), making them suitable for auxiliary operations.
V. Drainage and Dewatering Equipment (Core: Groundwater Control and Foundation Pit Drainage)
1. Wellpoint Dewatering Equipment
① Light Wellpoints: Suitable for shallow foundation pits (depth ≤6m). They pump shallow groundwater through wellpoint pipes to lower the groundwater level. They are commonly used in channel excavation and small foundation pits.
② Deep Wellpoints: Suitable for deep foundation pits (depth >6m) or in thick aquifers (such as dam foundation excavations). They pump deep groundwater through deep well pumps, allowing for a wide dewatering range.
2. Drainage Pump Equipment
① Centrifugal Pump: For general drainage, used for draining surface water and rainwater from foundation pits. It features a high flow rate (≤1000 m³/h) and a moderate head (≤50 m).
② Slurry Pump: For wastewater containing sediment (such as tunnel slag wastewater and foundation pit sludge water). It can transport high-concentration slurry (sand content ≤30%) to prevent pipe blockage.
③ Submersible Pump: Operates submersibly in water and is suitable for draining water from the bottom of foundation pits and low-lying areas of tunnels. It is compact and flexible to install.
VI. Specialized Hydraulic Construction Equipment (Core: Seepage Control, Tunnels, and Gates)
1. Seepage Control Engineering Equipment
① Geomembrane Welding Machine: Used for splicing geomembranes (the core anti-seepage material). This machine creates a sealed anti-seepage layer through heat welding. Suitable for dam anti-seepage and channel linings, the weld strength must reach at least 80% of the parent material strength.
② High-pressure jet grouting machine: Used for foundation anti-seepage reinforcement (such as curtain grouting of dam foundations). It sprays cement slurry at high pressure to form an anti-seepage pile wall and is suitable for soft soil foundations.
2. Tunnel construction equipment
① TBM (full-face hard rock tunnel boring machine): Suitable for long tunnels (>10 km in length) and hard rock formations (such as granite). It completes "excavation, support, and lining" in a single operation, achieving efficiency 3-5 times that of traditional drilling and blasting methods (such as the Yellow River Tunnel in the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project).
② Shield machine (EPB/Slurry Balance): Suitable for soft soil/composite formations (such as riverbed and lakebed tunnels). It uses a cutterhead to excavate and simultaneously inject grouting support to prevent ground collapse.
3. Gate and hoist equipment
① Specialized gate installation hoist: Suitable for different gate types (beam hoists for flat gates and specialized clamps for radial gates). This ensures uniform force on the gate during installation and prevents deformation.
② Hoist commissioning equipment: This includes torque testers and travel switch calibrators, used for load testing and precision commissioning of hoists (such as winch and hydraulic types) to ensure smooth gate raising and lowering.
In addition, water conservancy project construction equipment can be selected based on the project's specific phase and scale:
① Small projects (such as small reservoirs and canals): This primarily involves a combination of mobile equipment and small fixed equipment (such as mobile concrete mixing plants, wheeled excavators, and lightweight well points);
② Large projects (such as dams and inter-basin water transfer projects): This primarily involves a combination of large fixed equipment and specialized equipment (such as fixed concrete mixing plants, TBMs, gantry cranes, and high-pressure jet grouting machines), with intelligent control systems (such as equipment scheduling systems and concrete quality monitoring systems) used to improve efficiency.