T
he uninitiated may think construction is an inexact business. That
is understandable – projects are can be big, the machines used can
be big and it would not be unnatural to think it was all about the
quantity of material moved, rather than the quality of the results.
A bit more thought and common sense might change that view.
Clearly tolerances have to be tight otherwise pre-fabricated building
elements like steel work and pre-cast concrete members would not fit
together. And in the world of civil engineering roads, railways, runways
and so on have to be flat to be accepted by the client.
Despite what the general public might think, construction has always
been a fairly accurate business. The challenge these days is to maintain
that accuracy (or improve on it), while doing things quicker and more
efficiently.
The case studies in this month’s feature on road building illustrate
time and again how technology can play a huge part in achieving this.
Systems such as 3D machine guidance and control systems remove the
need for a stringline – a time-consuming reference to set up – and can
improve the accuracy and quality of the final road.
On board compaction monitoring systems show when an area is at
the required density, removing the need for extra passes (to be on the
safe side) or expensive re-working if the material is under-consolidated.
These systems also have the advantage that they can document
performance, which helps the contractor prove that he has done what
the client is paying for.
Many of the contractors speaking about their experiences say they
are impressed with the savings in time and money they have made by
adopting new technology. They talk about the efficiency gains, the
improved quality of what they have built and often say they will never
go back to the old methods.
This doesn’t surprise me. The benefits of these systems seem
overwhelming.
But what does surprise me is that so much of the industry is yet to
adopt them. It is hard to get firm figures, but the anecdotal evidence I
hear is that the use of 3D machine control in many parts of the world
remains almost unheard of, never mind the exception to the rule.
Even something like a compaction meter is not yet a standard
requirement for contractors. Some clients still seem to specify a certain
number of passes by a roller, and contractors accept this. But as one of
the studies in our road building feature illustrates, this can be a huge
waste of effort – the compaction meter showed the correct density had
been reached after three passes, but the old-style specification would
have required eight!
If this technology was brand new I could understand it, but looking at
the
iC
archives I see that as far back as 1979 the magazine reported on
an on-board compaction meter, Dynapac’s ‘Compactometer’.
The technology has become more sophisticated since then of course,
and when something has been around for nearly 35 years, it is probably
time to take it more seriously.
Chris Sleight
Editor
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COMMENT
3
november 2013
international
construction
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