Chapter 18 Draglines and Clamshells (pdf) - HDRE, Inc
Chapter 18 Draglines and Clamshells (pdf) - HDRE, Inc
Chapter 18 Draglines and Clamshells (pdf) - HDRE, Inc
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<strong>Chapter</strong> <strong>18</strong><br />
<strong>Draglines</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Clamshells</strong><br />
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, <strong>Inc</strong>. Permission required for reproduction or display.
DRAGLINES AND<br />
CLAMSHELLS<br />
Drag buckets <strong>and</strong><br />
clamshells are<br />
attachments hung<br />
from a lattice-<br />
boom crane.
DRAGLINES AND<br />
CLAMSHELLS<br />
A dragline excavator is especially<br />
useful when there is need for extended<br />
reach in excavating or when material<br />
must be excavated from underwater.<br />
Clamshell excavators provide the<br />
means to excavate vertically to<br />
considerable depths.
DRAGLINES<br />
The Monighan Co. patented a walking<br />
mechanism for draglines in 1913. These<br />
machines were used extensively in<br />
building levees on the Mississippi River.
DRAGLINES
DRAGLINES<br />
A dragline works, as the name<br />
implies, by dragging a dragline-<br />
type bucket toward the machine.
DRAGLINE<br />
BUCKET<br />
A dragline bucket consists of three<br />
parts: the basket, the arch, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
cutting edge. Buckets are generally<br />
available in three types: (1) light duty,<br />
(2) medium duty, <strong>and</strong> (3) heavy duty.
DRAGLINES<br />
The greatest advantage of a<br />
dragline over other machines is<br />
its long reach for digging <strong>and</strong><br />
dumping.<br />
A dragline does not have the<br />
positive digging force of a<br />
hydraulic shovel or hoe.
DRAGLINES<br />
<strong>Draglines</strong> are used to excavate<br />
material <strong>and</strong> load it into hauling<br />
units<br />
or to deposit it in levees <strong>and</strong> spoil<br />
piles near the pits from which it<br />
is excavated.
DRAGLINES<br />
Dragline components consist of a drag<br />
bucket <strong>and</strong> a fairlead assembly. Wire<br />
ropes are used for the boom suspension,<br />
drag, bucket hoist, <strong>and</strong> dump lines.
DRAGLINE<br />
PRODUCTION<br />
The output of a dragline should be<br />
expressed in bank measure cubic yards<br />
(bcy) per hour. This quantity is best<br />
obtained from field measurements.<br />
Table <strong>18</strong>.2 gives approximate dragline<br />
digging <strong>and</strong> loading cycles for various<br />
angles of swing.
OPTIMUM DEPTH<br />
OF CUT<br />
A dragline will produce its greatest<br />
output if the job is planned to permit<br />
excavation at the optimum depth of cut.<br />
Based on using short-boom draglines,<br />
Table <strong>18</strong>.3 gives the optimum depth of<br />
cut for various sizes of buckets <strong>and</strong><br />
classes of materials.
EFFECT OF DEPTH OF<br />
CUT AND SWING ANGLE<br />
Table <strong>18</strong>.3 presents ideal dragline<br />
production capability based on<br />
digging at optimum depths with a<br />
swing angle of 90°.<br />
The table also assumes maximum<br />
efficiency, for example, a 60-min<br />
hour.
EFFECT OF DEPTH OF<br />
CUT AND SWING ANGLE<br />
For any other depth or swing angle, the<br />
ideal output of the machine must be<br />
adjusted by an appropriate depth-swing<br />
factor.<br />
The effect of the depth of cut <strong>and</strong><br />
swing angle on dragline production<br />
is given in Table <strong>18</strong>.4.
EXAMPLE<br />
A 2½-cy short-boom dragline is to be<br />
used to excavate wet, sticky clay. The<br />
depth of cut will be 14.8 ft, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
swing angle will be 60°. Determine the<br />
probable production of the dragline.<br />
There are 65,000 bcy of material to be<br />
excavated. How long will the project<br />
require?
Step 1. Ideal<br />
Production<br />
Determine the ideal production<br />
from Table <strong>18</strong>.3:<br />
Based on a 2½-cy bucket size <strong>and</strong><br />
wet, sticky clay material:<br />
Ideal production = 175 bcy.
Step 2. Optimum<br />
Depth of Cut<br />
Determine the percent of<br />
optimum depth of cut,<br />
Eq. <strong>18</strong>.1.<br />
Optimum depth of cut<br />
Table <strong>18</strong>.3: 12.3 ft.
Step 2. Optimum<br />
Depth of Cut<br />
Optimum depth of cut<br />
Table <strong>18</strong>.3: 12.3 ft.<br />
Percentage of optimum depth of<br />
cut Eq. <strong>18</strong>.1<br />
14.8<br />
12.3<br />
ft<br />
ft<br />
× 100<br />
= 120%
Step 3. Cut/Swing Angle<br />
Correction Factor<br />
Step 3. Determine the depth of<br />
cut/swing angle correction factor<br />
from Table <strong>18</strong>.4:<br />
• Percentage of opt. depth = 120%<br />
• Swing angle = 60°<br />
Depth of cut/swing angle correction<br />
factor = 1.09
Step 4. Efficiency Factor<br />
Determine an overall<br />
efficiency factor based on the<br />
expected job conditions.<br />
<strong>Draglines</strong> seldom work at better<br />
than a 45-min hr:<br />
Efficiency factor =<br />
45<br />
60<br />
min<br />
min<br />
=<br />
0.75
Step 5. Production<br />
Determine production rate.<br />
Multiply the ideal production by<br />
the depth/swing correction<br />
factor <strong>and</strong> the efficiency factor:<br />
175 × 1.09 × 0.75 = 143 bcy/hr
Step 6. Production<br />
Determine soil<br />
conversion, if needed<br />
(Table 4.3). Not necessary<br />
in this example.
<strong>18</strong>.2:<br />
Step 7. Time<br />
Determine total hours, Eq.<br />
65,000<br />
143<br />
bcy<br />
bcy/hr<br />
=<br />
Total hr = 455 hr
CLAMSHELLS<br />
The clamshell<br />
is a vertically<br />
operated<br />
bucket capable<br />
of working at,<br />
above, <strong>and</strong><br />
below ground<br />
level.
CLAMSHELLS<br />
<strong>Clamshells</strong> are used<br />
primarily to remove<br />
materials from<br />
vertical excavations<br />
such as cofferdams,<br />
pier foundations,<br />
<strong>and</strong> sheet-lined<br />
trenches.
CLAMSHELLS<br />
There are hydraulic clamshell<br />
buckets that are mounted on the<br />
stick of<br />
hydraulic hoes.
CLAMSHELL BUCKETS<br />
The two jaws<br />
of a clamshell<br />
bucket clamp<br />
together when<br />
the bucket is<br />
lifted by the<br />
closing line.
CLAMSHELL BUCKETS<br />
Clamshell<br />
used to<br />
cleanout 8 ft<br />
diameter<br />
steel piles.
CLAMSHELLS<br />
PRODUCTION RATES<br />
Because of the variable factors that<br />
affect the operations of a clamshell, it is<br />
difficult to give average production<br />
rates. The critical variable factors<br />
include the difficulty of loading the<br />
bucket, the size load obtainable, the<br />
height of lift, the angle of swing, <strong>and</strong><br />
the method of disposing of the load.
SAFETY<br />
Keep personnel away from the swing<br />
area of dragline <strong>and</strong> clamshell cranes.<br />
These machines must be operated so as<br />
not to expose persons in the area to a<br />
hazard. The crane operator must not<br />
swing the boom <strong>and</strong> bucket, whether<br />
loaded or empty, over the top of trucks<br />
<strong>and</strong> drivers.
SAFETY<br />
Another common accident, with cranes<br />
equipped as draglines or with clamshell<br />
buckets, is where a machine falls into<br />
the excavation it is digging. These<br />
accidents often happen when ground<br />
conditions deteriorate after a rain.<br />
Management must always be cognizant<br />
of changing ground conditions.