Asphalt compactors - steel wheel roller
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Asphalt compactors - Steel Wheel Roller
Asphalt compactors come in different types. These pieces of heavy equipment machinery are the ones you will see on a road construction job site; the steel wheel roller, the pneumatic tire roller, and the vibratory steel wheeled roller. If you are looking to learn the basics about steel wheel rollers then this is for you.
As the name implies it is a heavy equipment road construction machine that consists of steel full width wheels and it is intended to be a compactor of asphalt. The engineers or crew masters will have decided before the job begins which type of compactor is the right mechanical tool for the job. That decision is based on several factors which include environmental conditions, mix property factors, and construction factors.
A rolling plan is developed with an optimal mat compaction goal set prior to having the machine operators begin their task. That plan will consider points such as roller speed, number of passes, number of rollers, etc. to determine which asphalt compactor will be used.
The steel wheel roller asphalt compactor can have a single drum wheel or multiple steel drummed wheels. The tandem steel wheel roller with it's two drums is the most common. These drums can be vibratory or they can be static. Vibration is a good dynamic mechanism that adds compaction potential to the steel wheel roller. The weight of a steel wheeled drum can be anywhere from a single ton to as much as twenty tons.
The vibratory rollers only made their debut after the Second World War. The static steel rollers used before the war were generally three wheel asphalt compactors. By the 1960's the production of the static roller started to diminish and this trend continued into the seventies onwards.
Caterpillar is a supplier of asphalt compactors as well as all type of heavy construction machinery. They have this to say about their product.
Caterpillar
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Similar products to this wheel roller include the soil compactor or vibratory soil compactor, the plate compactor, and others. Some are operated by walking behind the machine while others such as the asphalt compactor are operated by a driver/operator while yet others are operated by remote control with the operator working at great distances from the actual work site.
The steel wheeled roller is an amazing product that makes use of several pneumatic systems. Learn more on those by clicking that link.
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During WW2 asphalt technology improved greatly in part due to the need for landing strips. This opened a supply-demand window for heavier equipment. Gone were the days of brooms, lutes, and squeegees. During the years from WW2 to the mid 1950's 3 static steel wheeled compactors were common. Congress approved massive cash allowances for road construction in the 1950's and again the need for better equipment came. This is when the technology for vibratory rollers came about. By the 1980's almost all compactors use dynamic steel wheel rollers.
That is so cool! Thanks for knowing all this!
The post is very good,beautiful!
On some machines, the drums may be filled with water on site to achieve the desired weight. When empty, the lighter machine is easier and cheaper to transport between work sites.
Storytellersrus Level 7 Commenter 2 years ago
Were the vibratory rollers based on some WW2 innovation? I find it interesting that they would change at that time.