| Abstract | An attempt has been made in this study to anallse the application
of several construction methods using different combinations of
equipment, such as dragline-dump trucks, dragline-belt conveyor system,
s hove l-dump trucks , shovel-be ! t conveyor system, dredger-:-barges ,
dredger-pipe line system, railroad equipment, bucket wheel excavator,
and scrape r-pushers in the Kra-canal excavation works. The canal
alignment is divided into several sections; chainage km 0 - 2, km 2 - 5,
km 5 - 13, km 13 - 20, km 20 - 75, km 75 - 102 based on the material
encountered in each section. The equipment selected to be used in each
section depends on its suitability and ability to perform the required
excavation and transportation operation in the existing ground
condition. Because huge quantities of earth are to be moved, economy can
be achieved only by using big sized tailor-made equipment. Theoretic al
production and unit cost of moving the earth for each system were
calculated using queueing theory . The optimum allocation of material
from different sources to different destinations for chainage km 20 - 75
we re then determined using the uni t costs obtained from the application
of queueing models and by applying the transportation mode ls. The total
cost of earth- moving for each chainage were calculated based on the
quantities derived f rom the canal cross sections and the unit cost s for
different methods . These costs were then compared to select that
combination of equipment which gives the optimum costs. It was found
that a combination of dragline-conveyor system, shove l - trucks , dragline-conveyor system, shove l - dump trucks, s hove l-dump trucks, and shovel - belt
conveyor system respectively are the cheapest options for chainage km 0
- 2, km 5 - 13, km 13 - 20, km 20 - 75, km 75 - 102. |