Excavator-Dump Truck Fleet Planning and Performance Assessment in Road Earthwork: A Case Study

From blasting and excavation to material sourcing, backfilling, haulage planning, and equipment allocation, earthwork strongly influences construction efficiency and project costs. Based on typical engineering parameters, this study establishes a representative road earthwork scenario to define a preliminary construction plan and evaluate the feasibility of the proposed excavator-dump truck combination. Specifically, rock excavation, soil excavation, and backfill shortages are quantified in bank cubic meters (BCM). The required additional soil for haulage is determined by balancing the quantities of material between the excavation and fill areas. The two transport routes are evaluated for safety, with the safer REFO route selected for subsequent analysis. Accordingly, truck payload, transport cycle time, and the required number of trips are determined. The results indicate that approximately 8,337.8 BCM of soil must be transported from Point P. With one Caterpillar 385C FS excavator and 15 CAT 725 trucks, the hauling time is about 23.23 h at 75% efficiency. Thus, it can be found that the selection of routes and operational efficiency have a significant impact on the schedule arrangement and construction planning of the earthwork project.