Assessing performance characteristics of concreting equipment: reliability engineering approach

Concrete production must commensurate with increasing demand for infrastructure development in both developed and developing countries. It is essential that concreting equipment be adequately maintained through effective monitoring and control for their optimum usage. Unforeseen breakdowns and inefficient monitoring techniques could result in low productivity and cost overruns. The field of predictive maintenance has largely been left unexplored in the construction sector. The present study was undertaken to understand the performance characteristics and associated parameters of concreting equipment by analyzing data on breakdown and repair history of three construction sites in India. The principles of reliability engineering were utilized to develop regression models to examine the effects of different quantifiable parameters on the performance of concreting equipment. It was found that cumulative mean time to repair and cumulative production quantity have a significant effect on time to failure. The site conditions such as harsh marine environment could lead to a significant amount of wear and tear and consequently, higher breakdown percentage. Moreover, excess workload and overtimes could result in inadequate maintenance of equipment which further increases the frequency of random breakdowns. This study highlights the need for proper monitoring, control, and predictive maintenance of concreting equipment to optimize their performance.