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Civil Engineering & Construction vocabulary · Site Work and Equipment

Earthworks

Meaning in civil engineering & construction, with examples

/ˈɜːrθwɜːrks/nounCommon term

In civil engineering & construction, earthworks means: All the work of moving soil on a site: excavating, transporting, filling, compacting and shaping the ground to the required levels.

In Turkish: toprak işleri, hafriyat ve dolgu, yarma ve dolgu

How it is used

A major cost item on road, rail and land development projects. Engineers balance cut and fill to reduce haulage, calculate volumes in cubic metres and plan earthworks around the weather.

Example sentences

  1. Earthworks will stop for the winter because the clay gets too wet to compact.

  2. The earthworks contractor moved about 200,000 cubic metres of soil.

Common collocations

  • bulk earthworks
  • cut and fill
  • earthworks contractor
  • earthworks volumes
  • earthworks plant
  • excavationThe process of digging out and removing soil or rock to make space for foundations, basements, trenches or tunnels; also the hole that is dug.
  • compactionPressing soil or fill together, usually with rollers or plate compactors, to remove air, make it denser and stronger, and reduce later settlement.
  • backfillSoil or granular material placed back into an excavation around foundations, pipes or walls after they have been built; also the act of filling it.
  • excavatorA heavy machine with a long arm, a bucket and a rotating cab, used to dig soil, load trucks and lift or move material on site.
  • subgradeThe natural or prepared soil at the bottom of a road, on which all the pavement layers are built. Its strength largely decides how thick the pavement must be.

More terms: Site Work and Equipment

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