A study on factors affecting the wear of steel track undercarriage

PurposeReducing wear of undercarriage track propulsion systems used in heavy construction equipment decreases the maintenance costs and increases the equipment's life. Therefore, understanding key factors that affect the wear rate is critical. This study is an attempt to predict undercarriage w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of quality in maintenance engineering Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 622 - 639
Main Authors Rich, Frederick A., Shahhosseini, A. Mehran, Badar, M. Affan, Kluse, Christopher J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 18.07.2023
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Subjects
Construction companies
Construction equipment
Construction industry
Heavy construction
Maintenance costs
OEM
Preventive maintenance
Propulsion systems
Regression models
Repair & maintenance
Sand
Soils
Steel
Undercarriages
Wear rate
North Carolina
United States > US
Undercarriage track propulsion system
Heavy construction equipment
Maintenance
Wear rate
Sand percentage in soil
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Summary:PurposeReducing wear of undercarriage track propulsion systems used in heavy construction equipment decreases the maintenance costs and increases the equipment's life. Therefore, understanding key factors that affect the wear rate is critical. This study is an attempt to predict undercarriage wear.Design/methodology/approachThis research analyzes a sample of track-type dozers in the eastern half of North Carolina (NC), USA. Sand percentage in the soil, precipitation level, temperature, machine model, machine weight, elevation above sea level and work type code are considered as factors influencing the wear rate. Data are comprised of 353 machines. Machine model and work code data are categorical. Sand percentage, elevation, machine weight, average temperature and average precipitation are continuous. ANOVA is used to test the hypothesis.FindingsThe study found that only sand percentage has a significant impact on the wear rate. Consequently, a regression model is developed.Research limitations/implicationsThe regression model can be used to predict undercarriage wear and bushing life in soils with different sand percentages. This is demonstrated using a hypothetical scenario for a construction company.Originality/valueThis work is useful in managing maintenance intervals of undercarriage tracks and in bidding construction jobs while predicting machine operating expense for each specific job site soil makeup.
ISSN:1355-2511
1758-7832
DOI:10.1108/JQME-10-2021-0081