In any construction project, compaction is an essential part of ensuring your foundation is strong and stable. Road rollers are an indispensible piece of construction equipment designed to compact materials like soil, asphalt, and gravel to provide a strong foundation. The size of the project determines the size of the roller you need, and the can vary from the size of a car to a machine as large as a house. The key is having the right roller for the right application on your job site. There are many different types of rollers, and understanding what’s on the market is key to your success in selecting the best roller for the job.
Rollers come in different shapes, sizes, and mechanisms, each tailored to specific types of soil, materials, and project sizes. From vibratory rollers to pneumatic tyre rollers, each type of roller has distinct advantages that can make a significant difference in the compaction process. Understanding the characteristics and uses of different types of road rollers will guide you in choosing the right equipment for your construction needs, ensuring the best results and long-lasting structures.
You now have a basic understanding of the various types of rollers. Let’s dive in a little deeper and discuss each type, which one is typically better for a specific application, and what you need to look for when you
buy.
What Are the Different Types of Rollers for Construction Projects?
There are many types of rollers used in construction, and each one is better suited to certain tasks depending on the material you need to compact, the size of the project, and the results you want to achieve. Here are some of the most common types of rollers you may use on your job site:
Vibratory Rollers
Vibratory rollers are used in large construction projects when you need to handle granular soil and other loose materials. The key feature of a vibratory roller is the vibration system which creates a series of quick movements— or oscillations—to compact the soil or asphalt. These vibrations help remove air pockets in the material, which results in denser, more stable compaction. Vibratory rollers come in both single and double drum versions. You can choose a double drum vibratory roller for larger jobs where it provides more performance.
Vibratory rollers are ideal for road construction, parking lot building, and other heavy-duty tasks. Their fast compaction rates make them highly efficient for large projects that require quick turnaround times. These rollers are effective for granular materials like sand, gravel, and crushed stone, and they can also be used on some types of asphalt.
Pneumatic Tyre Rollers
A pneumatic roller uses wide rubber tires to apply uniform pressure over the compaction area. These rollers are best suited for compacting asphalt because the rubber tires leave a smooth, tight finish. The pneumatic tire roller is equipped with multiple tires. These tires help distribute the weight, which ensures the roller doesn’t apply too much force and damage the surface.
Pneumatic tire rollers are used all the time on projects like roadways, airport runways, parking lots, or other areas where you need a smooth, compact surface. These rollers are also critical because they do the best job reducing air voids in the asphalt when it’s laid down making it an essential tool on any paving project. The weight and the flexibility of the tires mean you can use them to effectively compact your semi-cohesive soils as well.
Steel Wheel Rollers
They’re called static rollers because they don’t have any vibration. They rely on the weight of the steel wheels to compress whatever is under them. They’re ideal for your tough, dense materials like clay, and the really heavy cohesive soils that just won’t go down any other way. You don’t use steel wheel rollers for asphalt, as they don’t provide the smooth finish you need for pavement. Instead, you use them for laying down heavy materials that don’t have any voids or holes to fill like granular materials.
They’re perfect for getting the site ready for anything in heavy construction projects. The steel wheels are great for everything from rolling out the sand, then the gravel, then the clay, then the sand, and then the gravel again. You use them for sub-base and base course compaction when you’re building a road.
Padfoot Rollers
Instead of the flat wheels, they have a drum with pads all over it that look like feet. Those feet dig into the earth and help with compaction, especially with materials like clay. You use padfoot rollers for compacting the ground to build an embankment, a dam, or anything where you have to compact cohesive materials.
Using a padfoot roller is how you make sure the ground under your feet is solid no matter what you build. The compaction you get from a padfoot roller also makes sure nothing settles in the future, and that is critical when you’re doing a project that costs hundreds of millions of dollars. Padfoot rollers are used in highway construction, shopping mall construction, and any big civil engineering project where people are going to travel, shop, or live on the soft ground.
How Do You Choose the Right Type of Roller for Your Construction Project?
Choosing the right roller is critical for the success of your project. Various factors will determine which type of roller is best suited for your construction needs. Here are some key factors to consider when making your decision:
Soil Type and Condition
Soil matters. The type of soil or material you are working with strongly determines which roller you should use. If your project involves granular materials like sand and gravel, a vibratory roller may be the best tool because it compacts those materials very well.
On the contrary, if you’re dealing with cohesive soils like clay, a padfoot roller or steel wheel roller might be the best choice because they impart much deeper compaction forces. For asphalt, the proper roller is a pneumatic tyre roller to smooth and densify it all. Different soils require different compaction methodologies, so always think of the soil you are working with before selecting your roller
Project Size and Scope
immense compaction speed and efficiency, which allows you to compact a lot of area quickly. If you’re doing small, more residential projects like driveways or some other construction where you need more control, a steel wheel roller or a pneumatic tyre roller are often a better choice than vibratory rollers, since you can control them more and have more options on smaller projects.
Required Compaction Force
The material type that you’re working with is also a factor. Denser, heavier materials like clay will require a steel wheel roller or padfoot roller that can deliver more compaction force. If you’re working with a lighter material like gravel, a vibratory roller will suffice because it compacts the material faster and more efficiently.
Budget and Equipment Availability
The price of used road rollers can vary greatly based on the brand, age, and condition of the machine. If you need high-quality equipment for a long duration, it is best to buy a new roller. However, if you only need the roller temporarily, you will usually rent it or buy a used road roller and save some money. Also note that the types of rollers available will greatly affect price, so keep that in mind accordingly when budgeting for your project.
What Are the Benefits of Using a Vibratory Roller in Construction Projects?
Vibratory rollers are one of the most popular and effective construction rollers. They use vibration to compact the materials, making them a great fit for a lot of the larger construction projects. Let’s look at some of the benefits with these rollers.
Increased Efficiency and Speed
The big thing for a vibratory roller is you can compact a lot more area faster than with a static roller because you’re using the combination of the weight of the machine and vibrations which speeds up the compaction process.
Better Compaction Density
Using a vibratory roller on granular materials like sand, gravel, or crushed stone is really effective because you’re able to use that high-frequency vibration to essentially shake the air pockets out of the material. That creates a much more dense and solid foundation for whatever your project is.
Cost-Effective for Large-Scale Projects
For something like a highway, an airport tarmac or runway, or a very large parking lot, you’re going to backfill with some sort of soil or maybe crushed concrete. To save yourself a heck of a lot of time, use vibratory pads or rollers. These rollers can take this material and compact a lot of material fairly quickly, again, saving time and labor costs. If you’re in one of those positions where time is a huge factor, the cost of one of these vibratory rollers can save you a lot of time and make life a lot less stressful.
Versatility Across Different Soil Types
So, if you’re compacting down some dirt, sand, fine crushed rock, or heavy gravel, use a vibratory roller. You don’t want high vibration compaction on something like clay or shale. However, it’s surprising how many different materials you can actually compact with a vibratory roller. Some types of asphalt are also well compacted using these vibratory rollers. Maybe not all types, but some types of materials if you have to do a few different things and you want to try and get away with the least amount of equipment, are well suited for vibratory rollers.
How Does a Pneumatic Tyre Roller Work, and When Is It Most Effective?
The pneumatic tyre roller actually has a series of rubber tires that provide the compactive force across the width, which usually spreads the width out to the full width of your paving. These rollers are great, but there are some cautions to using them. When are they ideal, and when should you not use them? Let’s take a look.
Smooth, Uniform Compaction
The beauty of the pneumatic roller is that the rubber tires spread the weight uniformly across a wide area and compact the mat very evenly. The pneumatic roller is great for asphalt for that reason — you get a very smooth, tightly compacted surface compared to what might happen with a steel wheel roller or with a vibratory roller . With all that said, the pneumatic roller is a great choice. The weight is spread out, and the material gets compacted very evenly. You’ve got a nice, tight profile and you didn’t do anything to harm the surface of the mat that you just put down.
Ideal for Asphalt and Semi-Cohesive Soils
Pneumatic tyred rollers are the roller of choice for the final asphalt compaction on road building and airport runway projects. The pneumatic tire roller with its tires gives you a nice, smooth, even finish across the whole surface. And at the same time, you’re compacting the asphalt to the density it needs to be compacted to. This roller shines when it comes to asphalt! Then, you drop down into the heavy gravel, and the semi-cohesive soils where you need a moderate amount of compactive force, and the pneumatic tire roller can cut across those areas very quickly and perform an outstanding job. It’s definitely the roller that’s seen the most in road construction and airport construction projects.
Ability to Reduce Air Voids in Asphalt
A great aspect of the pneumatic tire roller is that it squeezes the air out of the top of that asphalt mat. It closes up any voids inside there. That’s what you want. You want the asphalt to be densified, packed down tight and hard. This ensures that it can bear loads over a long period of time and is weather resistant. Bottom line? You don’t want a lot of air in the blacktop, because that’ll lead to problems like raveling, cracking, and letting the water infiltrate the surface — which is the death knell for blacktop!
Control Over Compaction Pressure
From a control standpoint, the best thing about the pneumatic tire roller is that you can adjust the pressure put on the mat by increasing or decreasing the air pressure in the tires. This allows you more flexibility as an operator than with any of the other rollers. Remember, you want to be able to dial-in just the right amount of compaction force you need for the type of material you’re compacting. With the pneumatic tire roller, you can fine-tune your compaction effort to the exact needs of your project.
Less Disturbance to the Material
The final reason the pneumatic tire roller is a fantastic choice for asphalt is that it applies pressure uniformly across the mat. It doesn’t pound the asphalt down like a vibrator or even a steel wheel roller. Even with the pneumatic tire roller, the goal is to apply the pressure very gently and gradually, all the way across the mat. As a result, less disturbance is caused to the material with a pneumatic tire roller than you would find with a steel wheel roller or certainly with a vibrator. This is especially beneficial when you’re working with materials that are prone to being disturbed or shifted because the tire roller tends to keep everything in place.
What Is the Difference Between a Steel Wheel Roller and a Vibratory Roller?
Mechanism of Action
The big difference between a steel wheel roller and a vibratory roller is how they compact the material. The steel wheel roller is using its weight to give compaction. The steel drum is creating a lot of down force which makes it efficient in cohesive soils like clay. The vibratory roller is also using its weight to compact the material, but it has vibration in addition to its weight. What happen is the vibration is allowing the roller to penetrate the material more readily, which gives you a denser compaction. The vibratory roller is excellent for granular soils, such as sand, gravel, and crushed stone because the vibration will increase the level of compaction achieved.
Best Use Cases
Steel wheel rollers are best suited for cohesive soils which require a lot of pressure to get the material to compact. Also, if you have something in place where you need to finish the surface after it’s already been compacted, a steel wheel roller is the way to go. Vibratory rollers are best suited for granular soil and aggregates, as well as any asphalt build or asphalt compaction needed. Every highway department has several vibratory rollers. They are very efficient and fast, and they are exceptional for airport runways, new construction, and road construction—just about anything that requires a lot of compaction at a very high performance level.
Efficiency and Speed
Vibratory rollers are usually more efficient because of the vibrations they put into the material and their higher speed. If you have a vibrating drum, you can go much faster with it and do larger areas. Usually, they will be faster because you can’t go very fast with a steel wheel roller. If you have used a steel drum on a job before, you know it’s way slower. You can get the same compaction, but you’ve got to go over it many more times than you would with a vibratory roller because you don’t have the vibration helping you out.
Compaction Quality
While both steel wheel rollers and vibratory rollers provide excellent compaction results, vibratory rollers generally achieve a higher compaction density, especially in granular materials. The vibration helps eliminate air pockets and voids, leading to a denser, more stable surface.
What Should You Consider Before Renting or Buying a Road Roller?
Project Duration
The times that you’re going to need a piece of equipment and the time you will use it make a big difference. For example, if you’re working on a four-month project that you expect to take up to a year, it may be more cost-effective to buy a piece of equipment rather than renting. If you need a system in the next couple of days, the easiest and cheapest thing to do is rent in almost all cases.
Machine Condition and Maintenance
Be cautious and make sure everything is in good working order and that you’re not buying a piece of equipment that’s only going to last a few months. Get a few quotes for the replacement value of any of the moving parts on the piece of equipment you are purchasing so you’ll have a ballpark figure of what you’re getting for that particular price.
Summary
The key to picking the right roller is choosing the right one for the project your company is working on. Whether that’s a vibratory roller, a pneumatic tire roller, or a steel wheel roller, each has its applications when working with different materials and project specifics. Understanding the different types of rollers, which factors to consider before choosing, and the costs when purchasing a used road roller will help you make the correct decision for your next project.
