Dynapac

Bauma was a success of great magnitude for Dynapac and launched at Bauma was Seismic: Dynapac’s patent pending compaction technology soon to be implemented on the CA 1500-6500 machines. Seismic is as complex as it is simple. Andreas Persson, one of the key individuals behind Seismic compaction, took some time out of his busy schedule to explain what Seismic is, what it does and how it was created.

When applying the old-school concept and theory of compaction, one considers the interaction of two elements: the properties of the drum and the properties of the ground. These two elements are separate from each other and interact to create the compaction properties. Andreas noticed, after watching his daughter jumping on her trampoline that she jumped much higher when she landed on the upswing of the trampoline. She gained a maximum height, with the least amount of effort, when she jumped in phase. She was taking advantage of the natural frequency in the system. Andreas thought: What if we could get the drum of the machine to find ground’s properties and use the natural frequency in the drum-soil system there as well? Is it possible to get the drum and ground to work together as one system, instead of the traditional two-system theory? This new thought is what lead to the revolutionary Seismic.

In order for Seismic compaction to be achieved, two specific conditions must be met: 

1. Machine has to be able to read the stiffness properties of the ground in order to interact with it.
   Once these values can be determined, the optimal frequency can be calculated. 
2. Once the optimal frequency is calculated, the machine has to automatically adjust
   its frequency adapt to the varying ground properties at all times, as these change.    

The development of a special sensor and the improvement of the existing compaction meter on the drum make this technically possible.
The advantages of Seismic are many. By working in sync with the ground’s natural properties, the machine’s compaction performance is maximized and less energy is required to achieve the same compaction results.

As a result of the optimized frequency settings, Seismic provides many advantages:
-  it reduces fuel consumption
-  it reduces the environmental impact
-  the emitted noise levels are lowered
-  the risk for harmful bouncing is significantly reduced

Thanks to Seismic, the same quality of compaction can, in most cases, be achieved with a reduced number of passes. This means a savings in time, a reduction of costs and less wear and tear on our machines. 

What started with an observation on a trampoline has turned into a Dynapac innovation of great magnitude. Seismic is turning the heads of our customers and our competitors.