Road roller Uses on a road: Start-to-finish

Road roller use the weight of the vehicle to compress the surface being rolled (static) or use mechanical advantage (vibrating). Initial compaction of the substrate on a road project is done using a padfoot drum roller, which achieves higher compaction density due to the pads having less surface area. On large freeways a four wheel compactor with padfoot drum and a blade, such as a Caterpillar 815/825 series machine, would be used due to its high weight, speed and the powerful pushing force to spread bulk material. On regional roads a smaller single padfoot drum machine may be used. The next machine is usually a single smooth drum compactor that compacts the high spots down until the soil is smooth, and this is usually done in combination with a motor grader to get a level surface. Sometimes at this stage a pneumatic tyre roller would be used. These rollers feature two rows (front and back) of pneumatic tyres that overlap, and the flexibility of the tyres provides a kneading action that seals the surface and with some vertical movement of the wheels, enables the roller to operate effectively on uneven ground. Once the soil base is flat the pad drum compactor is no longer used on the road surface. The next course (road base) would be compacted using a smooth single drum, smooth tandem roller or pneumatic tyre roller in combination with a grader, and a water truck to achieve the desired flat surface with the right moisture content for optimum compaction. Once the road base is compacted, the smooth single drum compactor is no longer used on the road surface (There is however an exception, if the single drum has special flat-wide-base tyres on the machine). The final wear course of asphalt concrete (a.k.a. asphalt or blacktop in North America, or macadam in England) is laid using a paver and compacted using a tandem smooth drum roller, a three-point roller or a pneumatic tyre roller. Three point rollers on asphalt were very common once and are still used, but tandem vibrating rollers are the usual choice now, with the pneumatic tyre roller’s kneading action being the last roller to seal off the surface.
Rollers are also used in landfill compaction. Such compactors typically have padfoot or “sheep’s-foot” drums, and do not achieve a smooth surface. The pads aid in compression, due to the smaller area contacting the ground.