the first step in mining activities is rock excavation in both mine development and production. constant pressure for cost reduction and creating an improved/safe work environment for personnel has naturally resulted in increased use of mechanical excavation systems in many mining operations. also, mechanical excavation and mining is more compatible with automation, meaning possibility of reduc...

Rock abrasivity is an essential factor for selecting cutting tools, estimating tool wear and life, and ultimately, matching various mechanized excavation systems with a given geologic condition. It also assists engineers to determine economic limits of different cutting tools and machines used in civil and mining projects. The Cerchar abrasion test is a simple and most widely used method for ro...

* Corresponding author – [email protected] Tel: 414-229-4126 Fax:414-229-6958 ABSTRACT Understanding the fundamental tribology associated with the cutting of rock under extremely high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) conditions are extremely important in mining and drilling operations. In this paper, a rock fragmentation process is simulated during mechanical cutting of rock using an explicit...

Rock abrasiveness is ability of rock to wear down the working tool during the mutual interaction between the working indentor and the rock in the mechanical rock cutting process. The cutting indentor is worn down during the interaction, which changes its geometric dimensions causing the enlargement of a contact area between the tool and the rock surface. The changes in these dimensions conseque...

In the mining and civil engineering industries point-attack picks (conical picks) are extensively employed on mechanical excavators such as roadheaders, continuous miners and longwall shearers to cut relatively harder rocks/coals compared with radial picks. They are more durable than radial picks, and can economically cut intact rocks having up to around 120 MPa uniaxial compressive strength at...

The prediction of rock sawability is important in the cost estimation and the planning of the stone plants. An accurate estimation of rock sawability helps to make the planning of the rock sawing projects more efficient. Rock sawability depends on non-controlled parameters related to rock characteristics and controlled parameters related to properties of cutting tools and equipment. In the same...

The first step in mining activities is rock excavation in both mine development and production. Constant pressure for cost reduction and creating an improved/safe work environment for personnel has naturally resulted in increased use of mechanical excavation systems in many mining operations. Also, mechanical excavation and mining is more compatible with automation, meaning possibility of reduc...

Civil engineering projects have greatly benefited from the mechanical excavation of hard rock technology. Mining industry, on the other hand, is still searching for major breakthroughs to mechanize and then automate the winning of ore and drivage of access tunnels in its metalliferrous sector. The aim of this study is to extend the scope of drag bits for roadheaders in hard rock cutting. Variou...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are used for solving the intractable engineering problems. In this study, it is aimed to study the application of artificial bee colony algorithm for predicting the performance of circular diamond saw in sawing of hard rocks. For this purpose, varieties of fourteen types of hard rocks were cut in laboratory using a cutting rig at 5 mm depth of cut, 40 cm/...

Nowadays there is a large number of tunneling projects in progress, mainly in Europe, both for roads and transport supplies. Performance prediction of tunnel boring machines (TBM) and the determination of some design parameters have become crucial, as they are critical elements in planning a project of mechanical excavation. In this paper we use the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to build models...