Dynamic Simulation of Cable Shovel Specific Energy in Oil Sands Excavation

Abstract

Oil sand excavation requires the use cable shovels which constitute one of the major costs in surface mining operations. Random occurrences of shales and limestones within the Athabasca oil sands formation result in varying shovel diggability and stress loading of the boom-crowd-dipper-teeth assembly which reduces digging efficiency. This inefficient use of cable shovels negatively affects the return on capital investment in these otherwise effective machines. In the Athabasca oil sands, varying stress loading has the potential to increase shovel downtime and increase maintenance costs. This paper presented a newly developed cable shovel simulator that uses shovel kinematics and dynamics, dynamic cutting resistance and payload models. It can model the specific energy needed to overcome the resistance to machine motion and material digging. The comprehensive model considers both machine motion and machine-formation interaction forces. It also provides a comprehensive theoretical assessment of shovel performance. The model is useful to mining engineers when examining both the machine operating parameters and material parameters that influence shovel performance. The study showed that bulk density is the most important material property influencing diggability. Operator preferences also influence the specific energy of excavation.

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Bucket Wheel Excavators; Cost Efficiency; Dynamic Loads; Mining Equipment; Oil Sand Mining; Oil Shales and Tar Sands

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2005 Reading Matrix, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jul 2005

Link to Full Text

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