Basics of Building a Truck and Loader Fleet

©Dr. B. C. Paul 2000, revised 2008,2009Note- General steps and methodologies found in these slides roughly

follow material found in Surface Mining manuals by SME and literature published by Caterpillar Equipment Co.

This presentation includes screen shots from the FPC program compiled by Caterpillar Equipment Company.

Materials Handling Alternatives

Most surface mining will require material to be removed from a hole in the ground and be taken somewhere• Conveyor Belts• Railroads• Aerial trams• Slurry Lines

The Fixed Infrastructure Problem

All those named alternatives need fixed loading points• But mining faces move• Need some way of feeding from face to load

point Mobile Alternatives

• Dozers – very short range• Scrapers – only good for soft material• Trucks and Loaders – ultimate in flexible

haulage

Learning How Do Design a Truck and Loader Fleet

30 years ago would have been all manual methods

Today have computer aided versions of same manual methods

Also have versions that consider event probabilities

Full computer simulation

Class Approach

• I will build it around an example taken from an old class exam

• We will solve the problem using FPC, a program by Caterpillar Equipment

• The program is a computer implementation of manual methods – not a full simulation (may get some in 435)

• I will illustrate a few manual alternatives• Of course decision making criteria can’t be just a

computer

My Case Study

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the President of Iran) is planning a large oil shale operation handling 70,000,000 tons of oil shale each year. While it may seem strange for a country with large conventional oil resources to pursue a more expensive source of oil such as oil shale President Ahmadinejad knows that about 5% of the oil shale is also high in uranium and he plans to divert the trucks carrying this uranium ore (disguised as oil shale) to a secret plant in the desert that will process the uranium to peaceful weapons grade for use in sacred peace heads on intermediate range missles that will allow President Ahmadinejad to share the warmth of his love with the Jews in Israel while helping them to return to their God.

The Mine

The mine itself is a strip mine with the oil shale being extracted from 3 benches, each 30 feet high and 100 feet wide (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that Allah revealed that he should use the measurement units of the Great Satan in the spirit of international brotherhood). When the oil shale is blasted in preparation for loading, the bench is not collapsed and material is dug from the face of the bench. The material is considered to be well blasted. (If there is one thing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knows how to do it is blow things up – ok , he’s not bad a rigging elections or killing protesters in secret jails either). At the bottom of the third bench the oil shale is on a very wet, slimey sinky underclay that is impossible for anything to maneuver on without becoming mired in. Because of these conditions, none of the haul roads entered into FPC allow the truck to drive across the terrain at the bottom of bench 3 since the very high rolling resistance and low coefficient of friction will always cause the truck to become stuck. Thus trucks getting material from the 3rd bench will have to be loaded while they sit on the top of the bench, not at the bottom of the bench.

The Route

Mine to Oil Shale Plant• About 17,000 feet one way from the

mine (little over 3 miles) Mine to Secret Uranium Plant

• Also about 17,000 feet but about 2,000 feet are across open sand dunes• Have to keep things a secret so can’t

build a road

Lets Start Out With Our Software

(Caterpillar’s FPC)

Starting FPC

Of course can alsoBe done from aDesktop icon

After a Picture of a Truck We Get the Initial Screen

Highlight File and Pull Down the Menu

Pick New(for NewProject)

FPC Opens With the Project Tab Active

I start out entering a1- Job Name2- Job Description3- Prepared For4- Prepared By5- Study Date

I Must Pick My Unit and Display Standards

Pick Metric orEnglish Units with aRadio Button

Pick productionTargets measured inWeight or volume

Pick Decimal Format

Pick Currency

Pick Project Specific Information

Enter Your Fuel CostFor Diesel

Enter Your PlanningTime unit

Enter Your NumberOf hours per planningunit

And We Enter Our Project

Project Planning

First Step is to develop a general vision for the project• I’m going to load material at a mine• Truck it to one of two destinations

I’ll have 3 mile hauls• Its going to be hot• 70,000,000 tons is a lot of material

• Big trucks and long hours will reduce the number of trucks I have running around

• Probably can’t use lights on a secret route at night

Operating Hours

Start with 365 days per year• But what about Holidays, and weekends• In U.S. may actually have a miners vacation block at

some coal operations• 52 weeks per year

• Lots of holy days in Iran• Lets do 42 weeks of 6 day weeks• 252 days

• Now my can’t run at night• Lets do 11 hour days (8, 10 or 12 hour shifts would be

more common in US) I want as many hours as I can likely get in the winter

• 2772 hours per year

Enter My Adjusted Hours

Need to Pick Realistic Equipment to Try

My Trucks should be compatible with the material, the haul, and my pit geometry• Lets consider trucks