Research on the Resistance of Cutting Mechanism of Mining Longitudinal Roadheader

In order to accurately obtain the dynamic characteristics of the cutting mechanism of the mining longitudinal roadheader,combined with the working principle of the mining longitudinal roadheader,the theoretical analysis and derivation are carried out in detail.By using ADAMS to simulate,the resistance curve and torque curve of the cutting mechanism in different directions are obtained.The results show that ADAMS can effectively predict the excavation resistance and torque of the cutting mechanism of mining longitudinal roadheader,which has certain reference value for future optimization design.

Prediction of roadheaders' performance using artificial neural network approaches (MLP and KOSFM)

A pplication o f m echanical excavators is one o f th e m o st com m only used excavation m eth o d s because itcan bring th e p ro ject m ore productivity, accuracy and safety. A m ong th e m echanical excavators, roadhead ers are m echanical m iners w h ich have b een extensively u se d in tu n n elin g , m ining an d civil indu stries. Perform ance pred ictio n is an im p o rta n t issue for successful ro a d h e a d e r application andgenerally deals w ith m achine selection, p ro d u ctio n rate an d b it consu m p tio n . The m ain aim o f thisresearch is to investigate th e c u ttin g p erfo rm an ce （in stan tan eo u s c u ttin g rates （ICRs）） o f m ed iu m -d u tyro ad h ead ers by using artificial neural n etw o rk （ANN） approach. T here are d ifferent categories forANNs, b u t based o n train in g alg o rith m th e re are tw o m ain k in d s： supervised and u n su p erv ised . Them u lti-lay er p ercep tro n （MLP） an d K ohonen self-organizing feature m ap （KSOFM） are th e m o st w idelyused neu ral netw o rk s for supervised an d u n su p erv ised ones, respectively. For gaining this goal, ad atab ase w as prim arily provided from ro ad h e a d e rs＇ p erfo rm an ce an d geom echanical characteristics o frock form ations in tu n n els and d rift galleries in Tabas coal m ine, th e larg est an d th e only fullymech an ized coal m ine in Iran. T hen th e datab ase w as analyzed in o rd e r to yield th e m ost im p o rtan tfactor for ICR by using relatively im p o rta n t factor in w hich G arson eq u atio n w as utilized. The MLPn etw o rk w as train ed by 3 in p u t p ara m e te rs including rock m ass pro p erties, rock quality d esignation（RQD）, in tact rock p ro p erties such as uniaxial com pressive stre n g th （UCS） an d Brazilian ten sile stren g th（BTS）, and o n e o u tp u t p a ra m e te r （ICR）. In o rd e r to have m ore v alidation o n MLP o u tp u ts, KSOFM visualizationw as applied. The m ean square e rro r （MSE） an d regression coefficient （R ） o f MLP w e re found tobe 5.49 an d 0.97, respectively. M oreover, KSOFM n etw o rk has a m ap size o f 8 x 5 and final qu an tizatio nan d topographic erro rs w e re 0.383 an d 0.032, respectively. The results show th a t MLP neural n etw orkshave a strong capability to p red ict an d ev alu ate th e perfo rm an ce o f m ed iu m -d u ty ro ad h ead ers in coalm easu re rocks. Furtherm ore, it is concluded th a t KSOFM neural n etw o rk is an efficient w ay for u n d e rstand in g system beh av io r an d know ledge extraction. Finally, it is indicated th a t UCS has m ore influenceo n ICR b y applying th e b e st train ed MLP n etw o rk w eig h ts in G arson eq u atio n w h ich is also confirm ed byKSOFM.

A new model to predict roadheader performance using rock mass properties

Prediction of roadheader performance plays a significant role in the plan of tunnel construction, which is influenced by different key parameters, including rock strength, discontinuity in rock mass, type and specifications of roadheader machine, and brittleness. The main aim of this study is to build a robust empirical equation based on rock mass properties for the roadheader performance prediction. For achieving the aim, a dataset composed of roadheader performance rate and rock properties is established using the dataset compiled from an underground coal mine located in a remote rugged desert environment some 85 km south of Tabas City in mid east Iran. By using gathered data, the statistical analyses are conducted between rock mass properties and roadheader performance to find whether there is a significant relationship between input variables and roadheader performance. The results show that rock mass properties have a considerable impact on the rate of the roadheader performance. It is demonstrated that the proposed model can accurately predict the roadheader performance as a function of rock mass properties.

Vibration Control on Roadheader with Horizontal Cutting Head of Electric-Control-Box

Analysis and measurements of the vibration on AM50 horizontal axis roadheader of electric-control-box was carried out, and the vibration characteristics were obtained. Based on the results, a new type of wire rope isolator was designed, whose characteristics were examined by experiments. The tests show that the wire rope isolator achieves satisfied results and can meet the requirements for the vibration control of the roadheader of electric-control-box.

Numerical simulation of optimum mining design for high stress hard-rock deposit based on inducing fracturing mechanism

The 3D numerical simulation model of deep hard-rock deposit in Kaiyang Phosphate Mine of Guiyang was established based on the practical engineering using 3DEC numerical simulation software. The distribution characteristics of displacement fields and plastic zones of the orebody were simulated in three different excavation cases, including the case of excavation artificial inducted roadway in the orebody, the case of horizontal or vertical excavation direction and the case of the upward or downward excavation order. The simulation results indicate that the plastic zone and displacement field of surrounding rock around the inducted roadway are continuously increasing with the increase of the exposure time after digging an artificial inducted roadway in the orebody. Thus the raw rock ore becomes easier to be fragmented, which provides advantageous conditions for roadheader to cut high stress hard-rock. It is worthy noting that there is a large difference in effective utilization of deep ground pressure between horizontal and vertical excavation directions. The later can produce larger deformation and fracture zone than the former on the rock mass around the deduced roadway, which means that the later may utilize the high ground pressure more effectively to break hard-rock. And the obtained results also show that upward excavation order is more helpful for ground pressure to break rock than downward excavation order.

Application and testing of a vertical angle control for a boom-type road header

Automatic profiling control using a boom-type roadheader requires an understanding of horizontal and vertical swing angles of the cutting boom. In this study the vertical angle of the cutting boom is discussed. First, a vertical swing detection model for the cutting boom is established. Then, a kinematic analysis of the vertical swing mechanism is made and formulae describing the geometrical relationship between the vertical swing of the cutting boom and the telescopic length of vertical hydraulic lift cylinders and vertical swing angle of the boom are presented. Various factors such as complexity of the calculation model, the difficulty of installing the sensor and the cost are compared for two methods. Finally, directly measuring the vertical swing angle of the cutting boom with a tilt sensor is decided to be the more simple and effective method. The detection sensitivity and the vertical cutting error of a tilt sensor are studied. Vibration tests on an EBZ160 roadheader were performed in a coal mine. The characteristic vibration frequencies are analyzed. A design of a vibration isolation mount for the tilt sensor is presented. It makes the detection device work more reliably under conditions where vibration is present and lays a foundation for the implementation of an automatic roadhead cutter. A tilt sensor is installed on an EBZ160 and an EBZ200, and experiments have been done in a coal mine. The re- suits show that the experimental result is favorable and achieves the goal of automatic control of the vertical swing of the cutting boom.

Evaluation of boring machine performance with special reference to geomechanical characteristics

The duration of tunneling projects mostly depends on the performance of boring machines. The performance of boring machines is a function of advance rate, which depends on the machine characterizations and geomechanical properties of rock mass. There were various theoretical and empirical models for estimating the advance rate. In this paper, after determining the geomechanical properties of rock mass encountered in the Isfahan metro tunnel, the performance of the roadheader and tunnel boring machine （TBM） were then evaluated using various models. The calculation results show that the average instantaneous cutting rate of the roadheader in sandstone and shale are 42.8 and 74.5 m^3/h respectively. However the actual values in practice are 34.2 and 51.3 m^3/h. The operational cutting rate of the roadheader in sandstone and shale are 8.2 and 9.7 m^3/h respectively, but the actual values are 6.5 and 6.7 m^3/h. The penetration rate of the TBM in shale is predicted to be 50-60 mm/round.