Category Archives: Design

Here you will find articles on Haul Road Design.

Integrated Approach to Mine Haul Road Design and Management

The operating performance of a mine haul road can be subdivided into four distinct design components, and when designing and constructing a haul road for optimal performance, these design components are best addressed using an integrated approach. If one design component is deficient, the other components may not work to their maximum potential and road performance is often compromised. This will most often be seen as ‘maintenance intensive’ or high rolling resistance roads, translating to increased equipment operating, downtime and repair costs. The cure, however, is not necessarily just ‘more frequent maintenance’; no amount of maintenance will fix a poorly-designed road.

For further details, see the book:

Mining Haul Roads: Theory and Practice
1st Edition
Roger Thompson, Rodrigo Peroni, Alex T. Visser

CRC Press
Published December 11, 2018
Reference – 294 Pages
ISBN 9781138589629
CAT# K386669

More general details of the approach are available here as a slideshow.

Benchmarking Haul Road Design and Operation

Structural strength evaluation as part of design benchmarking exercise

In order to make informed mine haul road maintenance decisions, some basis of comparison should be established with which to compare segments of road across the network.  This comparison is based on haul road functional ‘defects’ (failures) and since it is possible to equate some functional defects with rolling resistance – hence the condition of a road has a direct effect on rolling resistance.

The rolling resistance of a haul road is primarily related to the wearing course material used, its engineering properties, and the traffic speed and volume on the road. These dictate, to a large degree, the rate of increase in rolling resistance. Ideally, road rolling resistance should not increase rapidly – which implies that those road defects (roughness defects) leading to rolling resistance should also be minimized.  This can be achieved through careful selection of the wearing course or sheeting material, which will minimize, but not totally eliminate, rolling resistance increases over time (or traffic volume).

For further details, see the book:

Mining Haul Roads: Theory and Practice
1st Edition
Roger Thompson, Rodrigo Peroni, Alex T. Visser

CRC Press
Published December 11, 2018
Reference – 294 Pages
ISBN 9781138589629
CAT# K386669

Further technical background is available here and a typical extract from a benchmarking study here.

Functional Design – Sheeting and Dust Palliation

The functional trafficability of the haul road is as important as the structural strength of the design. This is dictated to a large degree through the selection, application and maintenance of the wearing course, sheeting (or road surfacing) materials.

Poor functional performance is manifest as poor ride quality, excessive dust, increased tyre wear and damage, and an accompanying loss of productivity due to rolling resistance increase associated with surface deterioration (or ‘defects’). The result of these effects is seen as an increase in overall vehicle operating and maintenance costs.

For further details, see the book:

Mining Haul Roads: Theory and Practice
1st Edition
Roger Thompson, Rodrigo Peroni, Alex T. Visser

CRC Press
Published December 11, 2018
Reference – 294 Pages
ISBN 9781138589629
CAT# K386669

Click here for additional references on wearing course selection and on dust palliation/stabilisation selection and management.

Structural Design

Haul road structural design concerns the ability of the road to carry the imposed loads without the need for excessive maintenance or rehabilitation.  Haul roads deteriorate with time due to the interactive effect of traffic load and specific sub-grade (in-situ) material strengths and structural thicknesses.

The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) structural design method has been widely applied to the design of mine haul roads in which untreated materials are used.  However, when multi-layered roads are considered in conjunction with a base layer of selected blasted waste rock, a mechanistic approach is more often appropriate.

Haul Road Structural Design: typical wheel layout of haul trucks
Although each wheel of the haul truck carries about the same load, the adjacent rear wheels combine to give the critical design loading.

For further details, see the book:

Mining Haul Roads: Theory and Practice
1st Edition
Roger Thompson, Rodrigo Peroni, Alex T. Visser

CRC Press
Published December 11, 2018
Reference – 294 Pages
ISBN 9781138589629
CAT# K386669

CIRCLY 7.0 software fully automates mechanistic design of unpaved mine haul road pavements trafficked by heavy mine vehicles and dump trucks etc.
See these pages for an overview of the CIRCLY 7.0 Haul Road Pavement Design Feature.

Additional references are here.

 

References: Functional Design of Mine Haul Roads

These references cover functional design of mine haul roads.

Atkinson, T. and Walton, G. 1983 Design and Layout of Haul Roads for Surface Mines. Surface Mining and Quarrying – Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Surface Mining Symposium. Bristol. pp 139-149

Collins, J. L. Fytas, K. and Singhal, R. K. 1986. Design, Construction and Maintenance of Surface Mine Haulage Roads. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Geotechnical Stability in Surface Mining, Calgary, Alberta. Pp 39-49

Giummarra, G.J. Foley, G. and Cropley, S. 1996. Road Dust Control Techniques. Evaluation of Chemical Dust Suppressants Performance. ARRB Transport Research Special Report 54

Jones, D. and Paige-Green, P. 1996. The Development of Performance Related Material Specifications and the Role of Dust Palliatives in the Upgrading of Paved Roads. Proceedings of Roads 96, vol. 3. ARRB. Pp199-212

Kaufman, W.W. and Ault, J.C. 1977. The design of surface mine haul roads a manual. USDOI Information circular 8758.

Mc Innes, D.B. 1982. The selection of gravels for use on unsealed access roads. Australian IMM conference on off-highway truck haulage, Mt Newman, Australia.

Taylor, P.F. and Hurry, P.A. 1986. Design, Construction and Maintenance of Haul Roads. The Planning and Operation of Open-Pit and Strip Mines. Ed Deetlefs, J.P., SAIMM. pp 139-149

Thompson, R.J. 1996. The design and maintenance of surface mine haul roads. PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Thompson, R.J. and Visser, A.T. 2000. The functional design of surface mine haul roads. Jnl. of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 100:3, May/June, pp169-180.

Thompson, R.J. and Visser, A.T. 2000. The reduction of the safety and health risk associated with the generation of dust on strip coal mine haul roads. Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee, Collieries Sub-committee Final Report. Project COL 467, Pretoria, South Africa.

Thompson, R.J and Visser, A.T. 2002. Benchmarking and managing surface mine haul road dust emissions. Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (UK), Section A, 113.

Thompson R.J. and Visser A.T. 2006. Selection and maintenance of mine haul road wearing course materials. Trans(A) (Mining Technology) Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Materials (IMMM). 115:4, pp140-153

References: Structural Design of Mine Haul Roads

These references cover structural design of mine haul roads.

AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. 1982. AASHTO Materials, Part 1, Specifications. Washington, DC., USA.

ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials). 1998. In Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Sec 4, Vol 04.08, West Conshohocken, PA., USA: ASTM International.

Atkinson, T. and Walton, G. 1983 Design and Layout of Haul Roads for Surface Mines. Surface Mining and Quarrying – Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Surface Mining Symposium. Bristol. pp 139-149

AUSTROADS. 2009. Review of Relationship to Predict Subgrade Modulus From CBR. National Association of Road Transport and Transport Authorities of Australia, AUSTROADS Publication AP-T130/09, Sydney, NSW., Australia.

Boyd, W.K. and Foster, C.R. 1950. Design curves for very heavy multiple wheel assemblies. In Development of CBR Flexible Pavement Design Methods For Airfields. Symp. Trans. ASCE, v115, paper 2406, pp534-546.

Collins, J. L. Fytas, K. and Singhal, R. K. 1986. Design, Construction and Maintenance of Surface Mine Haulage Roads. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Geotechnical Stability in Surface Mining, Calgary, Alberta. Pp 39-49

CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research). 2001. MePADS pavement analysis and design software, version 1.1, CSIR Transportek, Pretoria, South Africa. http://asphalt.csir.co.za/samdm/. Accessed 26/10/2010.

FHWA. 1985. ELSYM5A: Interactive version 5A users guide. FHWA, US Dept of Transportation.

Kaufman, W.W. and Ault, J.C. 1977. The design of surface mine haul roads a manual. USDOI Information circular 8758.

Mincad Systems. 2015. CIRCLY 7.0. Mincad Systems Pty Ltd, Richmond, Vic., Australia.

Morgan, J.R., Tucker, J.S. and McInnes, D.B. 1994. A mechanistic design approach for unsealed mine haul roads. Pavement Design and Performance in Road Construction 1412:69-81.

Morgan, J. R. Tucker, J. S. and McInnes, D. B. 1994. Mechanistic Design Approach for Unsealed Mine Haul Roads. Proceedings of the 17th ARRB. Conference. Part 2 (of 7). ARRB. pp 69-81

References: General Concepts in Mine Haulage and Road Design

These references cover general issues related to mine haul road design.

CATERPILLAR. 2009. A Reference Guide to Mining Machine Applications. Field Guide. AEXQ0030-02. Peoria, Ill., USA.

Gilewicz, P. 2001. What Goes Where: Application of large trucks in major mineral markets. World Mining Equipment. 25:8.

Gilewicz, P. 2006. The market for large mining trucks & loading equipment: What’s happened & what’s ahead. CD-ROM. Mining Media Haulage and Loading Conference, Phoenix, Az., USA, May 24-26.

Lay, M.G. 1998. Handbook of Road Technology Volume 1 Planning and Pavements. 3rd Ed. Gordon and Beach Science Publishers.

Minerals Council of Australia (MCA). Mobile equipment incident causation survey (MEICS) 2005-2006 survey findings and recommendation. Available at http://www.minerals.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/18896/_hoilquipmnninuionurvy5_6.pdf

MineMap, 2008. www.minemap.com.au/express.php. Accessed March 2011

Nebot, EM. 2007. Surface mining: main research issues for autonomous operations. Robotics Research, STAR publication No. 28, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, pp268-280.

Parreira, J and Meech, J. 2010. Autonomous vs manual haulage trucks – how mine simulation contributes to future haulage system developments. CIM Meeting 2010, Vancouver-BC, Canada.

Pukkila, J and Sarkka, P. 2000. Intelligent mine technology program and its implementation. Proc. Massmin 2000, Brisbane, Australia.

Thompson, RJ. 2011. Mine Road Design and Management In Autonomous Hauling Operations: A Research Roadmap. AUSIMM FutureMine Conference 2011, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Thompson, RJ. 2011. Building better haul roads. Engineering and Mining Journal, Mining Media International, June 2011, pp48-53.

Thompson, RJ. 2011. Design, construction and management of haul roads. In: SME Mining Engineering Handbook. Ed. Darling. Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, INC (SME), Lyttelton, Co. USA., pp957-976

Yoder, EJ. and Witczak, MW. 1975. Principles of Pavement Design. John Wiley & Sons Inc.,USA.