OPEN-PIT TRUCK/SHOVEL HAULAGE SYSTEM SIMULATION …

1 OPEN-PIT TRUCK/SHOVEL HAULAGE SYSTEM SIMULATION A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSTITY BY NECMETTIN ETIN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING SEPTEMBER 2004 Approval of the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof.

2 Dr. Canan zgen Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. mit Atalay Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adeqaute, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

3 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Levent Kandiller Prof. Dr. Naci B l kba Co-Supervisor Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Abdurrahim zgeno lu (Chairman, At l m Univ.) Prof. Dr. Naci B l kba (METU, Mining) Prof. Dr. Tevfik G yag ler (METU, Mining) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Levent Kandiller (METU, Ind. Eng) Assist. Prof. Dr. E. Mustafa Eyy poglu ( ankaya Univ.) iii I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct.

4 I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Necmettin etin iv ABSTRACT OPEN PIT truck /SHOVEL HAULAGE SYSTEM SIMULATION etin, Necmettin , Department of Mining Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Naci B l kba Co-Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Levent Kandiller September 2004, 116 pages This thesis is aimed at studying the open pit truck - shovel HAULAGE systems using computer SIMULATION approach.

5 The main goal of the study is to enhance the analysis and comparison of heuristic truck dispatching policies currently available and search for an adaptive rule applicable to open pit mines. For this purpose, a stochastic truck dispatching and production SIMULATION program is developed for a medium size open pit mine consisting of several production faces and a single dump site using GPSS/H software. Eight basic rules are modeled in separate program files. The program considers all components of truck cycle and normal distribution is used to model all these variables.

6 The program asks the user to enter the number of trucks initially assigned to each shovel site. Full-factorial SIMULATION experiments are made to investigate the effects of several factors including the dispatching rules, the number of trucks operating, the vnumber of shovels operating, the variability in truck loading, hauling and return times, the distance between shovels and dump site, and availability of shovel and truck resources. The breakdown of shovel and trucks are modeled using exponential distribution.

7 Three performance measures are selected as truck production, overall shovel utilization and overall truck utilizations. Statistical analysis of the SIMULATION experiments is done using ANOVA method with Minitab software. Regression analysis gives coefficient of determination values, R2, of %, %, and % for the three performance measures, respectively. Also, Tukey s method of mean comparison test is carried out to compare the basic dispatching rules. From the results of statistical analysis, it is concluded that the effects of basic truck dispatching rules on the SYSTEM performance are not significant.

8 But, the main factors affecting the performances are the number of trucks, the number of shovels , the distance between the shovels and dump site, finally the availability of shovel and truck resources. Also, there are significant interaction effects between these main factors. Finally, an adaptive rule using the standardized utilization of shovels and trucks is developed. Keywords: Open Pit truck -Shovel HAULAGE systems, truck Dispatching, Heuristic Rules, Discrete-Event SYSTEM SIMULATION Approach, and GPSS/H Software. vi Z A IK OCAK KAMYON/EKSKAVAT R TA IMA S STEMLER N S M LASYONU etin, Necmettin Doktora, Maden M hendisli i B l m Tez Y neticisi: Prof.

9 Dr. Naci B l kba Ortak Tez Y neticisi: Do . Dr. Levent Kandiller Eyl l 2004, 116 sayfa Bu al ma, bilgisayar sim lasyonu y ntemi kullan larak a k ocak kamyon Ekskavat r sisteminin ara t r lmas n ama lamaktad r. al man n temel amac , mevcut olan h ristik kamyon atama kurallar n n analizi ve kar la t r lmalar n ama la, birka retim panosu ve bir tek d k m sahas ndan olu an orta l ekli bir maden i in GPSS/H simulasyon paket program kullan larak olas l kl bir kamyon atama ve retim modeli geli tirilmi tir.

10 Sekiz de i ik h ristik kural, ayr ayr programlar olarak kodlanm t r. Program kamyon devir s relerinin bile enlerinin tamam n i ermektedir. Normal da l m fonksiyonu b t n devir bile enlerinin modellemesinde kullan lm t r. Program kullan c ya, her bir ekskavat re ba lang ta yap lan kamyon say lar n sormaktad r. viiTam fakt rl sim lasyon deneyleri sekiz ayr fakt r n ara t r lmas i in yap lm t r. Bu fakt rler, kamyon atama kural , kullan lan kamyon say s , kullan lan ekskavat r say s , kamyon y kleme, ta ma ve geri d n s relerindeki de i im, ekskavat r ile d k m sahas aras ndak mesafe, ve kamyon ve ekskavat rlerin kullan m rand manlar d r.