Open Cut » Overburden Removal
BHP Research and Technology Development has developed a rigging simulation model (PcDrag) and its associated tools for the assessment and design of bucket riggings. This software provides solutions of a set of non-linear equations for the static equilibrium of a dragline bucket and its associated rigging. PcDrag enables the quick assessment of the current rigging and the effects of any changes introduced to the rigging and bucket setups. The main outputs of this simulation model are the carrying angle of the bucket and the static force distribution in the rigging for each bucket position in the boom plan. The quick assessment of whether a particular design /modification to the rigging setup will work satisfactorily can be carried out in an office environment without disturbance to the dragline operations.
A shortcoming of early versions of PcDrag was the substantial amount of data required that presented a challenge to the user to collect the data from various sources. The data collection involved a significant amount of weighing and measuring of the bucket and rigging to define the rigging components centre of gravity, weight distribution and point masses.
The current project aimed to improve PcDrag by:
- Developing methods for accurately and effectively describing buckets and bucket riggings with a set of data that is easily and practically determined at mine site and during bucket and rigging specification and design.
- Developing and demonstrating a useful modelling tool for simulation and optimisation of bucket and rigging.
During this project, an investigation was conducted to determine the minimum set of data necessary to describe the dragline-bucket-rigging system. Extra tools were developed to specify, access, modify and store data and to visualise PcDrag results. A sophisticated database was built and incorporated into PcDrag. Successful demonstrations of the new PcDrag were conducted at various occasions and the capability of PcDrag to accurately predict the bucket carry angle and force distribution was proven. The validation of the payload prediction algorithm of PcDrag requires further field work.
This final report details those advances made to the software PC Drag