AN APPROACH TO

ASSESS INFLUENCE OF
ROCK PROPERTIES ON THE
OPERATING PARAMETERS
OF SURFACE MINER
Amar Prakash1, Pradeep Sahu2, Paratha Sarathi Paul3

ABSTRACT
Application of surface miners has increased phenomenally all around the world for rock excavation in
varied rock mass conditions. There are numerous models of surface miners with wide range of specifi-
cations. Ability of surface miner to operate and cut effectively in rock is limited to strength property of
rock. An exhaustive knowledge of rock and machine interaction is imperative for smooth operation and
mass production of surface miner. The paper presents the influence of machine operating parameters on
power consumption with respect to rock strength. Operating parameters such as cutting depth and cut-
ting speed can be controlled by estimation of power required for cutting. Uniaxial compressive strength
is almost exclusively used for description of the strength of the rock. The effect on power in relation
to depth of cut were analysed for varied strength of rock. Cutting speed was also studied for different
uniaxial compressive strength at varied depth of cut.
Keywords : Surface miner, machine power, cutting speed, depth of cut, uniaxial compressive strength

INTRODUCTION and crushing. The HEMM involves in different

process are shovel, drill machine, dozer, dumper,
Development of surface miner was initiated in dragline, grader etc. Mining operations are invari-
1970s and was continued into the early 1980s and ably associated with terminal effect of land degra-
marks a new pattern in surface mining system. dation, ecological disturbances, noise and air pol-
The design concept for the surface miner is based lution and consequent upon overall environmental
on the milling principle and owes its origin to the deterioration. Blasting operation on a large scale
road milling machines which cuts the old road give rise to blast-induced ground vibrations, air-
surface for road construction. The application of blast, fly rock, blasting fumes, dust cloud, noise,
surface miner was extended for coal mining in the disturbance to water regimes and damage to near-
year 1999 (Dey, 2012). by structures. The quality management in open-
The conventional system of mining coal by open- cast coal mines with the layers of grey shale/car-
cast method involves drilling, blasting, excavating bonaceous shale, stone bands, dirt bands etc. has

Scientist, Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research, Dhanbad 826015, 2Jr. Manager, JSW Steel Limited,
1

Vijaynagar Works, 3Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad 826004, India.
become a difficult task by conventional method of The Evans theory state that, a tool gains initial en-
mining. These factors have prompted the mining try into the rock by reason of the concentration of
community to look for a non-conventional method stress under a sharp edge. Stress concentration is
and to increase “Quality Production” and produc- a result of interaction between cutting forces and
tivity while meeting the requirement of being en- mechanical properties of the rock being cut (Fig.
vironmentally safe operations. 1). Stress initially causes some frictional crushing
and elastic deformation until the stress exceeds the
In such situations conveyor transport system may
rock strength and rupture eventually takes place.
prove to be economical, but that need smaller and
sized material, which can be obtained by use of ex-
cavation by cutting process. This condition leads
the use of surface miner in rock cutting process.
Presently, around 422 surface miners are in opera-
tion around the world amongst which, 114 are in
India (www.media.wirtgen-group.com). This ne-
cessitates an in-depth study of different machine
configurations, their performance with different
rock mass conditions. Operating speed and depth
of cut both complement relative to each other.
For optimum production of machine an appropri-
ate balance between cutting speed and depth cut
is imperative. Exceeding the depth of cut or cut-
ting speed for a given rock strength will increase Fig. 1: Force on a cutter pick
the cutting force and hence required power for the
machine. Therefore, for a given job site, a reliable Evans’s theory for point-attack picks attempts to
evaluation of the required cutting speed and depth enable the engineers to estimate the peak cutting
of cut can be obtained according to the available force for a given rock, when direct measurement
machine power. of the cutting force is not available. Theoretical
works of Evans were used to establish the basic
METHODOLOGY principles of the cutting process and these have
been widely used in the efficient design of excava-
Estimation of cutting force for picks
tion machines such as shearers, continuous min-
Many models have been developed in order to ers and roadheaders (Ortega and Glowka, 1984).
evaluate the force between the cutting tools and Evans demonstrated theoretically that tensile
the rock during the cutting process. Those are the strength and compressive strength were dominant
Evans model (Evans, 1972; Evans, 1982; Evans, rock properties in rock cutting with chisel picks
1984a; Evans, 1984b; Evans, 1984c; Roxborough and point attack tools as formulated below in:
and Phillips, 1975) for rolling tools, and the Nishi-
matsu model (1972) for drag tools, which among
all the Evans theory is considered the closest to the fc
force estimation for pick.
Rock breakage with a pick depends basically on This equation is used only for point attack picks,
the pick penetrating the rock. Numerous theories where FC is cutting force in N, d is depth of cut in
of rock cutting have been deployed by many re- mm, σt is tensile strength in MPa, σC is compres-
searchers. The most relevant theory for point at- sive strength in MPa and ᴪ is tip angle.
tack picks proposed by Evan’s is discussed here as
Cutting force for single tool is calculated by this
these picks are used in surface miner.

Minetech, Volume 40 No 1, January-March, 2019 43

equation. And total cutting force for drum can be various models of surface miners (2200SM, 2200
calculated by knowing the number of picks com- SM 3.8, KSM 304) was calculated from the above
ing into the contact of rocks. The total number of equations and is shown in Table 1. The specifi-
picks coming in contact with rock can be calcu- cations of the above models are given in Table 2
lated when the depth of cut and drum configura- (Prakash, 2013).
tion is known including total number of cutting
tools. The number of active picks in contact with
the rock depends on radius of the drum and is ex- Machine power
pressed as: The estimated power in rock cutting by drum de-
pends on operating speed of the surface miner and
(2) cutting force applied by the picks on the rock and
is expressed as:
Where, N= total number of picks mounted on
drum,
R= radius of drum in m and
W= width of drum in m. Where, Df= total force on drum and
CS = cutting speed in m/min

CUTTING DIRECTION

SURFACE

CUTTING DEPTH
R

Fig. 2: Number of cutting picks coming into the contact of rock

CA is contact area between rock and drum (Fig. 2) Since the actual power of the machine cannot be
and it is equal to the product of total length of arc used for cutting. So for the preventing of overload-
of drum and width of the drum. ing of the machine, the condition should be
Length of arc of drum can be estimated by an
equation (3), Pe<Pa
Where, Pa is actual power of the machine

(3) In previous studies this transfer ratio has been tak-

en as 0.45 to 0.55 for roadheaders and 0.85 to 0.90
for tunnel boring machine (Rostami and Ozdemir,
Where La = contact length of cutting drum in m 1994). As per SME (2014) 60% of the total ac-
and tual power can only be utilized for cutting. Hence,
doc = depth of cut in m power required for cutting can be expressed as:
By using the equations 1, 2 and 3 total force for Pe = 0.6 Pa
drum can be calculated. The contact area (CA) of
44 Minetech, Volume 40 No 1,January-March, 2019
 Table 1: Contact area and total force for drum on various models

Depth of cut KSM 304 2200 SM 3.8 2200 SM

(mm) Contact Force in Contact Force in Contact Force in
Area (m ) drum (kN)
2
Area (m )
2
drum (kN) Area (m )
2
drum (kN)
5 0.25 0.07 0.31 0.07 0.17 0.06
10 0.35 0.41 0.43 0.40 0.23 0.32
15 0.43 1.13 0.53 1.09 0.29 0.89
20 0.50 2.32 0.61 2.24 0.34 1.82
25 0.55 4.06 0.69 3.92 0.37 3.18
50 0.79 23.05 0.97 22.25 0.53 18.07
100 1.12 131.24 1.39 126.70 0.75 103.03
150 1.38 364.03 1.71 351.57 0.93 286.19
200 1.61 752.36 1.99 726.87 1.08 592.36

Table 2: Specifications of different models of surface miner

Model Drum Drum Total no. of Rated Power Depth of Cut Cutting Speed
Diameter (m) Width (m) picks (kW) (mm) (m/min)
2200 SM 1.14 2.2 76 597 0-200 0-25
2200 SM 1.3 3.8 100 708 0-350 0-84
KSM 1.35 3 106 900 0-400 0-20
304

Fig. 3: Power with depth of cut on varied UCS at speed 10 m/min

Minetech, Volume 40 No 1, January-March, 2019 45

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION conducted for KSM 304 model because the total
Influence of operating parameters number of picks mounted on drum was available
for this model. The boundary limit of cutting speed
Analysis on operating parameters was done on the and depth of cut used for the analysis was taken as
basis of machine power. Study at varied operat- per specification given by the manufacturers.
ing speed and cutting depth was performed for dif-
ferent intact rock properties. All the analysis was The total actual power specified for KSM 304 is

Fig. 4: Power with depth of cut on varied UCS at speed 12 m/min

Fig. 5: Power with depth of cut on varied UCS at speed 15 m/min

46 Minetech, Volume 40 No 1,January-March, 2019

 Fig. 6: Power with depth of cut on varied UCS at speed 20 m/min

900 kW. Assuming that only 60% power of the 220 mm for 42.76 MPa UCS. The machine can
total actual power can only be utilized for cutting, be considered to be overloaded if operated above
the machine can be operated within a range of 540 this range which can be well interpreted in Fig. 3.
kW followed by the equation 5. Total power was Hence for a given strength of rock machine should
calculated for different operating speeds by using be operated under safe limit to achieve the de-
equation 4. sired production with minimum maintenance and
breakdown.
Power was projected for the different UCS val-
ues of 12.24, 23.28, 29.99 and 42.76 MPa. This The optimum depth of cut comes to 330 mm for
range of compressive strength was considered be- 12.24 MPa strength of rock at 12 m/min operating
cause these values were determined from mines of speed of surface miner as shown in Fig. 4. The
Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) and Mahandi maximum possible depth of cut reduces to 205
Coalfields Limited (MCL) where surface miners mm for 42.76 MPa strength of rock at same speed.
were deputed. The operating speed was taken as
For the cutting speed of 15 m/min and 20 m/min
10, 12, 15 and 20 m/min because most of the sur-
the maximum depth of cut for UCS 12.24 MPa can
face miners were found to operate in this range.
be 303 mm and 270 mm respectively whereas for
Hence, these data were used for analysis as they
UCS 42.76 MPa maximum depth can be 187 mm
can bolster in deciding the suitable operating con-
and 165 mm (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6).
dition under realistic ground condition.
Thus, it can be inferred from the figures that depth
The depth of cut decreases with increase in com- of cut, UCS and engine power has a significant
pressive strength of the rock. The surface miner impact on the cutting speed. The same was also
can operate up to a maximum depth of cut of 355 observed by Chiara et al., 2014.
mm for the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS)
of 12.25 MPa at 10 m/min cutting speed. On the Based on the developed relations the cutting speed
other hand, the optimum depth of cut should be in correspondence to depth of cut for a known

Minetech, Volume 40 No 1, January-March, 2019 47

 Table 3: speed and depth of cut for different strength of rock

UCS (MPa) Cutting speed Depth of cut (mm)

10 355
12 330
12.24 15 303
20 270

10 315
12 290
23.28
15 267
20 238
10 255
12 235
29.99
15 215
20 190
10 220
12 205
42.76
15 187
20 165

Table 4: relation between UCS and speed for given depth of cut
Depth of cut (mm) Relation with UCS R2 value
50 Speed = 189.2e-0.024(UCS) R² = 0.90
100 Speed = 33.108e-0.024(UCS) R² = 0.89
200 Speed = 5.9213e-0.024(UCS) R² = 0.91
300 Speed = 2.0748e-0.023(UCS) R² = 0.88
400 Speed = 0.9889e-0.024(UCS) R² = 0.91

Note: speed is in m/min and UCS is in MPa

strength of rock is given in Table 3. The relation vent overloading of the machine. Eventually, ma-
for different depth of cut ranging from 50 to 400 chine production can be optimized by the proper
mm was developed to achieve suitable cutting utilization of operating parameters.
speed of surface miner with UCS as given in Table
4 and represented graphically in Fig. 7. The cut- CONCLUSION
ting speed was found to be exponentially related Operating parameters of surface miner (cutting
to UCS with encouraging index of determination. speed and depth of cut) in relation to rock prop-
This figure would be helpful in guiding to operate erties are prime factors for optimum utilization
the surface miner in safe range for given strength of surface miner with minimum breakdown and
of rock. Machine breakdown can be reduced if op- maintenance. For a given model of surface miner
erated by taking into consideration the influence especially with respect to machine power, opti-
of intact rock property i.e. compressive strength. mum cutting speed was correlated with UCS by
This will also impart an idea for operators to pre- varying the depth of cut.

48 Minetech, Volume 40 No 1,January-March, 2019

 1000
depth of cut 50mm
depth of cut 100mm
depth of cut 200mm

100 depth of cut 300mm

speed (m/min)

depth of cut 400mm

10

1
10 15 20 25 30 40 50 60 80 100
Uniaxial Compressive Strength (MPa)

Fig 7: Relation between speed and UCS for different depth of cut

A series of relations were derived to describe (2014): Surface Miners: Evaluation of the
the trend of cutting speed according to the rock Production Rate and Cutting Performance
strength. This will provide a preliminary guideline Based on Rock Properties and Specific Ener-
in pre-estimation of cutting speed and depth of cut gy, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering,
to the machine operator (for a given site), so as to Volume 47, Issue 2, pp.757-770.
prevent the machine from overloading during cut- • Dey K. and Bhattacharya J. (2012): Opera-
ting operation. Cutting speed of surface miner was tion of Surface Miner: Retrospect of a Decade
also correlated with UCS under varied depth of Journey in India, Procedia Engineering, 46,
cutting with index of determination varying from pp. 97–104.
0.88 to 0.90. • Evans, I. (1972): Line spacing of picks for ef-
ficient cutting, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 9, pp. 35-59.
Authors acknowledge the support received from • Evans, I. (1982): Optimum line spacing for
mining industries for sample collection and field cutting picks, Min. Eng., January, 4, 433.
investigations studies. The authors thank Direc- • Evans, I. (1984a): A theory of the cutting
tor, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, force for point attack picks, Int. J. Min. Eng.,
Dhanbad, for permitting to publish the paper. 2, pp. 63–71.
The views expressed in this paper are those of • Evans, I. (1984b): Basic Mechanics of the
authors and not necessarily of the organizations point attack pick, Colliery Guardian, May,
they represent. pp. 189-193.
• Evans, I. (1984c): A theory of the cutting
REFERENCES force for point attack picks, Int. J. Min. Eng.,
• Chiara O., Marilena C. and Vladislav K. 2, pp. 63-71.
• Nishimatsu, Y. (1972): The mechanics of the
Minetech, Volume 40 No 1, January-March, 2019 49
 rock cutting, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 9, and civil construction. In: DeMers J. E. et al.,
pp. 261-271. editors, Proceedings of the 13th Annual Tech-
• Ortega, A. and Glowka, D. A. (1984): Fric- nical Conference, Institute of Shaft Drilling
tional heating and convective cooling of Technology, Las Vegas, Nevada, pp. 12-15.
polycrystalline diamond drag tools during • Roxborough, F. F. and Phillips, H. R. (1975):
rock cutting, J. Soc. Petrol. Eng.,24(2), pp. Rock excavation by disc cutter, Int. J. Rock
121–128 Mech. Min. Sci.,12, pp. 361-366.
• Prakash, A. (2013): A study into the influ- • SME (2014): Mining Engineering Handbook,
ence of intact rock and rock mass properties vol. II, Publisher: Society for Mining, Metal-
on the performance of surface miners in Indi- lurgy, and Exploration (SME), Edition-3.
an geomining conditions, PhD thesis, Indian • Wirtgen Surface Miners in Operation around
School of Mines, Dhanbad, 2013. the Globe, Website: www.media.wirtgen-
• Rostami, J. and Ozdemir, L. (1994): Road- group.com. 2013, Job Report.
header performance optimization for mining

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50 Minetech, Volume 40 No 1,January-March, 2019