Simulation Modeling of a Fleet of Remote- Controlled/Automatic Load-Haul-Dump Vehicles in Underground Mines

Abstract

In the last few years, a concept for automating Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) vehicles has stimulated considerable interest in the world mining industry. In this concept, the tramming and dumping operations of an LHD should be automatic. During loading, an operator from a control room fills the bucket of a vehicle via remote- control aided by a television system. The application of such a Remote-controlled/ Automatic LHD (RAL) system in underground hard rock mines exhibits some operational and traffic control characteristics that have not been studied previously in mining (e.g., vehicle motion in bidirectional lane segments). This paper presents a discrete-event simulation model developed for studying and evaluating the operation of a fleet of RALs. This model integrates graphical modeling and presentation of RAL transport layouts with animation of the motion of vehicles during simulation. The model is used to evaluate the capacity of a future fleet of RALs which can operate in a typical transport layout at the LKAB Swedish iron ore mine in Kiruna.

Keywords

Underground hard rock mines LHD vehicles automation mining

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