The Use of a Roadheader Simulator in Research of Dynamics and Energy-Consumption of Excavating Underground Roadways and Tunnels

Piotr Cheluszka, Eryk Remiorz and Jamal Rostami
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Piotr Cheluszka: Department of Mining Mechanization and Robotisation, Faculty of Mining, Safety Engineering and Industrial Automation, Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 2, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Eryk Remiorz: Department of Mining Mechanization and Robotisation, Faculty of Mining, Safety Engineering and Industrial Automation, Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 2, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Jamal Rostami: Mining Engineering Department, Colorado School of Mines, 1600 Illinois St., Golden, CO 80401, USA

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 18, 1-25

Abstract: Boom-type roadheaders are commonly used for excavation of roadways in underground mines, tunnels, and other architectural structures using trenchless techniques, as well as sinking shafts and occasionally excavating the harder soil and softer formations in cut and cover construction. The main research and development of these machines is to offer solutions for automatic control. This refers to automation or robotization of the operation, and raises the possibility of their eventual unmanned operation. This article presents a roadheader research simulator which implements experimentally verified mathematical models describing the dynamics of a roadheader in operation and the rock cutting process. Due to very high computational requirements, a distributed system comprising several workstations connected via TCP/IP was used. Both the visualization of the roadheader in the heading face of the excavation and the graphic simulation of the course of the rock-cutting process were carried out using the Autodesk Inventor Professional 2022 graphics engine. It provided the simulator with a virtual scene environment and enabled the control of the roadheader model’s movement during the simulated cutting process, including the generation of breakout graphics in the heading face while drilling a roadway or tunnel. The presented roadheader simulator enables the determination of various time characteristics, for example, dynamic loads, power demand, efficiency, energy consumption, and others. It is still under development.

Keywords: boom-type roadheader; tunneling; dynamic load; energy consumption; virtual reality; simulators (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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