The Relation between Excavator Bucket Loading Time and Particle Size Distribution of Shot Rock

摘要

In the condition that drilling and blasting technique is inevitable depending on the rock mass and material characteristics on mining activities, the fragmentation rate and particle size distribution of the muckpile after blasting has important influences on the performance of subsequent mining activities such as loading, hauling, crushing, grinding etc. and the total costs of that mine. Drilling and blasting is an important step in this process chain and it's results such as fragmentation, muckpile shape and looseness, dilution, damage and rock softening effect the efficiency of downstream processes. There is an increasing body of blasting research indicating significant impacts in these downstream processes. Within the scope of this study, the excavator's working performance has been studied considering the particle size distribution after bench blasting at a quarry in Istanbul Turkey. Loader's bucket loading times have been measured for every muckpile loading operation and particle size distribution has been determined for every shots by using Split-Desktop digital image processing system. After evaluating the measurements, a statistical relation between material's mean particle size and digging time of CAT 330C LME hydraulic wheel excavator has been determined. By using this relation and technical data of CAT 330C LME excavator a general formula has been created for the prediction of bucket loading time for excavators for a certain mean particle size of shot rock.