The Use of Photogrammetry to Evaluate Slope Design Conformance -A Case Study from a Large Open Pit

摘要

This paper is being presented with the intent of stimulating thinking within the rock mechanics community, particularly within the fraternity that operates large open pits. A fundamental, yet at times, challenging task facing such operations is assessing the achievability of a pit slope design as proposed on paper. This is because there are a number of extraneous factors, such as blasting, excavation techniques etc, that impact on the final as built' pit wall. The authors are putting forward a methodology of assessing this 'as built' pit wall geometry using photogrammetric techniques to quantitatively assess the success in achieving a given design. The ultimate intent is to calibrate this model to determine a domain specific 'operational' factor which takes account of items such as blasting, excavation techniques and unforeseen geological influences; this factor would essentially indicate the extent of berm crest loss, batter face sloughing etc that can be anticipated in a given pit area. This understanding would ultimately facilitate better planning and mine scheduling, as, a reasonable indication of 'as built' slope geometry could now be ascertained. Presented in this paper is a case study undertaken at a large open pit mine in Australia.