Mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice

Well designed and maintained haul roads are the key to minimizing truck haulage on-road hazards and costs, as well as increasing productivity. In practice however, designing and managing a haul road for optimal performance is often difficult to achieve, especially when resources assigned to design...

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Main Author: Thompson, Roger
Format: Journal Article
Published: Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22673
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author Thompson, Roger
author_facet Thompson, Roger
author_sort Thompson, Roger
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Well designed and maintained haul roads are the key to minimizing truck haulage on-road hazards and costs, as well as increasing productivity. In practice however, designing and managing a haul road for optimal performance is often difficult to achieve, especially when resources assigned to design and construction are constrained. By understanding how a road design is developed from geometric, structural, functional and maintenance considerations, and critically, the interplay between these components in design and operation, optimal performance can be achieved. This paper briefly summarizes the evolution of mine haul road design, from the seminal USBM work of Kaufman and Ault in 1977, through to current geometric, structural, functional and maintenance management design components. These augmented design and management guidelines have been developed over the past decade, both in response to the requirements of mine operators for safer and more efficient haulage systems, the truck manufacturers' requirements for a more predictable and controlled operating environment and the recognition of human factors as a significant contributor to haulage accidents. Whilst the human factor is the most problematic to address in a road design, the paper shows the more that is known about human error, the better a road can be designed to accommodate those actions or non-standard practices that would, on a poorly designed road, invariably escalate an error into an accident.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-226732017-01-30T12:32:57Z Mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice Thompson, Roger haulage Mining haul road mine road Well designed and maintained haul roads are the key to minimizing truck haulage on-road hazards and costs, as well as increasing productivity. In practice however, designing and managing a haul road for optimal performance is often difficult to achieve, especially when resources assigned to design and construction are constrained. By understanding how a road design is developed from geometric, structural, functional and maintenance considerations, and critically, the interplay between these components in design and operation, optimal performance can be achieved. This paper briefly summarizes the evolution of mine haul road design, from the seminal USBM work of Kaufman and Ault in 1977, through to current geometric, structural, functional and maintenance management design components. These augmented design and management guidelines have been developed over the past decade, both in response to the requirements of mine operators for safer and more efficient haulage systems, the truck manufacturers' requirements for a more predictable and controlled operating environment and the recognition of human factors as a significant contributor to haulage accidents. Whilst the human factor is the most problematic to address in a road design, the paper shows the more that is known about human error, the better a road can be designed to accommodate those actions or non-standard practices that would, on a poorly designed road, invariably escalate an error into an accident. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22673 Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) fulltext
spellingShingle haulage
Mining
haul road
mine road
Thompson, Roger
Mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice
title Mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice
title_full Mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice
title_fullStr Mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice
title_full_unstemmed Mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice
title_short Mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice
title_sort mine haul road design and management: a review of current practice
topic haulage
Mining
haul road
mine road
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22673