Modeling for stockpile operations associated with bulk solid materials using bucket wheel reclaimer

Abstract

Bucket wheel reclaimer (BWR) is one of the main equipment which has been widely used for stacking/reclaiming bulk materials (i.e., iron ore and coal) in ports, iron-steel plants, coal storages, and power stations onto/from stockpiles by mining industry. Generally speaking, current BWRs are mostly manually operated, remotely operated, or automated to simply follow predefined trajectory patterns for stacking and reclaiming operations. BWRs are indeed very large in size, heavy in weight, expensive in price, and slow in motion. It is commonly agreed in the industry that the current stacking/reclaiming efficiency can be largely improved in several areas to obtain huge amount of savings in dollar terms. However, as stockpiles and BWRs are always heavily engaged in production and cannot be long spared or frequently interrupted for the required studies and developments for efficiency improvement, a close to real simulation environment including stockpiles, BWRs, and the associated environment would be highly valuable and greatly beneficial to carry out necessary studies, planning, preparations, and evaluations. This paper presents the progresses of the modeling work achieved so far for the simulation of stockpile operations associated with bulk solid materials using BWRs. The content covers the modeling of stockpiles, typical BWR, voxel-based reclaiming trajectory generation, and their implementation in a simplified stockyard. The result demonstrates a powerful simulation environment is being woven together and can be used as a tool for further investigations to improve relevant production efficiencies.