By the use of u model of current operatiolls

it is possible to predict future equipment requiren~ents.

Determining Shovel-Truck Productivity

W. C. MORGAN and L. L. PETERSON

his paper discusses some of the problems involved in predicting the productivity of a shovel
and truck fleet in a new set of operating conditions.
More specifically, it concentrates on the problems of
predicting the travel times on the haul and return
portions of the truck cycle under new profile conditions and the prediction of the interaction effect
between the shovel and truck at the loading point.
The ability to calculate the travel times for a new
road profile is not new. Additional corrections of
these calculated times for expected actual operation
can be made. In considering the interaction between
the loader and the hauler, there are two approaches
that can be taken. Probably the most accurate
method of predicting the shovel-truck interaction
is a simulation of the step-by-step operation considering the variation in cycle times of the shovel
and trucks. This is usually called a stochastic simulation and requires input describing how these cycle
times vary. However, by understanding the causes
of this shovel-truck interaction it is possible to
make sufficiently accurate predictions with much
simpler methods.

Haulage Cycle Established from Existing

Operations
For the purpose of this discussion let us assume
that the problem involves trying to predict the
productivity of a single shovel-truck fleet a t some
future time in an existing operation. Let us also assume for simplification that the new operation to be
SME member W. C. MORGAN is Staff Engineer and
L. L. PETERSON is Research Engineer, with the Research
Department of the Caterpillar Tractor Co., Peoria, Ill.

simulated has the same loading and pit conditions

and the same dumping conditions as did the existing
operation. Therefore, the only difference would be
the difference in the hauling profile for the new
operation. The problem then becomes one of predicting the change in the travel times on the haul
and return portions of the cycle, and in determining
the change in interaction between and the shovel
and trucks with the new truck cycle times.
The objectives in making this calculation will be
(1) to predict the productivity of the present truck
and shovel fleet under the new operating conditions
and (2) to vary the number of trucks to determine
the most economical number of trucks.
It would be quite logical that the first step would
be to measure the productivity that is actually being
achieved under the existing set of conditions. To
do this, a cycle study would be required where the
times to accomplish the various portions of the cycle
and the payloads for the trucks would be measured.
The results of a typical cycle study are shown in
Fig. 1. The hauling unit cycle has broken up into the
following segments:
Loading
Maneuvering out of the pit
Hauling
Dumping
Return
Maneuvering into the pit
The shovel cycle has been simplified to consist of
only two segments: (1) time to load the truck and
(2) transfer time between trucks.
In order to obtain the measured productivity, the
average values for each of the segments were used
(Table I ) to give an average total cycle time of 19.80
minutes. This cycle time, combined with the average
PRESENT l l D FUTURE HAUL PROflLES

'

,%:

,.-,
200'
OY0

PRESENT
LOAD POSlTlOY

1%

, ,

; i ;
I l O I i L 11,1P1I"

,~

1 ' 4
6 ;
TIUCK 18Il-.IP

Fig. 1-Measured
76-MINING

18

cycle dnta.

ENGINEERING, DECEMBER 1968

FUTURE
LOAD
POSITION
I- - - - - ...
2WO'
OSCRADE
2% ROLL. RES

olo+,

lO0l0
200
o01

2'0
24 MPH

DUMP
7
5W
0'0

,TiPH

zoo

I0 M P H

24 MPH

,l oIa o '

3.0
loMPn
2%
24 MPH-SPEED LIMIT

Fig. 2-Present

and future haul profile.

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