Rock Excavation Technologies
Objectives
Provide students with technical concepts of rock excavation (ornamental stones, aggregates, ores and sands), namely, the choice of the most suitable techniques, equipment sizing and procedures, legislation and environmental impact. Techniques concerning the open pit or underground excavations are also taught. Students will be able to integrate work teams in implementing projects of quarrying, mining reports and Environmental Impact Studies and to enable the technical direction of quarries. Some skills are more specific:
- Scale and select equipment’s for each excavation project;
- Propose alternative labor methodologies to increase efficiency and productivity;
- Make short-term planning, namely daily allocation of equipment and excavation advances;
- Project fire blasting for open pit and underground excavations and optimize explosive amounts.
General characterization
Code
13247
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
José António de Almeida
Hours
Weekly - 4
Total - 68
Teaching language
Português
Prerequisites
No specific requirements are needed.
Bibliography
[1] J. Almeida (2021) Apontamentos de “Tecnologias de Desmonte de Maciços Rochosos”, FCT-NOVA, 2021.
[2] D. Zou (2017) Theory and Technology of Rock Excavation for Civil Engineering, Springer.
[3] R.L. Lowrie (2009) SME mining reference handbook. Society for mining, metallurgy and exploration, Littleton.
[4] M.B. Revuelta, A.D. López, L.F. Casado (2014) Manual de Áridos, Fueyo Editores, 597p.
[5] C. L. Jimeno (2014) Manual de Rocas Ornamentales, Entorno Gráfico, SL, Madrid, 696p.
[6] M. R. Smith (1999) Stone: Building Stone, Rock Fill and Armourstone in Construction (Geological Society Engineering Geology Special Publication, 16). The Geological Society.
[7] Sanvik Tamrock (1999) Rock excavation handbook.
Teaching method
The teaching is provided by theoretical-practical sessions of 4 hours each where technical concepts are presented, whenever possible documented with examples, and dimensioning problems are solved. At least one visit is made to places where excavations for mines, quarries or geotechnical works are taking place. All information and presentations are made available in both CLIP and Moodle platforms.
Evaluation method
The assessment is carried out by two tests of three hours with theoretical and practical parts (4 components of continuous assessment) or a final exam on the scheduled date. Thereticam components count for 60% of the final grade (30% each), and practice the remaining 40% of the grade (20% each). The minimum grade in each theoretical component is 8 values.
Subject matter
1. Rock excavation. Unitary operations. Equipment synchronization. Productivity and efficiency indicators. Geomechanical properties of rocks. Environmental impacts. 2. Drilling. Drilling machines with hammer at the head and bottom of the hole. Accessories. 3. Rock cut. Diamond wire, arm saw, disc saw, water jet, wedges and expansive cements. 4. In situ fragmentation with impact hammers. Accessories. 5. Industrial explosives and accessories. Dynamites, emulsions and hydrogels. Electrical and NONEL connections, detonators and initiators. Micro delay and delay. 6. Excavation, loading and transport. Excavators. Loading equipment. Excavation with water. Preparation of circulation routes. Continuous transport (conveyors) and discontinuous transport (dumpers). 7. Surface excavation. Mechanical excavation and use of explosives. Dimension stone quarries. 8. Underground excavation. Opening of tunnels and chimneys. Fire diagrams. 9. Introduction to rock processing plants.