References for Mine Plant Structural Design

[TimmyH76]

Anyone know of any structural references related to plant design? I am specifically referring to mines. Dealing with loads from screens, loading bins ect. Thanks.

 

[aggman]

In short, no there are not any standards. Generally most people will use ASCE 7. For the screens, feeders, etc you should be able to get dead and live weights from the manufacturer. You will have to add the material loads. Consider ACI 313-97 and Design of Steel Bins for the Storage of Bulk Solids by Gaylord for bin/ silo design. If you are looking for a "code", good luck. I have never found one.

 

[TimmyH76]

Thanks....I'm looking for something that deals with the dynamic loads from screens ect. Will the equip manufactuer give you any info like that?

 

[mrMikee]

Hopefully you can get the information you need from the manufacturer. Sometimes when the operating loads of a piece of equipment were unknown I've had to work backwards through the drive train to the motor to calculate what the output force is. It is possible that the worst case load is when a machine jams and the mechanical parts and/or frame and support have to withstand these forces until the machine stops. You have to consider the output of an electric motor at its stalling torque which is about 100% over rated torque, but I would double check that number. With the addition of impact loads and resonance conditions this all can become a difficult design project.

Regards,
-Mike

 

[aggman]

Most of the good manufacturers have information available for each specific piece...but don't be surprised if it leaves a little to be desired. About the best you can get from them is the dead weight, the operating RPM, and the vibration loads, which depends on the stroke of the machine and the spring constant. If you are lucky you will get them to give you the resonant vibration loads and the resonant RPM. More often than not I can't get the resonant information from them and I work in this stuff every day. Other than that you will have to figure the material weights yourself on the screen, but usually figuring a 6" mat will do. The rest falls back to engineering mechanics and dynamics and like Mike said it gets a little tricky trying to find the best structure. As a rule of thumb try to take vibrating loads straight to the foundations through columns and try to maintain at least 50% phase shift on the natural frequency of your structure and individual members verses the screen.