Simulation of Truck Haulage Operations in an Underground Mine Using Big Data from an ICT-Based Mine Safety Management System

Abstract

Information communication technology (ICT)-based mine safety management systems are being introduced at numerous mining sites to track the location of equipment and workers in real time and monitor environmental changes. This paper presents the results of a case study in which the big data created by an ICT-based mine safety management system are used for simulating truck haulage operations. An underground limestone mine located in Danyang, South Korea was studied, and the data generated over three months, from October 1 to December 31, 2018, were analyzed. Truck tag packet data recognized by relays were extracted and analyzed to calculate the averages and standard deviations of the truck travel times of each mine segment. A discrete event simulation program that simulates truck haulage operations in the study area was developed. Haulage times, the number of haulage operations, production output, and truck delay times were predicted, and results were compared with the actual operation results that were obtained on January 2 and 9, 2019. The difference between the predicted and actual results for the total amount of loaded ore was 30 tons for January 2 and 0 tons for January 9. The mean absolute error between the predicted and observed truck travel times was 0.13 min for January 2 and 0.14 min for January 9. The truck travel times that were measured differently according to the data aggregation period were set as temporal factors, and truck haulage simulations were performed. The results showed that more reliable simulation results were obtained as data accumulation time increased.