Use of CAD System to Analyze Collision Possibility During Transportation Operations

Abstract Nowadays designing of selected areas of mines underground workings can be effectively improved by numerical simulation. This, in fact, would result in the more reliable design process, significantly reduced designing costs and efforts, and improvement of the mines staff’s safety. Mine transportation of materials and people in underground workings is realized by use of mine railway system (on the main transportation routes), floor-mounted railway and suspended monorail (in a department transportation). Transportation is realized on tracks placed on the floor of working (floor-mounted rail transportation, using transportation platforms) or on rails suspended to roadway support (suspended rail transportation, using modular carrying sets (high-load beams)). The increasing size and weight of the transported machines and other equipment require planning the transportation system based on analyses of transportation routes as regards possibility of collision between transported loads and roadway support components, the equipment or other machines, that can be the obstacles or that can cause hazard during transportation, to select properly transportation machines. In case of improper selection, this may be the reason of hazard during transportation (dynamic impact of a mass of several tons). The developed method involves two-pronged generation of input data for collision analysis in a CAD software environment. Data regarding the route and constraints resulting from the dimensions of the roadway excavation are transferred in a CAD file format. Data regarding the overall dimensions of the means of transport (suspended monorail or floor-mounted railway) and simulation parameters are developed in a dedicated software environment in the form of a website. The methodological assumptions of the problem are presented, and its implementation into CAD software (AutoCAD) environment is given. Finally, an example of the application of the described method to analyze collision possibility during transportation operations, using floor-mounted railways and suspended monorails, during transportation of big-size load is given (transportation of longwall powered roof support). Developed software is used in Jastrzębska Coal Company S.A. as a Safe Trans Design, by the designers of transportation systems, during the verification of transport system designs, against safety criteria.