Application of ripper-dozer combination in surface mines: its applicability and performance study

Abstract

The surface mining of rocks and coal requires drilling and blasting operation for loosening the strata. In drilling and blasting a lot of dust, gases, ground vibrations, cracks and noise are produced. This concludes that these operations are not eco -friendly. Also they involve many types of machinery to complete the job. Blast free mining is the need of the hour to conserve the environment. Different studies and experiments have come up with developments like Ripper dozer and Surface miner. Ripper is mainly used to excavate the overburden. These involve less number of machinery. But before deploying rippers in mines, proper rippability assessment of the strata should be done. There are different parameters on which rippability of rocks depend on. Relationships are made between the parameters and productivity of rippers. Considering all these parameters rippers are introduced in mines.