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By H. F. McCullough

The success of a coal-mining venture as relates to operations at the gob or break-line, such as the drawing of pillars or the working of long-faces, depends upon the control of face conditions. The measures required to control the latter are dependent upon the action of the coal seam, roof and floor at and in the vicinity of the faces, but the manner in which these will act is dependent upon the rate of face movement as well as upon the facc characteristics and upon the forces exerted. Yet the merits of a method of working—the practicability of controlling face conditions and the means required for such control when applied to any particular case—are usually judged only upon a consideration of the characteristics of coal seam, roof and floor, and the manner in which they have been observed to act. Practically every coal-mining man knows that face conditions are influenced by the rate of face movement, but few have appreciated that this is as much of a factor in the control of face conditions as are the face characteristics and the forces exerted. Fewer yet have recognized or taken advantage of faster rates of face movement as one of the principal means of establishing control of face conditions or of securing more favorable face conditions. Seemingly inherent difficulties, particularly in the control of roof conditions, but also in the control of conditions of the coal seam and floor, are frequently mitigated or disappear when the rate of movement of the faces is sufficiently increased. The characteristics of the coal seam, roof and floor and the forces exerted upon them do determine the general trend or tendency of face action, but the manner in which the coal seam, roof and floor will act and be aeted upon and the magnitude of the action during the time the site of mining operations remains at any particular point are very largely determined by the rate of movement of the faces. Progressive Nature of Forces Exerted Coal seam, roof and floor are composed of materials having definite properties or characteristics. The potential or ultimate values of the

Jan 1, 1927

By K. G. Black, B. P. Faulkner

Laboratory batch flotation rests are used for comparison of the floatability of ores and for comparison of the effect of various treatments on ore floatability. Although it is difficult to predict exact recoveries for continuous flotation on the basis of batch tests, considerable quantitative information can be obtained through their use. A simple method is presented which provides a convenient means of quantitatively evaluating results from laboratory batch tests. The information obtained is in the form of a discrete flotation rate distribution, which, if desired, can be used directly in a simulation of continuous flotation. Equation of Batch Flotation The validity for batch flotation of the first-order kinetic equation is accepted: [ ] where k is flotation rate of a class of articles and W (t) is weight of particles of the class in cell at time t. Thus, at time t, the fraction of the original amount of the class of particles still remaining in the cell is [ ] where W (0) is weight of class of particles in cell at time zero. If there are several classes of particles in the cell, each with its own flotation rate, k4, the fraction of the particles remaining is [ ] where W (t) is now the total weight of n classes, a, being the original fraction of W (0) belonging to the ith class. Accordingly, [ ] [Fig. 1] shows the result of a typical batch test. Such result can be characterized by a set of particle classes, each set described by a flotation rate, [ki,] and a corresponding fractional magnitude, [ai.] [ ] Multiple Regression Equation Eqs. 3 and 4 may be combined to give

Jan 1, 1973

By J. C. McDonald

A DDITIONAL experimental data are presented in this note on a phenomenon which has been touched on but lightly in the literature. The common magnesium base rolling alloy (AZ31B) contains about 3 pet A1 and 1 pet Zn. When cold rolled, it hardens until it starts to break up in the rolls at 30 to 50 pet reduction. When it is heated after rolling to full hardness, it softens. However, other magnesium alloys have shown themselves capable of being cold rolled indefinitely, provided the ratio of roll diameter to starting gage is sufficiently high. As measured by the tensile test, these alloys actually soften when the reduction becomes large (60 to 90 pct). A subsequent heating at 300' to 500°F can produce hardening of this metal. Heating at higher temperatures (600' to 800°F) causes recrystalliza-tion and softening. Menzen' has shown that a magnesium base alloy can be cold rolled without intermediate anneals as much as 90 pet. The alloy studied, Mg-1.5 pet Mn, softened considerably between 20 and 90 pet reduction, as measured by tensile properties; a decrease in yield strength of 30 pet, and an increase in elongation from 3.2 to 16.7 pet (longitudinal direction of the sheet). However, Menzen gives no data on the reaction of this metal. to heating. Ansel and Betterton2 and Hurst and Hatch3 report a similar effect in Mg-1.5 pet Mn-0.1 pet Ca. Their data show an initial hardening, followed by softening. The former authors also show that the alloy softened by cold rolling will harden when heated at low temperatures, and that these effects are absent in Mg-3 pet Al-1 pet Zn. In the course of work4, 5 some years ago, the author observed similar effects with alloys containing cerium, thorium, or zirconium; but not with elements like aluminum, silver, or zinc. Table IA contains the results of an experiment which shows these effects rather well. A binary alloy with 0.3 pet total rare earths (Mischmetal* added) was rolled hot to 1/16 in. and then annealed to full softness by heating 30 min at 800°F. Rolling was continued at 1.5 pet per pass to 80 pet total reduction on 8 in. diam rolls. The metal was harder after 20 pet work than initially but, at 80 pet reduction, properties were back to their original values. Heating for 1 hr at 450°F produced about the same hardness whether the reduction was 20 or 80 pet. At intermediate reductions, the metal hardened, but not to as high values. Extensive cold rolling may also be carried out on metal hot rolled at temperatures sufficiently low to produce a semihard temper. Mg-0.6 pet Zr was rolled to 0.1 in. at 700° to 800°F, 30 pet per pass. As shown in Table IB, a further cold reduction of 85 pet, at 1.5 pet per pass, definitely softened the metal.

Jan 1, 1959

By B. M. O Harra, George M. Fowler, R.E. Illidge

The Tri-State district comprises an area of about 2000 square miles in southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and north- eastern Oklahoma. The part that is in and contiguous to Missouri is still sometimes designated as the Joplin district (Fig. I). Early Operations Mining operations in what is now the Tri-State district date from about 1848 and have been continuous to the present. Apparently the first discoveries of ore were made about the same time near the present sites of Joplin, Oronogo, and Granby. Lead minerals were found at grass roots, probably in shattered rock in shallow excavations, then these minerals were followed in shear zones to deeper horizons. The mining of zinc followed. Before 1874, zinc ore was worthless and discarded as waste. According to published records, the total production of lead to that date was 49,000 tons of metal from 70,000 tons of concentrates. Production The a.ggregate ore production from the Tri-State district was recorded at intervals

Jan 1, 1943

By George M. Fowler, B. M. O Harra, R. E. Illidge

The Tri-State district comprises an area of about 2000 square miles in southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and north- eastern Oklahoma. The part that is in and contiguous to Missouri is still sometimes designated as the Joplin district (Fig. I). Early Operations Mining operations in what is now the Tri-State district date from about 1848 and have been continuous to the present. Apparently the first discoveries of ore were made about the same time near the present sites of Joplin, Oronogo, and Granby. Lead minerals were found at grass roots, probably in shattered rock in shallow excavations, then these minerals were followed in shear zones to deeper horizons. The mining of zinc followed. Before 1874, zinc ore was worthless and discarded as waste. According to published records, the total production of lead to that date was 49,000 tons of metal from 70,000 tons of concentrates. Production The a.ggregate ore production from the Tri-State district was recorded at intervals

Jan 1, 1943

By C. B. E. Douglas

The following analysis was stimulated by a previous article on evaluation of the water problem at Eureka, Nev., which describes a method using formulas especially devised to calculate flow potential of extensive aquifers characterized by relatively even porosity and permeability throughout. The present discussion submits that the method was unsuitable for solving the kind of problem occurring at Eureka, where the amount of water available, rather than the flow potential, may have been the vital factor. IN an interesting article on evaluation of the water problem at Eureka, Nev.,1 W. T. Stuart describes how a difficult water problem, or one phase of it, may be evaluated by means of a small scale test. Test data are plotted by a method rendering, under certain conditions, a straight-line graph that can be projected to show how much the water table will be lowered by pumping at any specified rate for a given time. A formula is then used to determine the size of opening, or extent of workings, necessary to provide sufficient inflow to enable pumping to be maintained at that rate. At first glance this might seem the answer to a miner's prayer, but a word of caution is in order. It may not be the whole answer. Moreover, results obtained by the method described are reliable only for conditions approximating those assumed. Even where conditions do not meet this requirement, however, it may be possible to draw helpful inferences from the results, perhaps enough to facilitate another approach to evaluation of a problem. The two formulas Mr. Stuart used, the Theis formula and the one developed from it by Cooper and Jacob, were given field checks a number of years ago in valley alluvials by the Water Supply Div. of the U. S. Geological Survey and found to be reliable when the aquifer is very large in horizontal extent and sufficiently isotropic for the test well and observation wells to be in material of the same average permeability as the saturated part of the aquifer as a whole." Extensive valley alluvials, sands, and gravels can be evaluated in this way, and there are even cases in which the method could apply to porous limestones, such as flat beds of very large areal extent that have been submerged below the water table after extensive weathering. These are sometimes prolific sources of water for towns and industries. It is necessary for them to have been above the water table for some geologically long period of time in a fairly humid climate before submergence because the necessary high porosity and permeability, and large reservoir capacity, are the result of weathering, that is, of solution by the carbonic acid (H,CO3) in rainwater formed by the absorption of CO, from the air by raindrops, and this dissolving action must cease when all the H2CO3 has been consumed by re- action with the carbonate to form the more soluble bicarbonate. Consequently this weathering process is largely restricted to a zone that does not extend much below the water level, and submergence is necessary after the weathering to provide large reservoir capacity and good hydraulic continuity. On the other hand, water courses tend to form along faults and fractures in limestone, and to become enlarged by solution, well below water level when, as often happens, fresh meteoric water is circulated rapidly through them to considerable depth by hydrostatic pressure, as through an inverted syphon. Although the reservoir capacity of such water courses is relatively small they may extend far enough to tap more prolific sources. Cavities, and sometimes caves of considerable size, are found in limestones where the acid formed by the oxidation of sulphides has attacked them. This action can take place as deep below water level as surface water is carried by syphonic or artesian circulation, because the oxygen it carries in solution will not be consumed until it reacts with some reducing agent, such as a sulphide. Moreover, the formation of acid and solution of limestone in this way is not confined to the immediate vicinity of the sulphide. Oxidation of pyrite, for example, results in formation of acid in several successive stages, each taking place as more oxygen becomes available, as by the accession of fresh water into the circulation at some place beyond the sulphides. When the acid thus formed attacks the limestone, CO, is liberated and the ultimate effect of the complete oxidation of one unit of pyrite will be the removal of six times its volume of limestone as the sulphate and bicarbonate, both of which are relatively soluble. The reaction may be continued or renewed along a water course far from the site of the sulphides, where the small electric potential produced by contact with the limestone helped to start the reaction. Mr. Stuart refers2 0 caves in the old mining area in the block of Eldorado limestone southwest of the Ruby Hill fault at Eureka, Nev., and to the cavities encountered in drillholes in the downthrown block on the other side of the fault. Although he interprets these cavities as evidence that this formation was sufficiently isotropic (evenly porous and permeable) to give reliable results by the method he describes, they may, in fact, be entirely local conditions. There is reason to think they were probably formed

Jan 1, 1956

Executive SIDNEY .J. JENNINGS, Chairman GEORGE D. BAR HON .I. E. JOHNSON, JR. EDWIN LUDLOW ROBERT M. RAYMOND Membership KARL EILERS, chairman LEWIS W. FRANCIS .1. E. JOHNSON, JR. LOUIS D. HUNTOON ARTHUR. L. WALKER Finance GEORGE D. BARRON. Chairman. CHARLES F. RAND BENJAMIN B. THAYER Library E. GYBBON SPILSBURY1 Chairman ALEX C. HUMIPHREYS3 GEORGE C. STONE .J. H. JANEWAY4 BRADLEY STOUGHTON Papers and Publications BRADLEY STOUGHTON, Chairman

Jan 10, 1918

By H. J. Ramey

The wellbore acts as a storage tank during drawdown and build-up testing and causes the sand-face flow rate to approach the constant surface flow rate as a function of time. This effect is compounded if non-Darcy flow (turbulent flow) exists near a gas wellbore. Non-Darcy flow can be interpreted as a flow-rate dependent skin effect. A method for determining the non-Darcy flow constant using this concept and the usual skin effect equation is described. Field tests of this method have identified several cases where non-Darcy flow was severe enough that gas wells in a fractured region appeared to be moderately damaged. The combination of wellbore storage and non-Darcy flow can result in erroneous estimates of formation flow capacity for short-time gas well tests. Fortunately, the presence of the wellbore storage eflect permits a new analysis which can provide a reasonable estimate of formation flow capacity and the non-Darcy flow constant from a single short-time test. The basis of the Gladfelter, Tracy and Wilsey correction for wellbore storage in pressure build-up was investigated. Results led to extension of the method to drawdown testing. If non-Darcy flow is not important, the method can be used to correct short-time gas well drawdown or build-up data. A method for estimation of the duration of wellbore storage effects was developed. INTRODUCTION In 1953, van Everdingen and Hurst generalized results published in their previous paper3 concerning wellbore storage effects to include a "skin effect", or a region of altered permeability adjacent to the wellbore. Later, Gladfelter. Tracy and Wilsey4 presented a method for correcting observed oilwell pressure build-up data for wellbore storage in the presence of a skin effect. The method depended upon measuring the change in the fluid storage in the wellbore by measuring the rise in liquid level. To the author's knowledge, application of the Gladfelter, Tracy and Wilsey storage correction to gas-well build-up has not been discussed in the literature. It is, however, a rather obvious application. Gas storage in the wellbore is a conlpressibility effect and can be estimated easily from the measured wellbore pressure as a function of time. Several approaches to the wellbore storage problem have been suggested. As summarized by Matthews, it is possible to minimize annulus storage volume by using a packer, and to obtain a near sand-face shut-in by use of down-hole tubing plug devices. Matthews and Perrine have suggested criteiia for determining the time when storage effects become negligible. In 1962, Swift and Kiel' presented a method for determination of the effect of non-Darcy flow (often called turbulent flow) upon gas-well behavior. This paper provided a theoretical basis for peculiar gas-well behavior described previously by Smith. Recently, Carter, Miller and Riley observed disagreement among flow capacity k,,h data determined from gas-well drawdown tests conducted at different flow rates for short periods of time (less than six hours flowing time). In the original preprint of their paper, Carter et al. proposed that the discrepancy in flow capacity was possibly a result of wellbore storage effects. Results of an analytical study of unloading of the wellbore and non-Darcy flow were recorded by carter.14 In the final text of their paper, Carter et al.!' stated that they no longer believed wellbore storage was the reason for discrepancy in their kgh estimates. In view of the preceding, this study was performed to establish the importance of non-Darcy flow and well-bore storage for gas-well testing. In the course of the study. a reinspection of the previous work by van Everdingen' and Hurst' was made, and the basis for the Gladfelter, Tracy and Wilsey' wellbore storage correction was investigated and extended to flow testing. WELLBORE STORAGE THEORY As has been shown by Aronofsky and Jenkins,11-12 Matthews," and others, flow of gas can often be approximated by an equivalent liquid flow system. The following developnlent will use liquid flow nomenclature to simplify the presentation. Application to gas-well cases will be illustrated later. First, we will use the van Everdingen-HursP treatment of wellbore storage in transient flow to establish (1) the duration of wellbore storage effects, and (2) a method to correct flow data for wellbore storage. DURATION OF WELLHORE STORAGE EFFECTS When an oil well is opened to flow. the bottom-hole pressure drops and causes a resulting drop in the liquid level in the annulus. If V. represents the annular volume in cu ft/ft of depth, and p represents the average density of the fluid in the wellbore, the volume of fluid at reservoir conditions produced from the annulus per unit bottom-hole pressure drop is approximately: res bbl-- (V, cu ft/ft) (144 sqin./sq ft) psi -(5.615 cu ft/bbl)(pIb/cuft) ........(I)

Jan 1, 1966

By Carl Davis

A description is given of grinding practice on the Rand and of experiments made to improve that practice. The paper includes a description of the experimental plants and methods and the results obtained. THE first tube-mill on the Rand was put into operation in May, 1904, at the Glen Deep Mine. From that time onwards, tube-mills were added to various plants, although little was known regarding the capacity of a given tube-mill when working on banket ore. Within a few years, however, the so-called standard size (length of shell 22 ft. 0 in. diameter 5 ft. 6 in.) was generally used until the last year or two. Practically the only exceptions were about 30 tube-mills having a length of 16 ft. and a diameter of 6 ft., and a few open-end mills of the roller-supported type. Most of the information obtained during the last 15 years has been obtained with mills of the standard dimensions. The adoption of the tube-mill as an accessory to the stamp mill was rapid; and where 3 tube-mills were working on the Rand at the end of 1904, 244 were in use seven years later.1 By 1910, good practice provided 1 tube-mill for 20 stamps of 2000-lb. falling weight. The horsepower of the motors driving the tube-mills had increased from. 80 to 100 and then to 125 at this date. Broadly speaking, current practice at that date aimed at a final product of which 60 per cent. was suitable for sand treatment and 40 per cent. for slime. The sand grading was +60 mesh, 6 per cent.; +90 mesh, 25 per cent.; -90 mesh, 69 per cent.; and the slime grading -200 mesh, 2 per cent.; -200 mesh, 98 per cent.

Jan 12, 1924

By Paul Weir

BLEACHING clays have been used extensively in the oil-refining industries for a number of years. Their use in water purification is relatively recent and less extensive. They are frequently classified as (1) those naturally active and (2) those active after artificial activation with acid. Fuller's earths fall within the general group of bleaching clays and gradually the commercial term "fuller's earth" has been applied to natural clays originating, for the most part, in the south- eastern section of the United States. Bentonitic clays are usually classed as activable and are prevalent in the southwestern section of the United States. Bleaching clays vary considerably in chemical and physical properties throughout the country, or even in different parts of one deposit (Table 1). [ ] The fuller's earth type of clay is characterized by a lack of plasticity, relatively adsorbent, foliated structure, and does not swell to form a

Jan 1, 1939

By J. W. Faust, H. F. John

Generalized conditions for rod or ribbon growth by the twin plane re-entrant edge mechanism are given. It was shown that this mechanism can result in growth of twinned platelets from dilute metal solutions. The platelrts 01 the fee metals are faceted by (111) planes and contain two or more twin planes. Microsegregation traces were revealed in silver grown from a thallium solution. VOGEL has already set down conditions for dendritic growth;1 however, this was the normal single-crystal dendritic growth experienced during solidification. In this work it is desired to set down the crystallographic conditions that will lead to rod or ribbon growth with smooth facets. These are as follows. a) The growth must be crystallographically limited (i.e., faceted growth). b) In order to have directed growth, some mechanism must allow easier nucleation than two-dimensional nucleation. That mechanism is afforded by the re-entrant edges at twin planes.213 Thus there must be twin planes present in the rods or ribbons. c) The growth direction must lie in the twin plane. If not, the twin plane will grow to the face or side of the ribbon and the site of easy nucleation will be lost. d) The growth direction must be parallel to at least one plane of the faceting planes, and no set of the faceting planes can be perpendicular to the growth direction. A corollary to these conditions involves the number of twin planes necessary to maintain the indestructible re-entrant edge. The number depends on the crystal structure of the material. An analysis of the data available shows that a material whose faceting planes form an open figure requires at least one twin plane while materials whose faceting planes form a closed figure require at least two twin planes in order to form the indestructible re-entrant edges for extended growth. The conditions and an assessment of the possibility of rod or ribbon growth are given in Table I for several crystal systems. As can be seen the fee, diamond and zinc blende, or-thorhombic, rhombohedral, and one form of the hexagonal lattice systems can yield this type of growth, but not the bcc metals nor the hexagonal

Jan 1, 1965

By Walter S. Weeks

The process of cooling air by allowing it to expand and do work in an engine is well known, but the theory of obtaining cold air by free expansion without the aid of an engine operating with cutoff has been little discussed. Case I If compressed air is allowed to expand to the atmospheric pressure through an orifice in an air line that is supplied by a running compressor, no cooling results except the negligible one due to the JouleThompson effect, which will not be considered in this discussion. The effect of moisture will also be neglected. Symbols P1 Absolute pressure in pipe line, lb. per sq. ft. P3 Atmospheric pressure, lb. per sq. ft. V1 Volume occupied by 1 lb. air in pipe. V3 Volume occupied by 1 lb. air at P3. C, Specific heat of air at constant volume, B.t.u. per lb. per deg. F. C, Specific heat at constant pressure, B.t.u. per lb, per deg. F. T1 Absolute temperature of air in pipe, deg. F. T8 Absolute temperature of air outside after expansion and mixing and coming to rest. j Mechanical equivalent of heat (778 ft. lb.) R Gas constant for air, ft-lb. per deg. F. = 53.3. Formulas Consider 1 lb. of air moving out of a pipe. The air behind it does work on it to the extent of P1V1 ft-lb. This work is really done by the thrust of the piston of the compressor and does not come from any energy that exists in the air in the pipe. The pound of air contains

Jan 1, 1937

By Y. C. Liu, W. R. Hibbard

Based on pole figure data and microstructural observations, the re-crystallization orientation found in a copper strip previously cold-rolled 99.5 pct from a single crystal with an initial (110) [112] orientation may be described as: a 30° rotation, clockwise and counterclockwise, about octahedral poles of the cold-rolled texture such that all four poles function at a low annealing temperature (400°C) and only three of them function at high temperatures (500' to 1050°C). The relative intensity of deformation stresses on various slip planes can be correlated with the choice of poles affecting the rotations found in the recrystallized orientations. ROTATIONAL reorientation about the poles of densely packed crystallographic planes is an important characteristic of secondary recrystallization" in face-centered cubic metals. Some evidence has also been interpreted to show that such a rotational relationship also exists in the primary recrys-tallization process." In an investigation of the crystallographic relationships in the recrystallization process, several aspects of the experimental procedure should be considered. With cold-rolled poly-crystalline metal as the initial material, pole figure analysis leaves many ambiguities as to whether or not simple indices can be assigned to adequately represent its orientation. The rolling texture does not consist of a single texture. Minor deformation textures are usually present. In all cases, twin textures are present. The presence of both minor and twin deformation textures influences the recrystallization texture. In order to study the recrystallization mechanism, a more precise knowledge of the history of the material before recrystallization is necessary. Tensile deformation of a single crystal usually produces residual stresses which are concentrated at slip bands. Since the exact nature and orientation of these potential nuclei sites cannot be experimentally evaluated, the tensile deformation of a single crystal was not considered adequate. From the work done by Barrett and Steadman6 n copper, it appeared that cold rolling of a single-crystal specimen with an initial (110) [112] orientation would yield a specimen which fulfills the conditions required for the present investigation, namely a highly preferred single rolling texture with relatively homogeneous stress distribution. By investigating the recrystallization texture of this material, additional details of reorientation during recrystallization might be obtained. The purpose of this paper is to describe such an investigation. Experimental Procedure Copper used in the present investigation was cathode sheet with a purity of 99.94 to 99.97 pct. A copper single-crystal specimen, 1.15x0.8720x0.5322 in. (thickness) was cut from a cylindrical crystal which was grown in a Bridgman furnace.' The cutting was accomplished on a horizontal milling machine operated at a very slow speed to obtain a (110) plane in the rolling plane and a [112] direction in the rolling direction. The disturbed surface was removed by electrolytic polishing in dilute orthophos-phoric acid (H3PO4) with a specific gravity of 1.14, and a current density of about 1 to 2 amp per sq cm. A 3-min polishing was needed to eliminate the disturbed surface causing Debye-Scherrer rings and a 45-min polish produced a surface which yielded sharp rounded Laue spots. It was estimated that about 1/16 in. of metal was removed from the original cut surface. The final orientation of this specimen before rolling was about 2" from the (110) plane in the rolling plane with a [112] direction aligned in the rolling direction. It is possible that a small amount of strain was still present in the cube despite the fact that the Laue spots seemed very sharp. It is doubtful, however, that this would be an important factor after a subsequent rolling reduction of 99.5 pct. This copper specimen was rolled on a laboratory rolling mill with two highly polished rolls 37/8 in. in diam in the following manner: 0.010 in. per pass to 50 pct reduction, 0.005 in. to 70 pct, 0.002 in. to 85 pct and, finally, 0.001 in. per pass to a 99.5 pct reduction. Specimens, about 1 in. sq with the rolling edges intact, were cut from the rolled strip by the electrolytic method previously described, after the strip

Jan 1, 1954

By Louis P. Gignac

INTRODUCTION The selection of trackless equipment for underground mining can be a complex engineering problem due to the wide range of equipment sizes and operating modes. Computer simulation is particularly useful in estimating the performance of different systems for specific rock- handling problems. A hybrid simulator, incorporating some of the features of deterministic and stochastic simulation, was developed in order to handle not only queuing delays at loading and dumping points, but a1 so traffic interferences. Any number of vehicles can operate in any one of four basic modes (LHD, LAF, FEL, HFC) in parallel or in series. If the units use common roadways, loading and dumping points, certain operating delays will occur and be registered by the simulator and thus give a better evaluation of the marginal productivity of each additional unit. Based on a typical layout of drawpoints and ore passes for the sub-level stoping method, productivity and operating costs of different rock-handling systems will be examined. 1 . COMPUTER SIMULATION Numerous applications of computer simulations are reported in the 1iterature for various mining problems. Depending on the complexity of the system to be studied, simulation models were conceived with different degrees of sophistication. Three different types of simulators are generally recognized: stochastic, deterministic, and hybrid. Stochastic or Monte Carl o simulation randomly generates items, transactions, or events from some population defined by a frequency distribution and produces some expected future situations. Because this type of simulation is governed by the input of probability distributions, it requires a detailed knowledge of the system to be simulated; it implies expensive and time-consuming studies and reports to gene- rate this input information. A major short- coming of stochastic techniques is in new equipment evaluation, where the lack of data is unavoidable, and in new system design where the conditions are outside the range of the known historical behavior of the equipment. However, probabilistic simulation is almost essential for the study of cyclic queues and traffic problems. Deterministic simulation studies a system by generating performances on the basis of the mechanical capabilities of the vehicles and the physical limitations of the mining scheme. It is based on the engineering principle that the engine converts its energy into a rimpull at the wheels, which is in turn opposed by the rolling resistance and the grade of the ground; the machine is accelerated or decelerated until the tractive and resistive forces are in equilibrium, at which point it moves at constant speed. The information required by this technique, such as rimpull charts and equipment weight, is readily available from equipment suppliers. However, equipment performance at the mining site is also dictated by human and environmental conditions and changes with time and usage. For this reason, deterministic simulation generally overestimates the system capabilities; these must then be adjusted by efficiency factors based on observation and experience. Recently, hybrid simulation models, using both stochastic and deterministic techniques, have been built with some of the events generated stochasticly and others being deterministic. This compromising approach originated at the Pennsylvania State University. O'Nei1 (1966) designed a simulator for truck-and- shovel operations that allows for transportation from multiple faces to mu1tiple destinations. Each truck performs according to its mechanical capabilities while its loading and dumping time and its load fluctuate according to specific probability distributions. A major advance in the simulation of mining systems is due to Sanford's model (1969) of underground coal mining operations. The originality of the model is in the use of an Executive System Control which sets up the initial system, de- fines the operation conditions , and instructs continuously four sub-assemblies representing shuttle cars, trains, continuous miners , and conveyors, which in turn generate a feed-back of their movement to the Executive Control System for further instructions. The model has enough flexibility to simulate simultaneous and sequential jobs that characterize any dynamic system. Sanford's early work evolved slowly to what is known today as the Under- ground Materials Handling Simulator for coal mining (Manula, 1974).

Jan 1, 1981

By Henry D. Hibbard

A NOTED ordnance engineer once said to a friend, in speaking of the production of great steel guns, "How is it? We design our guns with a factor of safety of eight, and the guns burst." The vague way in which internal stresses and strains in iron and steel are often considered and spoken of makes it worth-while to examine them, as to their nature, their causes and results, how they may, for useful purposes, be advantageously dealt with, and how, when detrimental or dangerous, they may be reduced or kept within harmless proportions. Rankine defines ?strain " as a change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass produced by a stress. This definition seems not intended to cover strains due to internal stresses, and it will help us in the present inquiry to consider strain as a tendency to change as well as an actual change of form. Internal strains in iron and steel are the result of stresses within the mass of the piece, some parts pulling and others pushing in resistance to them; or, in other words, some parts are in tension and some in compression, each part striving to relieve itself from strain and make the piece assume a form in which all parts are at rest. Subdivision, so that each part could relieve its strain by motion relative to the other parts, would, if carried out far enough, practically obliterate strain. The internal strains we are now to consider are not those due to the stresses of the service which the piece is rendering, either alone or as, a part of a structure, which may be termed service-strains, but those which originate or at least are contained in the piece itself. Internal stresses in a piece of metal are, like action and reaction, always equal and in opposite directions. The stresses

Sep 1, 1906

By Oliver Bowles, Carl A. Gnam

THE construction industry normally contributes extensively to the general economic welfare of all sections of the country. Billions of dollars are spent for materials and labor, and the success or failure of many business enterprises depends upon the volume of construction. The steel, aluminum, copper, cement, brick and tile, lime, gypsum, stone, sand and gravel, and several of the less prominent mineral industries are vitally concerned. Of great interest, therefore, is the accumulation of needed construction following the relative inactivity of the past five years, the recent moderate revival in building, and the prospect of a broader and more definite upturn. One may judge the magnitude of possible expenditure for construction by what has occurred in the past. The peak years were 1925 to 1928, inclusive, when the annual values of con- tracts awarded amounted to over six billion dollars. In marked contrast was the 1933 total of about 1% billion, the lowest level shown in the Federal Reserve Board Index, which goes back to 1919, and the more favorable 1935 figure of about 1.7 billion. An increase of nearly four billion over the 1935 volume would be necessary to equal the peak year 1928.

Jan 1, 1936

By G. L. F. Powell

TURNBULL and Cech1 reported undercooling small droplets (approximately 50 mp in diam) of a large number of metals by approximately 0.18 TE (TEoK = the equilibrium freezing point). This was considered to be the undercooling for homogeneous nucleation in

Jan 1, 1968

By G. E. Murray

Lead blast-furnace work at Trail is unique in that this is the only plant in the world where blast-furnace smelting on a large scale for both lead and zinc recovery is carried on under one management. On this account the factors that determine economic practice differ from those of other lead smelters. In addition to this different metallurgical outlook, a great deal of structural investigation has been carried on, which has resulted in the development of a furnace which should prove of interest to all who are faced with similar problems. This description may be conveniently divided into various heads as follows: (1) General—make-up of charge, etc.; (2) structural—(a) hoods and charging methods, (b) shaft construction, (c) crucible construction; (3) handling slag; (4) handling bullion; (5) metallurgy. The Charge The Trail plant is an old one, on a congested site. As with most old plants, this limits the method of charge preparation. In general, lead metallurgists will agree that sinter when it reaches the blast furnace should contain as small an amount as possible of actual fines. There would be some difference of opinion as to the maximum size as well as of the minimum required, but to obtain the optimum condition some form of screening is indicated. This screening should take place immediately before the blast furnace if possible, and because sinter deteriorates in storage there should be as little as possible. There should also be the minimum amount of handling between the sinter machines and the furnaces. Unfortunately, at Trail the sinter must be handled considerably before it is charged to the furnace, and no feasible scheme of screening has yet been devised. Trail practice, then, demands that the sinter be a strong one physically. Dependent upon the amount of lead in it, it has been found advantageous to incorporate granulated slag into the final sinter, the amount varying inversely as the lead content. The addition of this slag makes a harder sinter, which arrives at the blast furnace in a better condition, but it entails some lack of efficiency, because desulphuriza-tion is not so rapid nor so complete.

Jan 1, 1937

By Jim D. Mote, Eugenia M. Howard, Willis L. Barmore, John E. Dorn

The effect of stress and temperature on the creep rate of Ag-33 at. pct A1 and Ag-33 at. pct Al-1 at. pct Zn for prismatic slip was determined over a range of temperatures from 440º to 700°K. The alloys exhibited a brief initial inverted transient creep over which the creep rate increased slightly to a steady-state value which depended only on the stress and temperature, regardless of the previous strain history. The steady-state creep rates were found to be given by: where the activation energy is independent of the stress and strain and agrees fairly well with that estimated for diffusion. The observed creep behavior was shown to be in qualitative agreement with a model based on the stress-induced local disordering in the vicinity of a dislocation. OVER the past fifteen years, considerable progress has been made in correlating the experimen-entally observed plastic behavior of pure metals over each temperature range with one or more of a series of theoretical strain-rate controlling dislocation mechanisms. Despite the current interest in the plastic behavior of intermediate phases and inter metallic compounds, however, very little has been done in identifying the operative dislocation mechanisms in these materials. It is anticipated that the plastic behavior of intermediate phases can be rationalized in terms of the same dislocation mechanisms that are appropriate to pure metals and a solid solutions, provided the additional complexities arising from crystal structure, bonding, long-range order, short-range order, and defect lattices are taken into account. As part of a more extensive investigation on the plastic behavior of intermediate phases, Mote, Tanaka, and Dorn1 recently reported on the effect of temperature on the yield strength for prismatic slip in the hexagonal Ag-33 at. pct A1 intermediate phase as recorded in Fig. 1: Over Region I the deformation was observed to take place as a result of the thermally-activated Peierls mechanism, and over Region II the athermal disordering mechanism applied. The experimental data at that time, however, were not sufficiently extensive to identify the thermally activated mechanisms operative over Region III. It is the purpose of this investigation to attempt to identify the mechanisms that are operative over this high-temperature region. It will be shown that the same mechanism operates all over Region Ill, although the activation energy for this mechanism is in good agreement with that for diffusion, the process cannot be attributed either to the motion of jogged screw dislocations or the climb of edge dislocations. The results, however, are in good qualitative agreement with stress-induced disordering localized at dislocations. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The alloys studied in this investigation were prepared from silver, aluminum, and zinc (each of purity greater than 99.995 pet) by induction melting under an argon atmosphere and chill casting in a copper mold. Rectangular bar single crystal specimens (1/4 by 1/8 in. in cross-sect ion) of Ag-33 at. pct Al were grown in vacuum by a modified Bridgman technique. Similar Ag-33 at. pct Zn specimens were produced by an identical technique employing an argon atmosphere. The specimens were so oriented that the angle 90-Xo between the tensile axis and the normal to the prismatic plane and the angle A, between the tensile axis and the slip direction were 45 ± 1 deg. The effect of a change in temperature on the creep rate and a change in stress on the creep rate were determined over the temperature range

Jan 1, 1963

By E. W. Davis

THIS nation has been depending upon the Lake Superior iron ranges for most of its iron ore requirements for over half a century. Furthermore, it can continue to draw the major portion of its ore requirements from the same source for another century or more, but to accomplish this, great changes must take place in the present ore mining industry. Preliminary preparations for these changes are now underway and in the next few years decisions of far-reaching importance must be made. But to understand the situation, it is first necessary to know something of the nature and occurrence of the Lake Superior iron formation. So far as is known, the merchantable grades of iron ore remaining in the various Lake Superior ranges are as shown in Table 1, which shows that

Jan 1, 1947