Static and Dynamic Loads in a Scaled Ore Pass

ABSTRACT: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has identified ore pass failure as a significant safety, problem in underground metal mines. Analysis of some previous failures suggests that ordinary service loads of ore passes are exceeding the anticipated design loads. Field tests of a one-third scale model of an actual are pass were conducted in Spokane, Washington to determine the static and dynamic loads on the gate and the distributions between static and dynamic loads with increasing height of material. The effect of adding springs to the gate structure to dissipate energy due to dynamic loads was also investigated. Materials used were river gravel and crushed rock. The static results· were compared to classical bin-load theory. Some variation from classical bin-load theory was observed and suggests that some modifications of the theory may be required.