Investigation into off-the-road tire performance at Aruwakkalu Quarry

Abstract

The performance of heavy mobile equipment used in the mining industry is often restricted by the capabilities of their tires. These off-the-road tires experience highly variable and complex working conditions in comparison to other commercially used tires. As a result, expenditures on tires occupy a reasonable portion of the total mining cost and off-the-road tires are prone to complex failure modes, which the studies have been limited. Lack of quantitative analysis on the performance characteristics of these tires hinders the overall productivity in mining industry, specially in local context. The paper presents a study on off-the-road tire performance conducted at two selected mine sites in Sri Lanka. Site specific operational and environmental conditions encountered by the off-the-roads tires were taken into account, to determine the modes of failure and optimum tire performance through best practices.