Cuttability characteristics of some high strength rocks for roadheader selection in Zonguldak Coalfield

10th International Symposium on Mine Planning and Equipment Selection (MPES) -- NOV 19-21, 2001 -- NEW DELHI, INDIAWOS: 000176775500109Hard coal is only exploited in Turkey in Zonguldak Coalfield and mining activities are carried out since 1848. The expected coal reserves are 1.3 billion tons, The annual production of the coal decreased dramatically for the last ten years due to the geological difficulties. However, many research works were carried out in the last years to increase the annual production and to decrease the production cost. The roadways are mainly driven in high strengths rocks with drill and blast methods, The research results discussed in this paper is a summary of a research work sponsored by The Research Fund of the Karaelmas University with the support of the Mining Engineering Department of The Technical University of Istanbul. Systematic rock samples from the rock strata were collected from the mine and these samples were subjected to the various mechanical and physical tests. These are sandstone, mudstone, shale and limestone, having compressive strength values up to 170 MPa. In the later stage, samples having size of 0.7x0.7x0.5m were subjected to the full-scale cutting tests in the laboratories of Mining Engineering Department of The Technical University of Istanbul within the facilities provided by NATO-TU Excavation Project. The cutter forces and specific energy values for different depth of cut and cutter spacing were recorded. Later, the results were discussed for the application of roadheaders equipped with conical bits and mini discs within the light of present and other ongoing research projects