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By Jean-Christophe Ehrström, Fanny Mas

"A specific test set-up has been developed to study at the lab-scale the high-temperature behavior of aluminium alloys in conditions close to those experienced by thick plates during hot-rolling. A particular attention is paid to reproducing both the stress triaxiality and strain fields that exist in plate during rolling. In addition to standard ductility measurements by means of secondary tensile tests (STT), multi-step plane strain compression (PSC) tests have been performed to mimic hot-rolling pass schedules. Tool and sample geometries were adapted to allow low h/a ratios (h= average specimen thickness, a= tool width) and thus guarantee depressive stress conditions at the center of the specimen during most of the test. Such conditions resulting in porosity opening can then be used to investigate the impact of rolling conditions on damage evolution. The mechanical testing was combined with post-mortem high-resolution ultrasonic scans allowing to detect small amounts of damage and quantify its evolution as a function of processing parameters such as strain and temperature. The test set-up was validated on two 2050-type AlCuLi alloys with different susceptibilities to high temperature embrittlement.INTRODUCTION Aluminium thick plates are widely used in the aerospace industry, mainly as semi-products to be machined for internal structure parts of wings (spars, ribs) and fuselage (frame). The conversion route of such products always involves a hot-rolling step, the conditions of which (temperature, speed, pass schedule) have to be optimized to maximize both mechanical properties and final plate quality. This goal cannot always be efficiently achieved by full-scale industrial trials as (a) cost limits the number of possible test conditions and (b) it is often difficult to change one parameter alone. That is why there is a need for laboratory-scale tests able to mimic the rolling process in terms of temperature, strain rate, stress triaxiality and deformation. Most laboratory hot-rolling mills do not adequately simulate industrial processing routes, especially in terms of heat loss, deformation speed and rolling geometry (maximum roll gap vs. work roll diameter). Concerning thick plate, it is of interest to achieve both similar deformation and L/h ratio (L=arc of contact, h=mean gauge) per pass as the industrial schedule because they are simultaneously involved in damage evolution and void closure during hot forming processes (Saby, 2014)."

Jan 1, 2018

By B. Wasmund, B. Haneman, G. Sheehan

Success in implementing new technology for metallurgical processes is not a foregone conclusion: This paper includes a survey of 23 new technology-based metallurgical plant start-ups, in which the authors have identified 7 successes, 9 difficult start-ups, and 7 failures. Success is defined not only as meeting the schedule and budget to the end of mechanical completion; the key goal is a fast ramp up to the full design production level, with minimum plant and equipment modifications required after start-up. This paper sets out the key factors that underlie achievement of a quick production ramp up curve, as determined from the authors' project experiences and a quantitative analysis of over twenty metallurgical plant start-ups, both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical. Thorough test-work and pilot plants, plus appropriate scale-up to the full commercial plant, are key determinants of success in implementing new technology in metallurgical processes. Another critical factor is the number of new elements and their interactions. Project phasing is also particularly important for new technology projects, with appropriate review after each phase to develop a risk mitigation plan for the subsequent phase. New technology projects need committed champions to advance the project in the face of sceptics, but also require dispassionate and unbiased experts to ask the hard questions. As a project evolves, it is important to periodically question the appropriateness of assumptions, as well as to re-assess the relevance and completeness of data from test-work I pilot plants I industrial analogues. Sufficient human and financial resources are required to complete the often arduous implementation phase. During the ramp-up period, the operation generates little positive cash flow; however, significant expertise and capital are required for the de-bottlenecking projects that are often necessary to reach the plant's design output level.

Jan 1, 2011

By Michel Épiney, COREM, Mario Drapeau, Caroline Olsen, Claude Bolduc, Benoit Levasseur

"Several metal sulfide minerals (such as copper, zinc and iron), generally abundant in precious metal-containing ores, are known to dissolve during the cyanidation process. These unwanted reactions consume a significant amount of cyanide and oxygen, which is required for the extraction of gold and silver. Leaching kinetics of sulfide minerals are very fast in contact with oxygenated cyanide solutions. Therefore, the solution quickly becomes charged with oxidation products that are mostly metal ions, metallo-cyanide complexes, metal oxides and other sulfur species including thiocyanate, sulfides, polysulfides, thiosulfate, sulfites, sulfates, etc. COREM’s Extractive Metallurgy team has been conducting a research program on the improvement of the gold cyanidation process. As a part of this program, the current study aims to investigate the effect of certain operating parameters on the reactions involved during pre-oxidation and cyanidation. The effect of pre-treatment under ozone was investigated using an industrial pulp recreated from process water (charged with thiocyanates) and homogenized flotation tailings material from Agnico Eagle's LaRonde mine. In terms of mechanisms, the ozone treatment provides a complete deactivation of the material surface (characterized by EDTA extraction) and the solution (characterized by Ionic chromatography). This resulted in a lower reactivity of sulfide minerals that led to substantial gains in terms of consumption of cyanide and thiocyanate formation during the cyanidation process. The ozone-pre-treatment edges the classical pre-oxidation treatment (such as oxygen, hydrogen peroxides, etc) providing a quicker deactivation of the sulfide matrix and higher reagent savings in subsequent cyanidation process.INTRODUCTIONThe presence of sulfur in the process of gold leaching by cyanidation is a major drawback to optimizing the reagents consumption with suitable operating conditions. The coexistence of sulfide mineral species, such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite or sphalerite along with the gold-bearing ore have, indeed, a negative impact on the extraction of precious metals by cyanidation (Bayat et al., 2003), (Azizi et al., 2010). These minerals are known to dissolve with cyanide under alkaline conditions and release in the slurry different kinds of sulfide by-products like polysulfides, thiosel, sulfite and sulfate (Seal II & Hammarstrom, 2003) (Breuer et al., 2008a), (Marsden & House, 2006) (Ghasemian Langeroudi et al., 2013). Once these sulfide by-products are released in solution they react with cyanide to form thiocyanate (Marsden & House, 2006) (Breuer et al., 2008b). The consequence of the dissolution of these cyanicides, is a significant increase in cyanide consumtpion as well as a slow-down of gold extraction."

Jan 1, 2016

By William Winsor, Harold L. Snyder

"AbstractShould oil and gas be proven in commercial quantities on the Labrador Shelf, current technology is not adequate for production operations in this severe environment, which includes yearly invasion of pack ice and icebergs. The fishery of this section of the North Atlantic is a vital resource to which a major oil spill or blow-out would impose an intolerable burden, This means that production systems must be designed and built to be fail-safe.The experiences of mining in Bell Island and Cape Breton have shown that it is possible to operate beneath the ocean floor, and this technology may hold the key for safe, reliable and economic production, This paper attempts to define particular problems and outline possible solutions.IntroductionOUR DISCUSSION is subject to the assumption that large hydrocarbon reservoirs will be discovered in the sedimentary basin of the Labrador continental margin. The petroleum industry has not attempted to operate in a harsher area. The Labrador coastline is exposed to North Atlantic storms and icebergs year’round, Arctic pack ice occurs up to six months of each year. However, there is no doubt that, if sufficient hydrocarbon potential is outlined, development will proceed."

Jan 1, 1977

By W. H. Miller

Introduction In this paper we have endeavoured to present a general description of the electrical applications underground at Copper Mountain, including types of equipment used, problems encountered, and methods by which they were overcome. No attempt has been made to outline in detail the wiring of various circuits. Until recent years, the main use of electrical energy underground at Copper Mountain consisted of direct current for locomotives, trolley systems, .and signal and communication circuits. The prohibitive cost of equipment and distribution systems prevented any extensive use of a.c. beyond that commonly used for essential lighting purposes. However, in 1943 the shortage of manpower and the increased cost of labour and supplies necessitated a general mechanization programme.

Jan 1, 1951

By J. C. Gathje

Newmont acquired the Phoenix Project through the acquisition of Battle Mountain Gold in 2000. Shortly after the acquisition, Newmont Metallurgical Services (NMS) and Nevada Operations began development work on a process to Pressure Oxidize (PDX) precious metal rich copper concentrates from Phoenix using the Lone Tree PDX facilities at Valmy, Nevada. The high precious metals content of the Phoenix concentrate - Au up to -300 g/t and especially Ag, up to -1700 g/t - led Newmont to the development of a High Temperature PDX process that achieves high cyanide leach recovery of Au and Ag, from the PDX solids, without the requirement for a messy and expensive "lime boil" or sulphate destruction process. Base metals content in Phoenix concentrates range from: 15-25 % for Cu, 1-10 % for Zn and 0-2 % for Pb. Excellent solution extraction of Cu and Zn is achieved while Pb is precipitated in the PDX residue. In addition to achieving high Au and Ag recovery this process produces very clean PDX discharge liquors that require minimum effort to remove contaminant metals and PDX solids that have superior settling and filtration characteristics. All of these factors contribute to lower capital and operating costs for the overall process. This paper describes the laboratory and PDX pilot plant developments for this process.

Jan 1, 2004

By A. R. Naji Meidani, A. Cameron, A. Richardson, M. Isac, R. I. L. Guthrie

The supersonic core of shrouded jets remain coherent over longer distances vs conventional supersonic jets. This phenomenon should allow for greater penetration of oxygen into slag/steel reactor systems. As such, they hold the promise for faster slag/metal mixing in BOF type metallurgical reactor systems, possibly creating greater surface area/volume ratios of reacting phases, and thereby faster kinetics, as compared to conventional supersonic jet systems. In order to assess the potential of shrouded supersonic jets versus their conventional counterparts, an experimental investigation of impinging shrouded supersonic jets into a water model of a simplified BOF system was carried out in the MMPC's water modelling laboratory. The experimental results for three different designs of a shrouded supersonic jet nozzle have been compared in terms of greater penetration depths and reduced mixing times. Based on a novel dimensional analysis, the depth of penetration of a gas jet into a liquid bath is shown to depend on the nozzle-bath distance, the liquid's Froude, Reynolds and Weber numbers, reflecting the ratios of gravity, viscous and surface tension forces to the jet's inertial, or momentum, forces. Good agreement between the mathematical model and experiment was obtained in terms of predicted and observed depths of penetration. Further efforts have been made to study jet penetration into liquid metals. The effects of mean liquid density of slag/metal mixtures and a wide range of gas flow rates on the penetration depth were investigated theoretically. The results show that the penetration depth can be increased with increasing gas flow rate and decreased bath density.

Jan 1, 2004

By Knud Sinding

Many industries have established their own systems for self-regulation. They often do so when companies operate in countries where financial, technical, environmental and social regulation is weak and when the industry is challenged by legitimacy issues related to behaviour in one of these areas. Mining is one industry that has progressed unevenly down the road of self-regulation in these areas. This paper examines how the development of self-regulation for mines and mining companies involves difficult questions of scope, rules, membership, assessment criteria and performance evaluation. Using a range of theoretical and empirical results from research on self-regulation, performance rating and corporate strategy, this paper analyses the strategic and operational issues related to the idea of self-regulation in the mining industry. The analysis indicates that while self-regulation may bring benefits to members, they are likely to take a long time coming; but when they do arrive they may be substantial. Using the fact that in relation to technical and financial issues the industry is quite experienced in self-regulation ? not least as it is more reluctant in areas such as environmental and social performance ? the case is made for a comprehensive and innovative approach, that draws on the areas where the industry is experienced and develops new institutional solutions in the areas where the industry is more reluctant.

Aug 1, 2013

By Wei Wang

The SMCO copper plant is located in DR Congo, and was designed by China NERIN Engineering Co., Ltd. The process is a typical hydrometallurgical plant with Leach-SX-EW, with the project treating the oxide minerals with agitation leaching, followed with three stage of solvent extraction and two stages of stripping, and using permanent SS cathodes to produce LME grade copper. Because of the special characteristic of the ore, what contains 2 different type of oxides (one high carbonate oxide and the other low carbonate), there are several new technical measures that have been developed and adopted for the plant. For example, different grinding, leaching, and filtering are used to treat different oxides. This paper, presents the project process, engineering design, construction and commissioning. The paper also describes some of the problems encountered during plant commissioning, such as the agitation leaching tank issues, and corrosion in the settler-mixer. This paper discusses some NERIN solutions to these problems, and explains the use of the CN filter, which is used to filter PLS to treat high level suspend solids, instead of the traditional sand filter. Finally, this paper also proposes steps / measures for further improvement for future plant operation.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. J. Brown

This paper presents an economic evaluation of resin ion exchange and solvent extraction for the purification and concentration of uraniferous solutions derived from sulphuric acid leaching operations. Capital and operating costs are related to the uranium tenors of pregnant solutions. The conclusions drawn herein apply only to cases where resin and liquid ion exchange are technically feasible process alternatives. It is shown that solvent extraction is economically favoured for pregnant solutions at tenors greater than 0.90 gpl U3O8. Pregnant solutions with tenors below 0.35 gpl U3O8 are best treated by resin ion exchange. Between these concentrations, the economics are marginal and the favoured process is indistinguishable within the limits of accuracy of this study.

Jan 1, 1979

By Scott Hean

"Environment and the economy are interwoven irrevocably. They need to be publicly discussed, and discussed often so that new approaches can be understood and developed - approaches which are complimentary, not confrontational.Discussion on the environment is timely, from the perspective of mining engineers and developers, from that of bankers and from their shared perspective as people concerned with enhancing the quality of life, the environment and the economy.This paper will touch on how what is called the ""environmental economy "" that has evolved has become entangled with regulatory and financial issues in a way that is dangerous for all of us. It will also look at some of the promising possibilities that a world-wide and continuing concern for the environment holds out for us.For many decades, British Columbia has provided some of the key examples of the intertwining of environmental and economic issues, and, very importantly, providing the people prepared to do something about them.Canada's first environment minister, the late Jack Davis, came from British Columbia. He led this country's delegation to the Stockholm Environment Conference in 1972, a conference that laid the groundwork of principles necessary to establish some international certainty as to the legal liability for causing trans-national environmental damage.Another British Columbian who was also a national environment minister, John Fraser - now the Speaker of the House of Commons - was one of the first to dramatize the importance of acid rain and force it into the international public arena.Some 20 years ago, British Columbians made Vancouver and their province one of the major centres of opposition to the Alaska Pipeline and Tanker System - with some justification, it now seems.That a British Columbian , then MP David Anderson, was given legal recognition to sue in a United States' court against a system that was either in U.S. territory or international waters was an important precedent in, and of, itself in terms of environmental law. That old controversy is now a very current case study - in terms of dealing with the question of liability.-"

Jan 1, 1991

Phelps Dodge has recently operated a commercial scale, super fine grinding circuit of copper concentrates for use in a medium-temperature pressure leaching process. Two 355 kW vertical stirred mills were installed in series, targeting a grind of 80% passing 7.5 µm and 98% passing 15 µm as outlined in Phelps Dodge's concentrate leaching patent portfolio. This paper details the operation and results of the test program at Bag dad, as well as some of the operating challenges encountered.

Jan 1, 2007

By G. B. Hudson

Previous papers (1, 2) pertaining to the treatment of uranium-bearing ores were concerned with the flotation of the radioactive minerals. In this investigation, the application of flotation to the removal of acid-consuming minerals from uranium ores was considered. Two pitchblende-bearing ores, which, because of the presence if dolomite were abnormally high acid consumers, were studied. In both in-stances commercial reagents of widely varying fatty acid composition proved satisfactory as flotation col-lectors, particularly at a pH of 10.5, for the carbonate minerals. From an economic viewpoint, however, Neo-Fat 42-12 was favoured. A mixture of sodium tripolyphosphate and citric acid was an effective depressant for the pitchblende in the ores. The tailings remaining after the removal of the dolomite by flotation contained, in one case, 88.5 per cent of the uranium in the original sample, and, in the other, 93.8 per cent. Analyses conducted on these tailings and on the original ores showed that

Jan 1, 1963

By Horace Freeman

"IN THE writer's opinion, the most important industrial re-search problems in Canada concern development of technology for the treatment and commercial utilization of the recent discoveries of v.ast quantities of easily concentrated iron ores in both eastern and western Canada. They exist in both magnetite and hematite forms. The subject is doubly important because of the lack of metallurgical coking coal in Canada. Methods for utilizing our lower grade eastern and western coals for reduction purposes must be developed. We are fortunate in our supplies of oil and gas, which can supply the heat requirements for processing or for thermal electric plants, which are now competitive with hydro-electric plants in the industrial areas. These are among the reasons which have prompted the writer to continue the development of the co-current rotary kiln direct-reduction process outlined •in his report to this Institute at the 1956 Annual Meeting ( 1) in the face of the scepticism which has surrounded the numerous costly failures in 'sponge' or 'direct' iron production. The work involved in bringing the concentrating ores of Canada to the metallic state involves, firstly, concentration of the ores; secondly, preparing the concentrates for reduction; thirdly, reduction of the 'reconstructed' ore; and finally the steel making process. These briefly will be dealt with in order, giving emphasis to the most important of these steps, the reduction process which is the main subject of this paper."

Jan 1, 1959

By William C. Martin

"Consolidated Sudbury Basin Mines Limited owns two mines, 4 miles apart, near the southwest end of Sudbury Basin. The Errington mine lies close to the north boundary of Creighton Township and about 18 miles by car from Sudbury. The Vermilion Lake mine is in Fairbank Township, on the south side of Vermilion Lake.The first discovery of base-metal mineralization within Sudbury basin was made by James Stobie in 1897 at Stobie Falls on the Vermilion River, half a mile west of the Errington mine. A few years later Alphonse Oilier made a discovery of massive pyrite with base-metal sulphides near the west end of the present Errington workings.No work of consequence was done on these discoveries until 1924, when Joseph Errington acquired options on a large acreage of ground which was later taken over by the Treadwell Yukon Company Limited. After considerable diamond drilling this company sank No. 1 shaft in 1926. In the next three years, a large amount of underground development was done, a pilot mill was constructed and operated for two years. All operations ceased in 1931 with the fall in metal prices. While in operation the pilot mill treated 186,172 tons of ore the average grade of which was 1·07 per cent copper; 1 10 per cent lead; 4·60 per cent zinc; 0·03 ounces gold; and 1 70 ounces silver.Up to the time of closing in 193 l there had been completed at the mine 26, 790 feet of lateral work and 75,500 feet of surface and underground diamond drilling. The company records, however, showed no figures on ore reserves, except broken ore in stopes amounting to about 60,000 tons. A study of the plans, prior to reopening the mine in 1952, showed 1,450 lineal feet of ore (at 1952 prices) opened up by drifting on the 300-foot and 500- foot levels. It is clear that no comprehensive picture of the structure was had at this time. The orebodies were considered to be very irregular pods scattered through masses of quartzite-carbonate in a sheared zone about 800 feet wide. In some way the ore was believed to be related to the tuff-slate contact zone. With this picture it was impossible to make a reasonable ore estimate or even gauge the tonnage potentialities with any feeling of reliability."

Jan 1, 1949

By M. Noaparast, N. Nickoletopoulos, André R. Laplante

"This paper presents an application of the use of synthetic ores to study gold recovery by gravity. Three case studies are presented: the first focuses on the use of tungsten to study applications of Knelson Concentrators for upgrading gravity concentrates; the second on tungsten again, in this case to study the performance of a 86 Falcon Concentrator; and the third on lead to mimic gold's grinding behaviour.It is shown that the use of synthetic ores with metallic substitute for gold is not only expedient, but it can also lead to an increased understanding of separation and grinding mechanisms, because of the more accurate results and controlled particle shapes. The case studies highlight the problems associated with gold particle flakiness and gangue density. The grinding behaviour of malleable materials is shown to be complex, as particles can migrate to coarser size classes by flattening and cold welding, and to finer size classes by folding and actual breakage.IntroductionThe title of this contribution is not entirely misleading. Mineral processing has much to do with philosophy, rather Philosophy, as described by Georgius Agricola:""Furthermore, there are many arts and sciences of which the miner should not be ignorant. First there is Philosophy, that he may discern the origin, cause, and nature of subterranean things; for then he will be able to dig out the veins easily and advantageously, and to obtain more abundant results from his mining. ""1"

Jan 1, 1995

By S P. Giambra

The 50,000-ton-per-day Concentrator and Crushing Plant, complete with its related water supply, tailings disposal and concentrate handling systems, was started up in a five-month period, with the entire plant obtaining its design capacity six months after the first mill became operational. Individual mill lines, with their spiral circuits, achieved design capacities within a week after the first treatment of ore through each mill. Construction and start-up proceeded together in many areas of the plant, and considerable organization and cooperation between the Owner, the Engineer and the Contractors permitted a smooth transition from construction to operation. PLANT DESCRIPTION THE Carol Lake Plant of the Iron Ore Company of Canada l1as been well described in various technical magazines. The purpose of this paper is to present a brief outline of the start-up of the con-centration complex. This start-up was accomplished in a period of five months, with the plant producing one million tons of concentrate and achieving its design-rated tonnage less than six months after the first ore was treated.

Jan 1, 1963

By R. Stach, S. Gola, P. Zgrzebski, K. Soroko

"The future of Polish copper mines KGHM Polish Miedz S.A. will be associated with mining at depth. At present, technologically advanced measures are being introduced to minimize the adverse influence of the environmental hazards on people working underground. Polkowice-Sieroszowice mine is the only mine in Poland where mining takes place in copper and salt deposits. On the basis of the current and anticipated methods of ventilation of a selected ore deposits the paper will analynze a number of solutions enabling planned mining of copper ore deposit, while minimizing the impact of natural aerological hazards in working areas. INTRODUCTION The future of copper ore mining, carried out by KGHM Polska Miedz S.A., will be based on mining from continuously greater depths (Butra, 2015). It is forecast that this will be accompanied by an increasing climatic hazard, resulting from an increase in the original temperature of rocks of more than 45°C as well as gas and geodynamic hazards (Soroko, 2015; Andrusikiewicz, 2015). Due to the safety of underground teams, a need arises to develop methods eliminating the adverse impact of the natural hazards, down to a level enabling the mining activity to be carried out on an industrial scale while maintaining favourable economic parameters. Current depths of the copper ore deposit being developed are effectively verifying the technical methods and measures employed to date for eliminating the natural aerological hazards. Amounts of air supplied to mining areas, with lengthy transport routes, are becoming insufficient for miners’ temperature safety, whereas increasing the power of cooling air-conditioning stations for cooling the air undermines the economic legitimacy. However, along with the temperature hazard, a significant problem at the current depths is an increase in gaseous occurrences in the headings’ areas. The concentrations of natural harmful gases found, even with the values below the permissible concentrations, in the case of limited amounts of air and/or low airflow rates, may pose a considerable danger to the workers. The hazards referred to are currently the major factors determining the advance of headings, above all in mining sections, being the outcome of geological structure and depth of lying of a deposit. However, at the current depths of mining minerals from deposits, room-and-pillar mining systems employed also have a decisive impact on the increase in natural aerological hazards."

Jan 1, 2019

By J. A. Herbst

Professor Klaus Schönert and his students used fundamental physics to develop many of the principles required for the design and scale-up of "Gutt Bett Zerkleinern" devices such as the high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) or the high pressure roll crusher (HPRC). As the equipment evolved so have the tools used for its selection and analysis. In the current paper discrete element modeling (DEM), Metso's proprietary Fast Breakage simulations, and Schönert's packed bed piston test are combined with energy based population balance models (PBM) to yield an alternative to ore characterization and equipment selection by pilot plant testing. The resulting methodology is used to take the next step in understanding these devices with a view toward predicting plant performance. This paper describes a journey beginning with precise modeling of a small HPGR including stud geometry and system hydraulics. A key to predicting performance is the accurate modeling of individual particles, their motion in the machine, the probability of breakage and redistribution of fragments, and the inter-particle breakage events that occur between the rolls at different pressures, speeds and moisture levels. Advanced DEM simulations and particle breakage characterization methods provide the necessary technology. The resulting combined models were validated using a small diameter laboratory scale unit. The validated physics based model was used then used to predict the performance of plant scale units using a specific energy based scale-up method. Scale-up results are analyzed in terms of power draw, throughput, and discharge product size distribution.

Jan 1, 2012

By F. Vahdatikhaki

Simulation techniques have offered significant boosts toward a cost-and-time-optimized planning of construction projects by enabling project managers to effectively comprehend the behavior of projects. Using historic data from projects of like nature, simulation considers uncertainties involved in a project through accommodating the stochastic modeling parameters. However, the heavy reliance on the statistical data and not taking into account the context-specific features of the project cause the degradation in the realism and accuracy of the simulation models. Similarly, the extent to which a historic pattern could be retrofitted to new projects will decrease in line with the growing uniqueness of the projects and the novelty of construction methods. Furthermore, the existing real-time simulation frameworks are not capable of distinguishing the transient environmental changes, with minimal long-term impacts on the productivity, from the influential changes that will greatly impact an operation. In addition, existing simulation tools are devoid of location awareness, resulting in the inability to consider safety threats in their representation of the project. To address these issues, this research proposes a framework based on the integration of new tracking technologies used in Automated Machine Guidance (AMG) with simulation-driven 4D modeling methods. The proposed framework automates the adjustment of the simulation model based on the updated data from the site, and thus transforms simulation from a predictive tool used at the planning phase to a proactive monitoring platform usable throughout the planning and construction phases. A prototype is developed to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Aug 1, 2013