Research
From prominent industries to health and safety organizations to hi-tech labs a mile underground, our research spans the globe.
At South Dakota Mines, research doesn’t always begin with a doctorate. Even freshmen dive in from day one, surveying underground and training with mine rescue teams at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, landing industry internships, or embarking
on senior design projects focused on research and development.
Recent Grants Focus On Mine Safety and Industry Support
Dr. Robert Hall - Research Interests
My research focuses on improving the operations of mechanical
equipment in the mining industry. To do this I have been targeting a variety of
projects with differing companies and integrating expertise from other disciplines.
My efforts to improve the current state of mining equipment can be categorized
into these areas: machine maintenance and reliability, comminution and energy
reduction, and intelligent machines.
Maintenance and Reliability
I have been actively involved in this area for the last 20 years
and consider it a strategic area for continued research. I intend to continue
to use collaborative projects with Industry for collecting data and to apply
statistics, neural nets and other data mining tools to deepen the understanding
of equipment behavior in the mine. Parallel to this the industry interaction
allows a gradual migration of tools and skills to the sponsoring companies.
This is done via formalized training courses as well as from normal project
interactions.
Once an understanding of the equipment, its environment and
corresponding interactions is developed this knowledge can be used to assess
strategies for optimization of management procedures, equipment selection and
life cycle planning. The ultimate result will be tools developed
(software\hardware and business processes) from the research that will assist
the industry in becoming more cost effective and efficient.
Comminution Technologies and Energy Reduction
I am interested in understanding the mechanisms of comminution
and how improvements can be made in design and selection of equipment for
specific applications. This has led to work in evaluating wear in gyratory
crushers, scale up technologies for stirred mills and energy evaluation of high
pressure grinding rolls. I believe there is much to be learned in this area and
would continue to pursue research in this area. Parallel to this is an interest
in wear and its mitigation. This is a significant area for mining that has not
been well addressed by academics to date.
Intelligent Machines
Much of the existing work on automation of mining equipment has
been on applying technology to existing equipment designs. As well, the
majority of the work has been for underground mining equipment. I am pursuing
work on open pit equipment automation using advance controls systems and vision
Over the last several years I have been working on intelligent digging funded
both by NSERC and Industry. This research has opened several areas for
development.
Improving Mine Ventilation
With the discovery of near-surface mineral deposits declining, exploring for deep-seated deposits and finding innovative ways to mine them is one solution to meet the ever-growing need. Awarded $1.25 million from the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health, Assistant Professor Purushotham Tukkaraja, PhD, will design more advanced underground ventilation systems in underground block caving mines to create safer working environments and more profitable production for companies.
Learn more about Tukkaraja’s research.
A Different Kind of Pipeline
Boasting industry experience stretching from North and South American to Africa, Associate Professor Andrea Brickey, PhD, is now applying her expertise to rebuilding the faculty pipeline in US universities. Brickey’s $300,000 SME award will fund
undergraduate and graduate students to further her research on hi-tech simulation and mine planning, as well as professional development opportunities. Read more about Brickey’s industry background and research.