Mining Engineering Commons^™

A Century Of Sediment Metal Contamination Of Mar Menor, Europe's Largest Saltwater Lagoon, Irene Alorda-Montiel, Valentí Rodellas, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Albert Palanques, Andrea G. Bravo, Júlia Rodriguez-Puig, Aaron Alorda-Kleinglass, Carlos Green-Ruiz, Marc Diego-Feliu, Pere Masqué, Javier Gilabert, Jordi Garcia-Orellana

OES Faculty Publications

Coastal enclosed ecosystems, such as lagoons, are vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts because they favor the accumulation of contaminants from the surrounding watersheds, particularly in their sediments. Europe's largest saltwater lagoon, the Mar Menor (SE, Iberian Peninsula), is a highly impacted ecosystem and the first in the continent to be granted personhood rights. Based on a high-resolution spatial and temporal dataset, we present the historical reconstruction of metal contamination in this ecosystem during the last century. Our results highlight that sediment metal contamination has been mainly driven by the development of the mining industry in the nearby Sierra Minera de Cartagena-La …

Optimization Model For Maintenance Planning Of Loading Equipment In Open Pit Mines, Farshid Javadnejad, Mohammad Reza Sharifi, Mohammad Hossein Basiri, Bakhtiar Ostadi

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Maintenance plays a significant role in operating costs in the mining industry. Improving this matter controls maintenance costs and enhances productivity and production effectively. Shovels are one of the most widely used loading machines in non-continuous activities. Thus, evaluating and optimizing their availability is one of the essential solutions to achieving high productivity and cost reduction. This paper presents a mathematical programming model to maximize availability and minimize the total expected costs. We programmed the proposed nonlinear planning model using the Symbiotic Organisms Search (SOS) meta-heuristic algorithm in Matlab software. It determines the optimal maintenance intervals for different parts of …

Nonlinear Wave Evolution In Interaction With Currents And Viscoleastic Muds, Elham Sharifineyestani, Navid Tahvildari

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A numerical model is extended to investigate the nonlinear dynamics of surface wave propagation over mud in the presence of currents. A phase-resolving frequency-domain model for wave-current interaction is improved to account for wave modulations due to viscoelastic mud of arbitrary thickness. The model compares well with published laboratory data and performs slightly better than the model with viscous mud-induced wave damping mechanism. Monochromatic and random wave simulations are conducted to examine the combined effect of currents, mud-induced wave dissipation and modulation, and nonlinear wave-wave interactions on surface wave spectra. Results indicate that current effects on wave damping over viscoelastic …

Turbulent Flow Studies Of A Scaled Model Of A Large Mining Truck - Computations And Experiment, Wayne Randolph Sexton

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Modern mining operations are highly reliant on the amount of material that can be removed from the earth, transported to processing, and then processed. The companies that design and build mining dump trucks concentrate on improving the material payload capacity. Currently, the largest trucks are 400ton-class trucks. The design of these large mining dump trucks certainly does not stem from aerodynamics, but rather, from functionality and payload As a result, the shear size and asymmetric functional design creates interesting turbulent wakes on, around, and behind these trucks. This research focuses on the turbulent flow behind the truck. Computational Fluid Dynamic …

The Effects Of Offshore Mining Of Beach Quality Sediments On Nearshore Wave Climate, Frank R. Lonza

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Coastal communities rely on the beaches to attract tourism, but these sources of revenue require maintenance, such as beach nourishment. In an effort to maintain these beaches without causing any detrimental results, research is conducted to determine what effects, if any, exist when mining for sand in offshore areas.

The U.S. Government is permitting the search for beach quality sands offshore but is also ensuring that such mining will not have adverse results to the nearshore wave climate. This study was conducted using a coarse grid bathymetric map to calibrate a numerical model developed by the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI). …

Mine Warfare In The Russian And Soviet Navies, Jeffrey K. Bray

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the development of technology, tactics, strategy, and organization of mine warfare in the Russian and Soviet navies from 1807 to the present. The author reviews the trials and tribulations of the development of naval mines and their employment within these two navies. This development has been primarily driven by the needs of war and advances of technology. In spite of occasional setbacks, the Russian and Soviet mine warfare forces continued to provide support to the overall naval and central policies of their respective governments. This support has often been during times of high tension and limited resources. …

Mining The Deep Seabed Implications For International Law And American Foreign Policy, Steven H. Fitzgerald

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Whether or not the United States may someday face a mineral shortage, the need for a coherent, unified minerals policy is critical to national objectives and national security. Deep-sea mining may be the answer to American (and world) mineral needs in the twenty-first century. However, there are numerous problems which must be dealt with and resolved in the near future, in order to enable the U.S. (and the world community) to take advantage of vast undersea resources. Deep-sea mining requires the development of technology, tremendous capital investments, and years of labor before production can begin. U.S. policy makers must decide …

Electroplating, James G. Farrell

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

Electrometallurgical industries comprise an important segment of the world's manufacture of metal products. These industries involve three major categories: electrowinnowing, electrorefining and electroplating. Electrowinnowing consists of purifying raw ore to a relatively pure metal by electrolysis. Extraction of aluminum from bauxite is an example. Electrorefining involves electrolysis of metallic solutions to recover or produce extremely pure metal. Recovery of precious metals is often done by electrorefining. Electroplating involves the coating of one metal or object with another metal for various reasons. The chief reasons are the protection of a part from corrosion or its beautification. Another type of electroplating is …