HAUL ROAD DESIGN FOR OFF-HIGHWAY MINING EQUIPMENT

SUBJECT TO VERY HIGH WHEEL LOADS

O.C. WILLIAMSON, Dip. C.E., M.I.E. Aust., REAAA

Superintendent Engineer, BHP Engineering Brisbane

ABSTRACT

The paper describes the present state of the art regarding the design, and construction of Haul
Roads for off-highway mining equipment and outlines the philosoohy that BHP Engineering {BHPE)
uses when optimising a design using local or in situ materials versus costs.
The paper also looks at design criteria commonly adopted for pavements and road layouts for
large mining equipment.

INTRODUCTION However, I would like the reader to

appreciate that this paper only addresses
1. BHP Engineering {BHPE) due to the area of geometric design and pavement
their valuable links with the operating thicknesses as all the topics covered in the
centres of BHP in their Coal, Manganese and manual are so varied that it would take many
Iron Ore mines have been able to develop and papers to address them fully.
refine the design of haul roads using long
term site experience and proven local data. All haul roads must be designed for the
Because of this many standard design specific site conditions occurring at that
practices have been modified and reassessed location and hence all the information must
to give more appropriate and cost effective be professionally assessed and related to
road pavements and geometry. all past experiences and site knowledge.
In an attempt to collate a large amount of The 4 most significant factors which control
this available experience and information, a the design of a haul roads can be
Haul Road Manual, a BHP Engineering internal categorized as follows:
publication {Williamson 1984), covering the
following major headings, has been compiled
for the use of BHPE's tngineers as a guide a) Purpose of use:
to better haul road designs. - m1n1ng method
- Trucks - how many
It covers the major areas of:- - how big/load type
- etc.
o Planning of a haul roads - Geometry/layout
o Road pavement, geometry and
cross-section design b) Availability of qood quality pavement
o Drainage material
o Run away vehicle, and safety prov1s1ons
o Advisory signs and roadside furniture c) Climate and Drainage
o Road maintenance procedures
o Economic considerations. d) Cost

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank the General Manager of BHP Engineering, Mr. Paul Jeans,
for the opportunity to prepare and publish this paper.

13th ARRB/5th REAAA, 1986 123

 WILLIAMSON- HAUL ROAD DESIGN
THE STATE OF THE ART
2. During the past 30 years, surface
mine haulage equipment has developed from
trucks capable of moving 20 tonnes of
material to vehicles that transport as much
as 250 tonnes. Unfortunately, the design of
roads that this equipment must traverse has
not advanced at the same rate. Many road
engineers treat haul roads as large rural
roads. However, it is not sufficient just
to take current road design principles and
factor them up to take into account the
increased size and weight of large mining
equipment. This approach has created
significant problems which in turn has
precipitated a new area of specialisation
within the road engineering profession. Our
development work and collation of site data
provides us with a unique understanding and
insight into the correct application of
materials and the geometric design of haul
roads. For years, the art of designing
major haul roads has been generally
neglected mainly because mine operators
construct and maintain their haul roads on
an ad hoc basis with mining machinery which
is freely available on the site. Generally,
the cost to production is not known to the
mine operators as the haul road costs become
part of the total operating cost.
THE COST ADVANTAGE OF GOOD HAUL ROADS
3. This hidden cost was brought home
very dramatically when we studied the number
of lost production shifts due to rain at one
of our mines. The haul road surfaces became
slippery after as "little as" 3 to 5 mm of
rain and the Unions refused to man the
trucks. The figures, I now present are
provided to indicate the magnitude of the
problem of poor haul road design and
construction.
No. of rain days average per year. - 55
No. of rain days with falls
greater than 5 mm which
stopped haulage. - 50
No. of rain days with falls
greater than 20 mm which stopped
pit production. - 32
Therefore 18 days or approximately 36
shifts were non-productive. This shows
that at the rate of 36 non-productive
shifts x 6500 tonnes of material x
$54.00/tonne = $12.6 million of lost
sales.
Profit (say) 15%
Therefore lost profit= $1.89
million/year.
HENCE: WELL DESIGNED HAUL ROADS DO PAY.
HAUL ROAD PLANNING
4. The Aim is to provide high quality
haul road s at low cost and to provide well
engineered roads to suit the operator's
needs.
124
Planning Considerations
The following check list of planning
considerations should be used to ensure that
the optimum design is provided.
o Safety in Design
- Speed criteria, clearances
- One way, minimize the
number of intersections.
- Runaway truck provisions,
etc.
o Safety in Construction
- Minimize interaction of the
production and construction
equipment.
- Appropriate and sufficient
barricades and signage.
o Use latest mining plans
o Allow for current and future mining
developments
o Limit Grades to 5% with 8% maximum and
specify the geometric standards to be
adopted
o Optimise the distance from the dump
stations to the pits
o Give due consideration to the required
1ife of the road, i.e.:-
- Temporary
- Short term
- Long term.
ROAD PAVEMENT, GEOMETRY AND
CROSS-SECTION DESIGN
ROAD GEOMETRY
Introduction
5. Haul road geometry and layout
depends largely on pit life, terrain, nature
of ore body, pit depth, the lenqth of time
the road will be used, and the economic
limits of the haul road excavation. Haul
roads shoul~ conform to good engineering
practices within economic limitations . The
secret to good haul road design relies on
the following characteristics:-
1. Ample passing width
2. Good sight distance for safety
3. Long radius superelevated curves
4. The lowest possible adverse grades with
grades engineered to the truck's optimum
capabi 1ity
5. A good running surface
6. Adequate and regular maintenance
7. Built on the basis of present haulage
requirements with the provision for
future planned equipment requirements.
Haul Road Alignment
6. As far as is economically
feasible, all geometric elements .of ha~lage
VOLUME 13, PART 2, TRAFFIC, PLANNING AND SAFETY
 WILLIAMSON- HAUL ROAD DESIGN

roads should be designed to provide safe, Effect of Grade on Stopping Distance

efficient travel at normal operating
speeds. The ability of the vehicle operator Hence for the above vehicle it can be seen
to see ahead a distance equal to or greater on Figure 1, th at at 35 km/hr on a 5% slope
than the stopping distance required is the the stopping distance is 78 metres (Kaufman
primary consideration. This section of the and Ault 1977).
paper addresses the effect of speed, slope,
and vehicle weight on stopping distance , as Sight Distance
well as design criteria for vertical and
horizontal alignment. For additional 9. The minimum sight distance for all
information refer to the NAASRA (1980) vehicles must be sufficient to enable a
Geometric Design for Rural Roads. vehicle travelling at the design speed to
stop before reaching a hazard .
Design Speed
(a) On Vertical curve crests, the sight
7. In developing the "design speed" distance is limited by the crest in the
for a haul road we have formulated and road surface
checked that the 85 percentile speed of the
maximum speed supplied by the manufacturer
of the truck provides a sound and realistic
design velocity.
This speed takes into account the fact that,
the truck may be loaded, the ultimate
mechanical wear which occurs plus various
operating constraints,
Therefore: VDesign = 85% VTheoretical
Stopping Distance
8. From a safety standpoint, haul
road grades must be designed to accommodate
the braking capabilities of those vehicles
having the least braking potential which
most frequenrry-use the roads .
Therefore, for a standard type of m1n1ng Fig. 2 - Stopping distance for vertical
vehicle eg. a Euclid CH120 Coal Hauler, its curves
Society of Automative Engineers (SAE)
permissible stopping distance value from an
initial velocity of 32 km/hr , on a dry,
level, clean concrete surface is 38 metres
(Dawson 1975). These theoretical values ar (b) On Horizontal Curves the siqht distance
then tempered with experience and site is limited by the adjacent materials
knowledge to derive design stopping e.g. batters, rock, spoi 1, trees,
distances. struc tures etc.

70
DISTANCE LIMITATION
TO PRECLUDE BRAKE
FAIL
60

50

.<:
40
'E
.><

30
)-
1-
0
0
..J 20
w
>
10

0
20 40 120 140 160
metres

Fig. 1 - Stopping distance characteristics of

vehicles of less than 45,000 kg GVW
N.B. Other charts available for vehicles Fig. 3 - Sight distance diagrams for
with a greater GVW horizontal curves

13th ARAB/5th REAAA, 1986 125

 WILLIAMSON- HAUL ROAD DESIGN

Maximum Sustained Grade a) Side Friction

10. All vehicles have a theoretical
maximum sustained grade for uphill and Through experience and observation we
downhill operation. We recommend 8% as the have found that the design must neglect
absolute maximum. It shoul d be noted that any effect of horizontal reaction
many benefits are derived by using reduced provided to the truck by frictional
grades e.g. forces (Williamson 1984). This is
because most hau 1 roads bec·ome
a) By reducing the grade from 10% to 5% you reasonably slippery when wet and hence
get a doubling of both the uphill and side friction is negligible.
downhill speed of the vehicle.
b) Slippery conditions do not stop the b) Spillage Reduction
haulage fleet as readily.
Superelevation designed for the design
c) Less wear on truck parts and equipment. speed of the haulage fleet will also
negate the problem of spillage plus
d) Quicker cycle times. reduce tyre wear and wheel bearing
failure.
e) Less maintenance to the road.
f) Lower quality pavement material
surfacing can be used. c) Minimisation of Truck Cycle Times
There is ONE significant disadvantage:-
There is usually an additional capital cost Truck cycle times are maintained to the
to build the road due to an increase in the minimum if superelevation is provided
cut and fill sections of the pavement. for the design speed of the trucks.
Hence, the trucks do not have to brake
Vertical Cur ve Desig n and Horizontal Curves at each corner in order to negotiate the
bend safely.
11. This section of haul road design
is s imil ar to all good road design manuals
and has not been included here to enable the d) Curve Widening
more s ignificant areas to be covered fully.
Cur ve widening as per Figure 6 should
Sup ere l eva ti on always be provided to allow for the safe
passing of vehicles on tight radius
12. Superelevation must be considered curves which allows for the outward
extremely important in both haul road design movement of the trailer path from that
and maintenance. of the prime mover.

~ UPI:KELEVAT!ON RATES 1N MET RES/ METRE FOR VEHICLE SPEE D KM/HR ( v)

RIIO 1u~ OF DES I GN SPEED KM/HR ( v)

CUKVE 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
(~I I

50 m 0.04 0.06 0. 10

75 m 0 . 02 0 . 04 0.07 0.09

100 m 0 . 02 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.10

200 m
(re co mm'd) 0 . 0 2 0.02 0.03 0 . 04 0.05 0.06 0.08 0. 10
(minim um)

300 m 0.02 0 .0 2 0 . 02 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.07 0.08

400 m 0.0 2 0 .0 2 0 . 02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0. 04 0.05 0.06

Fig. 4 - Superelevation rates for curved roads

126 VOLUME 13, PART 2, TRAFFIC, PLANNING AND SAFETY

 WILLIAMSON- HAUL ROAD DESIGN

HAUL ROAD PAVEMENT CRITERIA AND MATERIALS One-H~If Vehicle Width

Haul Road Classification

13. Haul Road classifications for
I TEREX 34-120

varying haul conditions are:- LANE 1 /

Class l - Permanent Haul Roads which are

those main sections of road
between the pit and dump
station including inclines.
Class 2 - Secondary Haul Roads which are LO
used infrequently over a
period of time.
Class 3 - Temporary haul roads and
inclines used in a one off
275 .I
situations then abandoned. Fig. 6 - Minimum haul road widths on straight
sections
NB: Differing criteria apply to each
class.

Pavement Widths Our studies have oroven that these

conditions can be quantified, weighted and
14. The following table provides the used to provide important design data.
minimum lane widths for a range of heavy
vehicles. For Example: For a Wabco 1208 Haul Tr~ck

Min. RecOIIITl.
a) For Straights or curves
VEHIClE WIUTH. 1 lANE 2 lAIIES greater than 200 m radius 22.4 24
" b) For Curved sections
l.4 4.8 8.4
less than 200 m radius 24 26
l. 1 5.4 9.5
3.0 6.0 10.5
J.J 6. 6 11.6
3. 1 1. 4 13.0 Pavement Cross-Slope (Cross fall)
4.0 8.0 14 .o
4. 3 8.6 15. 1* Euclid 15. Cross slopes can vary from 1% to
4.6 9.2 16.1 CH 120
4.9 9.8 17.2 4% depending on the type of pavement, its
5.2 10 . 4 18.2 surface texture and its longitudinal slope.
5.5 11.0 19.3* Terex
S.8 11.6 20.3 34-120
6. I 12 . 2 21.3
6.4 12 . 8 22.4. Wabco
6.7 13.4 23.4 1208
7.0 14.0 24.5
1.J 14.6 25.5
7.6 I 5. 2 26.6
7.9 15.8 21.6
8.2 16 . 4 28.7
8.5 17 . 0 29.8

*see over for aetails

Fig. 5 - RecoiTD11ended m1mmum lane widths

straight sections ONE WAY CROSSFALL

Fig. 7 - Typical crossfall on pavements

These minimum widths are then modified by
site operating factors which are taken into
account by a multiplier.
This multiplier accommodates site conditions
such as:-
0 Truck geometry and driver visibility
0 Terrain
0 Climatic conditions dust, fog, etc.
0 No. of vehicles and types
0 Maintenance and delineation
standards
0 Site specific items.
i.e . Cross Slopes
a) 1% to 2% for well dr ained, well
compacted, smooth running surface, with
a l ongitudinal gr ade of greater than 3%
b) 2% to 3% for normal haul roads
c) 2% to 4% for i nclines and poorly
drained rutted running surfaces.
All shoulders are nominally 4%.

13th ARAB/5th REAAA, 1986 127

 WILLIAMSON- HAUL ROAD DESIGN

CBR VALUE%
5 10 50 100
15 20 25 30 40 60 80
0

200
--.::1'
(/) ~
::J~
~~ f.- '-
f-¥i v · 1-- v. ~
- ~
t::_;.:::-
:::-- - f--

~ ::::::: r:- ~ r::::;;--

-~
w~ ~~ ~ v.....-: ~ ~ v
400 p
V _ ~ ~ -:--- v
v
vd wv
600 ~ v k~ v
~~ / I/V r~ V / 1'- n RE> 3 -120
E
.§: 800
v PL A/ ~~ v
(/) ~Ag
w ~ AI-, ti't--. II
(/)
w
z 1000
~g~
~l()i
v V_L~/ f'---wA pco 1t>oa
::.::
u
> ~(!)
..~ V:' ...~IJ
I -- YJ VJ J
r/.., Jl v
t- 1200
w
(/)
<(
(IJ 1400 i/ o/ I
(IJ
"" /~ "-.
:::l
(/)

. 1600
.~
wo
• ...JO

I~
.,r WH ~E ~(A lkQ)

> A
L
1800 I

ISANOs-F AllL y
CLEAN

NOTE : RANGES FOR SOIL TY.PES ARE APPROXIMATE- - BASE

DESIGNS ON TEST RESULTS.

Fig . 8 - CBR curves

HAUL ROAD PAVEMENT DESIGN factor may be greater than 1 if money was of
little concern, high availability, low
16. Most haul roads ar e designed usin g maintenance, and high rainfall were to be
the CBR of the subg rade material. considered.
By using the above CBR curve modified for
large vehicles; (for example) a Wabco Generally the site factor is less than 1 if
payhauler and a subgrade of CBR equivalent cost effective designs are to be produced.
to or smaller than 5 then the following
pavement design would result.
PAVEMENT MATERIALS
However, this theoretical design is then
modified by what we have developed and 17. It is essential that the best
called the site factor which takes into available road making materials that can be
account: locally sourced are used, {i.e. ridge
gr avels etc., and not crushed stone).
1) Rainfall conditions (very dry, very wet)
2) Drainage and topography This gravel should be blended to achieve
3) Vehicle us eage those criteria set out in the NAASRA {1974)
4) Maintenance Guide to the Selection and testing of Gravel
5) Cost . How much money can be spent? for Pavement Construction.
These factors have of course been derived by This book should be the road engineers'
many years of experience gained on site primary reference for the specification of
under varying conditions. For example, the natural gravel pavements.

128 VOLUME 13, PART 2, TRAFFIC, PLANNING AND SAFETY

 WILLIAMSON- HAUL ROAD DESIGN
Fig. 9 - Typical pavement cross section
Other Considerations
Most Main Road Department Road Design
Manuals have very informative sections which
cover appropriate pavement materials which
will enable the engineer/production
superintendent to best select the correct
pavement material for the job.
e.g. - Material tests, types
- Cum~ d.<.: L i un
- Water content
- Stabilization and blending
- Typical grading curves and Atteberg
limits etc.
- Stabilization techniques for the
pavement or subgrade materials.
DRAINAGE
General
18. Most pavements fail because of
poor drainage. Hence, all roads need well
designed and effective drainage to prevent
saturation of the subgrade and pavement
1ayers.
The Effect of Moisture on the Strength of
Pavement Mater1als
Such areas as Central Australia suffer
pavement failure in the dry season due to
lack of moisture (bull dust pits), pot
holes, etc. and wet failures in the wet
season ·due to saturation of the pavement.
Sealing of pavements therefore not only
provides a wearing surface but protects the
pavement from violent fluctu atio ns in
moisture content. This assumes that
adequate drainage is available.
Hence, dry arid areas need binders i.e.
clays to help hold dry pavements together
and wet tropical areas need minimal clay and
maximum particle interlock to support a very
wet pavement.
13th ARRB/5th REAAA, 1986
MOISTURE CONTENT "lo
Fig. 10 - Effect of moisture content on the
strength of pavement materials
It is therefore, most important that because
it is generally impractical to seal haul
roads that adequate drainaqe be provided
throughout the entire road system.
CONCLUSIONS
19, The collation of a siqnificant
amount of site data is now available for
site specific designs to be carried out for
haul roads in the major mining areas of
Australia e.g. Central Queensland, the
tropical areas of Northern Australia, the
Hunter Valley, North-Western Australia, the
dry areas of South and Western Australia
plus other areas.
The information gathered and the experience
gained provides BHP Engineering with a most
comprehensive and unique opportunity to
provide cost effective haul road designs in
these mining areas.
REFERENCES
Dawson, V.E. Observations Concerning On-Site
Brake Testing of Large Mining Trucks. Proc.
Earthmoving Industry Conference, Society of
Automative Engineers, 1975, pp 33 .
Kaufman, W.W. and Ault, J.C. {197_7) - Design
of Surface Mine Haulage Roads- A. Manual.
U.S. Bureau of Mines. Information Circular
8758, pp 5-23.
National Association of Aust. State Road
Authorities (NAASRA) - 1980 - Geometric
Design of Rural Roads.
National Association of Aust. State Road
Authorities (NAASRA) - 1974 - Guide to the
Se lection and testing of Gravel for Pavement
Construction.
Williamson, u.C. {1984). Haul Road Des ign
Manual. BHP Engineering internal design
manual (not available to the general public)
pp l-76.
129
 WILLIAMSON- HAUL ROAD DESIGN

OWen C. Williamson is the Senior Civil Engineer in charge of the BHP

Engineering Brisbane Design office . Early in his career he spent fiv e
years with the Country Roads Board of Victoria as a bridge designer,
construction engineer and sector engineer, during which time he was
involved in freeway and major arterial road design and construction .
Several year s wer e spent with the Royal Australian Army as a Lieutenant
in charge of bridge , road and miscellaneous construction activities .
Later, after a period as a consultant, he worked on Groote Ey landt for
BHP, designing and supervising the construction of heavy duty sealed
and unsealed haul r oads . His r esearch inter ests include the eff ects of
heavy wheel loads on unsealed pavements . Recent ly , he has been involved
O.C . Williamson in work on haul r oads in the Central Queensland coal mines .

130 VOLUME 13, PART 2, TRAFFIC , PLANNING AND SAFETY