Maintainability Analysis of Underground Mining Equipment Using Genetic Algorithms: Case Studies with an LHD Vehicle

While increased mine mechanization and automation make considerable contributions to mine productivity, unexpected equipment failures and planned or routine maintenance prohibit the maximum possible utilization of sophisticated mining equipment and require a significant amount of extra capital investment. This paper deals with aspects of maintainability prediction for mining machinery. A PC software called GenRel was developed for this purpose. In GenRel, it is assumed that failures of mining equipment caused by an array of factors follow the biological evolution theory. GenRel then simulates the failure occurrences during a time period of interest using genetic algorithms (GAs) coupled with a number of statistical techniques. A group of case studies focuses on maintainability analysis of a Load Haul Dump (LHD) vehicle with two different time intervals, three months and six months. The data was collected from an underground mine in the Sudbury area in Ontario, Canada. In each prediction case study, a statistical test is carried out to examine the similarity between the predicted data set with the real-life data set in the same time period. The objectives of case studies include an assessment of the applicability of GenRel using real-life data and an investigation of the impacts of data size and chronological sequence on prediction results.