Dumper derailment investigation and development of custom check rail

Dobson, Lindsay (2016) Dumper derailment investigation and development of custom check rail. [USQ Project]

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Abstract

Rio Tinto Iron Ore owns and operates the largest privately owned rail system in Australia, with approximately 1700km of mainline, servicing 15 different mine sites. To haul the iron ore from the mines the railway utilises 191 locomotives and approximately 11500 wagons. The ore is loaded into the wagons whereby it is transported via rail to one of 3 ports for
export.

The unloading of the wagons at the port is done via a rotary car dumper, whereby the wagon enters the process inside of the dumper and the wagon is turned 100° axially to dump the ore into a chute. Once dumped the wagon is returned to original orientation and evacuated via an indexing arm and the process repeated.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore have experienced regular derailments on the outgoing side of the car dumpers at their Parker Point operations, known as CD3P/CD4P, in the Pilbara since their installation in 2007. The outgoing track section has seen an increased number of derailments in the final quarter of 2015 and again in the first quarter of 2016, adding pressures to find a route cause and solution. As a mitigation measure in 2012 a non-active checkrail was installed in an attempt to return the low leg wheel set to alignment once flange climb had occurred. This has proved to be ineffective with the checkrail at CD3P and CD4P currently installed such that it does not fulfil its intended function. In the current alignment and orientation, the checkrail does not contact the wheel until the opposing wheel has derailed and moved over centre of the high leg rail.

This work investigates existing site conditions at the location and assesses them in line with the generally accepted standards and identifies a root cause.


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Item Type: USQ Project
Item Status: Live Archive
Additional Information: Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Major Mechanical Engineering project
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2021)
Supervisors: Goh, Steven
Date Deposited: 20 Jul 2017 01:40
Last Modified: 20 Jul 2017 01:40
Uncontrolled Keywords: site conditions, wagons; rail system; dumper derailment; custom check rail
Fields of Research (2008): 09 Engineering > 0913 Mechanical Engineering > 091302 Automation and Control Engineering
Fields of Research (2020): 40 ENGINEERING > 4007 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics > 400799 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics not elsewhere classified
URI: https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/31395

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