Monster Trucks: Station’s truck bridge guides mining vehicles into place

DCI’s industrial team designed a 12m x 12m steel bridge to guide PT Adaro’s 350 metric tonne gross vehicle weight (GVW) mining trucks when backing up to access the sizer station’s hopper. The bridge spans from a gabion wall abutment to the sizer station. The bridge bumpers guide the trucks into position. Referring to tire deflection charts and truck speed specifications, DCI developed unique dynamic loading criteria for the design of the rear wheel stops and side walls to resist a truck’s massive impact loads. The engineers worked with the sizer station designer and geotechnical engineer to determine the most economical approach to anchoring the bridge without adversely affecting the sizer station. The team designed bridge bearings to accommodate differential movement of the equipment structure. They also developed a fatigue criterion based on haul frequency, and then applied the analysis when detailing the custom build-up members and connections.