Case Study: VR Steel achieves optimized dragline performance and 2% productivity gain with Altair EDEM

VR Steel used altair edem to optimize dragline performance and productivity

VR Steel, a maker and repairer of fabricated mining equipment attachments serving global miners, needed to optimize dragline bucket performance across varied soils and operating conditions while balancing efficiency, capacity, durability and O&M costs. To streamline design and ensure buckets would fill and empty properly, operate at maximum capacity, boost wear protection and reduce operating costs, VR Steel turned to Altair and used Altair EDEM for virtual prototyping.

Altair’s EDEM, coupled with multibody dynamics simulation, modeled particle–structure interaction through the complete digging cycle to predict fill mode/rate, transient loads and wear patterns. Using Altair EDEM enabled VR Steel to run repetitive virtual tests, produce only one physical prototype and converge faster on the best design; engineering improvements included increased fill level, shorter filling cycles, reduced bucket mass and lower operating costs, delivering an overall productivity gain of 2%.

VR Steel

Bertus Haasbroek

Chief Design Engineer