Edge protection along haul roads in mines and quarries: How safe are safety berms?

A/Prof Klaus Thoeni

Safety berms (also called safety bunds or windrows) are essential to any surface mining and quarry operations. They are extensively used along haul roads to protect errant vehicles from running over the edge. Their design is based on rules of thumb. Despite having been used by the industry for more than half a century, their behaviour is still poorly understood, and accidents happen on a regular basis. Recent research conducted at the University of Newcastle suggests that combining full-scale testing with advanced numerical modelling can provide a better understanding of the energy absorption capacity of safety berms which is critical for their robust design. Once calibrated, the numerical model can be used to simulate various scenarios with different approach conditions and berm geometries and various truck fleets. These simulations can be used to assess the energy absorption capacity of safety berms and to predict a critical velocity for a specific scenario and geometry. Operators are then able to implement speed limits according to berm geometry or adapt the berm geometry according to a given speed limit.

About the speaker

A/Prof Klaus Thoeni Associate Professor, Priority Research Centre for Geotechnical Science and Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Australia

Dr Klaus Thoeni is Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle. He obtained his PhD and Master’s degrees in civil engineering from Graz University of Technology (Austria) and moved to Australia in 2010. Klaus is a highly motivated academic with a strong international reputation for research excellence in numerical modelling and photogrammetry applied to practical geotechnical problems. With over 100 research publications to his credit, he has established himself as a leader in the field. His research focuses on the development of cutting-edge three-dimensional computational models for rock and soil mechanics problems for more cost-effective and safer engineering designs. He is passionate about solving complex real-world engineering problems and committed to bringing about a positive change in the mining and quarry industry through his pioneering engineering solutions. He is a reviewer for leading international journals in computational mechanics, rock mechanics, soil mechanics and remote sensing. Klaus is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal and Computers and Geotechnics.

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