On June 4, Andreas Svanberg took his licentiate degree with his thesis “Full-Scale Modeling and Simulation of Bucket Filling and Wear for Mining Rope Shovels”. Andreas is a member of Swedish Mining Innovation’s PhD student network. We took the opportunity to ask him some questions about his licentiate and the future.
Hi Andreas and congratulations! How does it feel to be done?
Hi, and thank you very much. It feels really good to be done. There have been a number of different pieces that have had to fall into place to be finished.
You have chosen to become an expert, how come you chose this area?
I do not know about an expert, but I like working with problems that do not have a ready-made / simple solution and I think that is one reason why I chose to dive into this area. Since I was born and raised in Gällivare with the mines close by, it also felt natural when the offer came.
What are the main results of your dissertation, and how can they be used?
That we now have a digital twin that we can use to get a better insight into processes and have as support when we have to make decisions. The model can simulate the loading process for our rope shovels on a real scale. From the model, you can get data on how much wear and tear occurs in the bucket and you can see how well the bucket fills and how heavy it is to load under different conditions. We have compared the model and reality in different ways and the model agrees very well with reality. In this job, we have focused on our huge rope shovels, but the model itself is very universal and can be relatively easily adapted for other processes.
What are you going to do now?
So far, future plans have not been nailed down. But hopefully I will continue to work with modeling and simulation in the mining industry in one way or another.
What has been most exciting so far?
When the models you have worked with for a long period actually seem to correspond to the reality that is going on a couple of hundred meters from the office.
You are a member of Swedish Mining Innovations PhD student network, what do you see as the benefits of being part of the network?
I have not been with for a very long time, but I have still had time to participate in some activities. The biggest advantage that I see is that you get to see what other doctoral students in the mining industry are doing research with and make contacts.
Thanks Andreas, and the best to you from us at Swedish Mining Innovation!
More information
Swedish Mining Innovation PhD student network
