Truck Cycle Time & Fleet Match
How long one haul cycle takes, how many trucks it takes to keep the loader busy, and what the fleet actually produces. Pick a truck class and a material and the specs, speeds and cycle times fill themselves in from published tables.
Step 1: The truck
Choosing a class fills in payload and top speed. Override either if you have the spec sheet.
Step 2: The loader filling it
The loader sets how long a truck sits under the bucket, which sets the whole fleet size.
Step 3: The haul road
Distance and road condition set the travel legs, which are usually most of the cycle.
Step 4: The fleet
How many trucks you actually have, and how well the operation is run.
| Step | Value | Where it comes from |
|---|
The haul circuit
Where the cycle time goes
Speed factors: turning top speed into average haul speed
| Haul section length | ft | Loaded, starting from stop | Unit already in motion |
|---|
SME Mining Reference Handbook, 2nd ed., Table 12.3, p. 296 (after Bishop 1968). The calculator uses the starting from stop column for the loaded leg, because a haul cycle begins stationary under the loader. The empty return uses the same table's footnote: 0.55 / 0.60 / 0.65 of top speed under 152 m (500 ft), and 0.75 / 0.80 / 0.85 beyond it, for unfavourable / average / favourable conditions. Note that a factor can exceed 1.00 on a very short section if the truck enters it already at speed.
Rolling resistance by road surface
| Ground surface | Equivalent extra % grade |
|---|
SME Mining Reference Handbook, 2nd ed., Chapter 13 (Haul Roads), p. 327. Rolling resistance is added to the real grade to give total resistance, which is what you check against the truck's rimpull chart.
Off-highway rigid-frame truck classes
| Payload, t | Payload, st | Tyres | Empty, kg | GVW, kg | Top speed, km/h |
|---|
SME Mining Reference Handbook, 2nd ed., truck specifications by gross vehicle weight, p. 320. The printed table gives every weight twice, in kilograms and in pounds, so each kilogram figure here was checked against its own pound figure by conversion. That is how three wrong digits in the machine transcription of this table were caught and corrected.
Passes to load a rigid-frame truck: cross-check
| Truck, t (st) | 15 m³ | 20 m³ | 25 m³ | 35 m³ | 45 m³ |
|---|
SME Mining Engineering Handbook, p. 937. Use this to sanity-check the pass count the calculator works out. Three to six passes is the range these tables are built around; if you land outside it, the truck and the loader are not well matched.
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Estimating aid only. This calculator is an educational tool. It is not an engineering design and it is not a substitute for the judgment of a competent or qualified person.
No warranty. It is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Equations and constants are cited to their published sources above, but transcription, implementation and the values you enter can all be wrong. Verify every result against the cited source and against your own site conditions before it informs a decision.
Not a statutory document. Nothing produced here is a ground control plan, ventilation plan, blast design, haul road design or hoist design. Those must be prepared, signed and approved under the regulations that apply to your operation. Compliance with MSHA, or with your own jurisdiction's mining regulations, is the operator's responsibility and remains so.
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