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By Steven K. Duke, Jay Arabshahi

An economic, real-time probe drill monitoring system was developed for Metropolitan Water District’s Arrowhead Tunnels project to quantitatively evaluate ground conditions ahead of a TBM. This system digitally records hydraulic feed, rotation, and percussion pressures and calculates drill advance rates during drilling. These data are computer synthesized to develop a digital representation of the ground ahead, and the resulting “picture” of the ground is distributed to the project team to assist with tunnel construction decisions (i.e., targeting grout holes, optimizing mine-cycle lengths, and avoiding becoming stuck). The analysis and interpretation procedure has now been calibrated and refined using over 5,000 m (3 miles) of geologic face mapping data.

Jan 1, 2007

IN previous discussions on the occurrence of gold in the Bendigo quartz reefs the opinion has been put forward that the gold shoots are primary concentrations in the quartz reefs during the period of vein-formation. The view has been based upon the constant features of the gold shoots in a large number of individual reefs, independent of their depth below the surface. These features include the mineral associations accompanying the gold, the appearance and association of the gold in the quartz, the similarity in all respects (excepting mineral content) between richly gold-bearing quartz and poor quartz, and the variations in mineral content in the reef apart from gold. The view has been supported by a relation of the gold shoots to faults, together with the dependence of the reefs on the existence of pre-mineral faulting. The secondary deposition of gold has only been observed in a few instances .associated with the younger monchiquite dykes, and is of no economic importance.

Jan 1, 1922

By Dyson N. F

Mixed cobalt-nickel sulphides precipitated from ammoniacal process liquors derived from nickel sulphide concentrates, mattes, and reduced nickeliferous laterites have been characterized.The mixed sulphides are prone to oxidation on standing and are rapidly leached under relatively mild conditions. The kinetics of the leaching reactions are controlled principally by temperature and oxygen partial pressure. Although the samples have different CO:Ni ratios and have undergone varying degrees of oxidation, there is little difference in their leaching behaviour. The results suggest that a single plant would be able to process mixed sulphides of varying composition. Any copper and zinc present in the mixed sulphides as impurities also go into solution and must be removed prior to recovery of the cobalt and nickel in metallic form.

Jan 1, 1981

By J. P. Rider

Operating practices and resulting production from longwall faces are continually improving. Consequently, longwall operators are continually seeking to improve the dust control capabilities on longwalls. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been conducting dust surveys at longwalls throughout the country in an effort to document the types of controls that are being used and to quantify the relative effectiveness of these controls. To date, surveys have been completed at longwalls in Alabama, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Utah, and West Virginia. In addition NIOSH has been reviewing longwall dust parameters provided by mine operators to MSHA to assess the status of dust control technology being used throughout the industry. Results from the underground dust surveys and information obtained from MSHA will be summarized in this paper to provide an update on longwall dust control technology and practices.

By J. Koster

[Boron is an element whose metallurgical possibilities never have been investigated thoroughly, probably because of the difficulties experienced in the preparation of elemental boron and its intermetallic compounds. The southwestern United States contain the world's s largest deposits of boron minerals. In general, the mineral is readily available, and mining costs are not excessive. The most important boron mineral of commerce is borax (sodium tetraborate) however, there are large deposits of colemanite (a mineral having the composition represented by 2CaO 3B2O3 5H2O) in Clark County, Nov. This material was worked in times past by converting it to sodium tetraborate. In recent years the deposits have laid idle because of a mire readily available source of borax in the old lake beds of California.]

Jan 1, 1940

By Philip J. H. Ball

The new application and development of grout jacking processes has combined, over the last decade in particular, to provide a method by which the effects of new underground construction on superficial structures can be controlled to acceptable levels. This paper sets out the basic principles, processes and limitations of compensation grouting. It describes key elements of the philosophy and design and details the control systems required to perform satisfactorily. To illustrate the application, a case history is described for the construction of a shaft and tunnel within and beneath the prestigious structure of Harrods in London.

Jan 1, 2000

By Scott A. Walker, Roberto A. Lopez, Lori A. Simpson, David A. Shook

500 Folsom Street is part of the new Transbay neighborhood in San Francisco, which is being redeveloped after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake damaged a freeway viaduct; removal of the viaduct created parcels of land available for development. The development consists of a 42-story residential tower with a six-level basement. The slender, core-only structure was designed using performance-based seismic design. Subsurface conditions include undocumented fill, Dune sand, marsh deposits, sand, and clay, all overlying sloping bedrock of the Franciscan Formation. The building is supported on a 10-foot-thick mat foundation approximately 62 to 72 feet below street grades; clay, sand, and bedrock are all present at mat subgrade. Under a portion of the mat, sand susceptible to liquefaction was present. The variable subgrade conditions and potential for ground failure, along with the depth of mat subgrade below street grade, created a challenge for the design and construction team to solve. The ground below mat subgrade needed to be improved to mitigate the liquefaction potential and provide more uniform support. The areal extent and depth of ground improvement necessary to support the mat with an acceptable amount of deformation was determined. Settlement was analyzed and subgrade moduli were provided for design of the mat, with multiple iterations performed to converge between the geotechnical and structural models. Based on the project schedule and logistics, it was beneficial to work from street grade to improve the ground. In order to target the depths below the mat and minimize wasted effort and materials within the depth of excavation, grids of jet grouting were determined to be the most economical ground improvement method; however, it was challenging to install the columns from 65 feet above the top of the target zone. During installation, QA/QC was performed to check that the jet-grouted columns were installed to the design depth and diameter and developed the design strength.

Jan 1, 2018

By Leslie C. Richards

The competitive position of producers of industrial minerals depends upon the delivered price of their product. Freight charges are a major factor in the sales to consumers. A comparison of freight rates on movements of limestone and silica rock in the Pacific Northwest shows a wide variance in mills per ton mile for like hauls, thereby favoring some localities over others. Introduction: Sooner or later the potential miner of industrial minerals reaches the conclusion that of the various factors he must consider, the marketing of his product is. the most important. The sooner he realizes this the better, as successful industrial mineral producers .will confirm. Herein lies a difference between i.ndustria1 mineral mining and metal mining. Often in the latter, technical problems of mining or concentrating are equal to or even surpass those of marketing. This is not meant to imply that there are no problems in mining and beneficiation of industrial minerals, but these usually are outweighed by the problem of marketing. Recentlv. an official of a nationally known corporation :i the elecl.ro-metallurgical industry made an industrial mineral survey in the Pacific Northwest. In the course of his investigation he interviewed producers and potential producers of the various industrial minerals scheduled for use in the plant now being constructed in this area. He stated that he was interested in only three factors: namely, (1) Can your product meet our specifications? (2) Are you able to supply our tonnage requirements? and (3) What will be the delivered price? If there are several sources of supply of sufficient grade and tonnage, as is often the case in the Northwest, then the third factor becomes the important and deciding one. While industrial minerals are usually sold f.0.b. cars with the freight being paid by the buyer, it is the delivered and riot the f.0.b. price that determines the competitive position of the producer and his industrial mineral product. Unfortunately for both the consumers and producers of industrial minerals in the Northwest, the sources are generally a considerable distance from the markets. This necessitates long rail hauls, for which transportation charges make up the largest share of the delivered cost and the delivered price of the product. Is it any wonder then, that rail rates play such an important part in the marketing of industrial minerals? In order to sell his product, the producer must be able to deliver to the market at a competitive price. It must be remembered that his largest cost factor is rail transportation, and that he is limited to markets that he can reach competitively. Since the cost of rail transportation is so important, let us compare various freight rates in the Northwest and attempt to determine their influence on marketing. A study of all rates on all industrial minerals transported in this area, is beyond the scope of this paper. For the purposes of comparison, let us consider limestone (broken, crushed, or ground), and silica rock. These are widely used industrial minerals, and are carried by several different rail routes from.the sources of supply to the centers of consumption in the Pacific Northwest. Markets and Sources of Supply: Limestone has a number of uses in western Oregon and Washington. Among them are agricultural lime for the soils of the Willamette Valley and southwestern Washington; paper rock for the mills in such cities as West Linn, Oregon City, Newberg, St. Helens, and Salem, Oregon, and Camas and Everett, Wash.; chemical and metallurgical-grade limestone for the metallurgical plants centering around Portland, and the Tacoma-Seattle areas'; and sugar rock for the sugar refineries at Toppenish, Wash., and Nyssa, Oregon. Since limestone for cement manufacture is generally processed near the quarry, transportation

Jan 1, 1951

I find that during the short time I have been in this district, the majority of boilers are, and have been, receiving very bad usage owing to the difficulties which they have to contend against, viz., oil and bad water. Oil on the heating surface of a boiler is of a highly dangerous nature inasmuch as it allows the surface to become overheated, owing to the water not coming into direct contact with the plates, and it naturally follows that when the crown sheets of a flue or firebox become overheated, you lose a considerable amount of the strength of the plate, and the flue or crown comes down. Referring to the oil question, I find that too much care cannot or exercised on the part of engine drivers in order to minimise as much as possible the internal lubrication of the various engines under their control. For I consider that it is here that the most of the trouble is caused. My reasons for stating such to be the case, are:-That the majority of enginedrivers before coming to this field have been used to driving engines that have been exhausting into the atmosphere, and probably they have been taught that it is far better to use a little extra lubrication than to have a hot bearing. So far so good. But one thing that must not be overlooked is that on these fields the conditions are altered in this respect, as the majority of engines in this district are not exhausting into the atmosphere, but are condensing their exhaust steam and using the water so condensed for feed purposes.

Jan 1, 1901

By A Croll

A panel cave using LHDs for ore extraction came into production at Premier in 1990 at a depth of 630 metres below surface on the western side of the mine in the BA5 mining block. A post-undercut mining sequence was used with all development on both the undercut and production levels completed prior to the undercut being advanced over the pre-developed drawbells. Support and rock mass damage on the production level was extensive as the undercut moved overhead. Undercutting and coarse fragmentation created problems. The mining sequence was changed to an advance undercut with the minimum of development and support undertaken on the production level prior to the undercut moving overhead. Only once the abutment stresses had stabilised were drawbells developed and final support installed. The height of the undercut drill design was decreased from 18 to 13 metres. The changes resulted in markedly less rock mass and support damage on the production level. Lessons learned in the BA5 mining block on the 630 level were incorporated into planning and scheduling the BB1E mining block which came into production on the 732 metre level on the eastern side of the mine in 1996. An advance undercut mining sequence was planned, undercut height was minimised and undercutting parameters were optimised in terms of the BA5 experience. Numerous problems still occurred. As the undercut area increased in size severe spalling from the cave back resulted in vertical propagation of the cave to a height of 30 metres instead of the planned 13 metres. The resultant coarse fragmentation created secondary blasting problems and an excess of undercut ore that had to be loaded and trammed, slowed the rate of undercut advance. The planned mining sequence was compromised and considerable support and rock mass damage resulted on the production level below. Once these problems had been overcome the undercut advanced at the planned rate and continuous caving initiated at the predicted hydraulic radius. At a later stage the unexpected ingress of water hampered undercut drilling and slowed the rate of undercut advance in a section of the cave. Leads and lags between adjacent tunnels and the overall face shape could not be developed as planned. The rate of natural horizontal cave propagation exceeded the rate of undercut advance and three undercut drilling tunnels were extensively damaged. More tunnel development on the production level prior to undercutting than was planned resulted. The slow advance of the undercut and high abutment stresses caused extensive damage to installed support and the rock mass on the production level, 15 metres below. Experience in the BB1E mining block on the 732 metre level has taught that an advance undercut mining sequence reduces damage on the production level markedly. Extremely tight control on the rate of undercut advance, leads and lags between adjacent tunnels and overall undercut face shape as well as extraction ratio, tunnel development and support sequence on the production level below is required. Premier Mine plans to implement a block cave at a depth in excess of 1000 metres within the next decade. All the experience gained on current mining levels together with data collection and numerical modeling is being used to plan the proposed mining operation. The geotechnical challenge of mining at this depth in weak rock has been identified as the greatest risk to the project. Challenges centre around adopting the correct mining sequence, limiting the extent of rock mass damage associated with undercutting and effective support. The hydraulic radius needed to initiate caving, fragmentation, drawpoint spacing, secondary blasting and the possibility of seismicity are geotechnical concerns that are being addressed. Results to-date suggest that a pre-undercut mining sequence with all development and support on the production level carried out only after the undercut abutment stresses have passed overhead will have to be implemented.

Jan 1, 2000

By Barton J. Suchomel

Introduction Despite perennial economic turbulence, Argentina continues to push ahead with efforts to develop its fledgling hardrock mining industry. The country lacks the infrastructure and mining history of neighboring Chile, but contains vast areas of great resource potential. The eastern slope of the Andean Cordillera in west-northwest Argentina is a relatively little-explored region offering geology highly conducive to the occurrence of base and precious metals deposits. Past exploration has concentrated on locating and evaluating porphyry copper-molybdenum (Cu-Mo) type occurrences. Comparatively little attention has been given to precious metals potential. An interesting and important group of base and precious metals prospects in northwestern Argentina occurs within and adjacent to the Upper Miocene Farallon Negro volcanic complex in Catamarca province. The volcanic complex contains numerous base and precious metals vein occurrences, high gold porphyry copper prospects, and possible disseminated gold targets that have attracted relatively minor attention in the past. Various geologic aspects of the region have been reported by several workers (Llambias, 1970, 1972; Caelles et al, 1971; and Sillitoe, 1973). Regional geology The Farallon Negro volcanic complex is located within the Sierras Pampeanas morphostructural province about 200 km (125 miles) east of the main Andean Cordillera (Fig. 1). The Sierras Pampeanas is characterized by north-south-trending basin and range topography that developed during the Miocene and Pliocene. Uplifted blocks are composed mainly of lower Paleozoic metasediments and granitoid plutonic rocks unconformably overlain by Tertiary redbeds and minor carbonates. A consistent landward migration of volcanic and intrusive ac¬tivity occurred in this region of the Andes from the early Mesozoic through the mid-Tertiary. An eastward extension of magmatism during the Miocene and Pliocene resulted in the formation of the Farallon Negro volcanic center. Volcanism at Farallon Negro ini-

Jan 8, 1988

This paper discusses the impacts that advances in metallurgy and process engineering have on minerals project execution. Ausenco's business is focused on integrating minerals processing technology and the delivery of cost effective processing plants that exceed client performance expectations. The metallurgical development is a small but critical part of this process. Metallurgical development and innovation outcomes need to be transformed into an engineered solution and that solution converted into an operating plant in a cost conscious and competitive environment. Including new or innovative processes in a project flow sheet increases a project's technical and commercial risk. However, it also gives the project, and/or the engineering company, a potential advantage over projects using mainline practices. Managing the balance between risk and opportunity has been a cornerstone of Ausenco's success in recent years. Some advances in "technology" that are discussed in the paper include: larger capacity equipment new flow sheet concepts simplification of process interfaces, and more effective project strategies The common theme is that having a new idea can be the easy bit, putting it into operation effectively involves numerous people, many interfaces and strong project management.

Sep 13, 2010

By N. B. Pundari

Proper selection of large walking draglines, based on sound engineering principles and field experience, has not kept pace with the large capital expenditures needed to buy these stripping machines. The use of large walking draglines for stripping overburden in US surface coal mines grows steadily, but equipment selection continues to pose problems. An improper size, model, make, or spoil reach selected for a particular stripping application results in additional, unnecessary coal production costs. Large walking draglines are being used to dig deeper tar sands at the Syncrude operations near Fort McMurray in Northern Alberta, Canada. This application is compared with typical deep digging operations and dragline use prevalent at typical US strip mines.

Jan 4, 1981

A thermochemical model is developed to study the two-stage smelting reduction process for ironmaking without post-combustion. Steady-state multi-material and heat balance equations are solved simultaneously to study the effect of metallisation, slag basicity, coal rank and heat loss on consumption rates of coal, ore, flux and oxygen and production rate of slag to produce hot metal of a given composition, tapped at a given temperature. The model is applied to the commercial data for a COREX-plant producing a wide range of hot metal compositions, tapped at different temperatures. The computed rates of coal, slag, flux, ore and oxygen were found to be close to the reported ones, but an exact match could not be obtained. It is found that a four per cent change in metallisation brings changes the coal rate by five per cent, flux rate by six per cent, slag rate by eight per cent and oxygen rate by 13 per cent, while a ten per cent change in basicity changes the coal rate by ten per cent, flux rate by 13 per cent and oxygen rate by 22 per cent. Further, it is found that an increase in metallisation decreases the coal rate and export gas. At a given per cent metallisation, the coal rate and the export gas are lowest for anthracite compared to all other types of coal.

Jan 1, 1999

By Leslie C. Richards

Sooner or later the potential miner of industrial minerals reaches the conclusion that of the various factors he must consider, the marketing of his product is. the most important. The sooner he realizes this the better, as successful industrial mineral producers .will confirm. Herein lies a difference between i.ndustria1 mineral mining and metal mining. Often in the latter, technical problems of mining or concentrating are equal to or even surpass those of marketing. This is not meant to imply that there are no problems in mining and beneficiation of industrial minerals, but these usually are outweighed by the problem of marketing. Recentlv. an official of a nationally known corporation :i the elecl.ro-metallurgical industry made an industrial mineral survey in the Pacific Northwest. In the course of his investigation he interviewed producers and potential producers of the various industrial minerals scheduled for use in the plant now being constructed in this area. He stated that he was interested in only three factors: namely, (1) Can your product meet our specifications? (2) Are you able to supply our tonnage requirements? and (3) What will be the delivered price? If there are several sources of supply of sufficient grade and tonnage, as is often the case in the Northwest, then the third factor becomes the important and deciding one. While industrial minerals are usually sold f.0.b. cars with the freight being paid by the buyer, it is the delivered and riot the f.0.b. price that determines the competitive position of the producer and his industrial mineral product. Unfortunately for both the consumers and producers of industrial minerals in the Northwest, the sources are generally a considerable distance from the markets. This necessitates long rail hauls, for which transportation charges make up the largest share of the delivered cost and the delivered price of the product. Is it any wonder then, that rail rates play such an important part in the marketing of industrial minerals? In order to sell his product, the producer must be able to deliver to the market at a competitive price. It must be remembered that his largest cost factor is rail transportation, and that he is limited to markets that he can reach competitively. Since the cost of rail transportation is so important, let us compare various freight rates in the Northwest and attempt to determine their influence on marketing. A study of all rates on all industrial minerals transported in this area, is beyond the scope of this paper. For the purposes of comparison, let us consider limestone (broken, crushed, or ground), and silica rock. These are widely used industrial minerals, and are carried by several different rail routes from.the sources of supply to the centers of consumption in the Pacific Northwest. Markets and Sources of Supply: Limestone has a number of uses in western Oregon and Washington. Among them are agricultural lime for the soils of the Willamette Valley and southwestern Washington; paper rock for the mills in such cities as West Linn, Oregon City, Newberg, St. Helens, and Salem, Oregon, and Camas and Everett, Wash.; chemical and metallurgical-grade limestone for the metallurgical plants centering around Portland, and the Tacoma-Seattle areas'; and sugar rock for the sugar refineries at Toppenish, Wash., and Nyssa, Oregon. Since limestone for cement manufacture is generally processed near the quarry, transportation

Jan 1, 1951

By R. E. Wilmot

The problem of corrosion of reinforcement in concrete structures is internationally recognised and represents the single biggest expenditure in the preservation of steel reinforced concrete structures. While the corrosion protection of the reinforcing steel is no substitute for design and the placement of good quality concrete, it does provide for a viable and economical extension of structural integrity and service life in the day-to-day and practical environment in which concrete structures are constructed. The mechanism of corrosion attack and consequent deterioration of reinforced concrete structures is well understood and documented. New structures can be designed and built to withstand corrosion. However, due to short-term economical restraints, many new reinforced concrete structures continue to suffer as a result of corrosion damage, which results from the corrosion of the steel reinforcing. This paper explores the economic and practical benefits offered by the application of hot dip galvanizing as a viable means of protecting reinforcing steel concrete structures. The paper also discusses technical misconceptions that exist with respect to the application and performance provided by the use of hot dip galvanized reinforcing steel.

Jan 1, 2006

By K C. Williams, A W. Roberts, J D. Prigge

For stockpile design, the flowability and structural interfaces are critically dependant on the stress conditions throughout the pile. Historically, the predictive methodologies for stress determination have been too conservative, which adds inefficiency to the stockpile reclaim interface selections, especially for live reclaim stockpile systems. In addition, accurate pressure profiling throughout stockpile is essential to correctly design the stockpile support structures, which are buried within the stockpile. Such buried structures include trestle legs or columns to support load-out conveyors or the roof of bulk storage sheds. Improved methodologies with respect to the development of the hoop stress condition which exists in material ædrawn-downÆ within the stockpile has been developed. This hoop stress approach has significantly improved the live capacity prediction to over 90 per cent accuracy and improved rathole structure prediction within live reclaim stockpiles. Additionally the methodologies in estimating the vertical and circumferential stress variation acting on buried stockpile structures have been significantly progressed, with experimental testing shown good agreement with the theory.CITATION:Williams, K C, Roberts, A W and Prigge, J D, 2013. Recent developments in stress analysis and live reclaim prediction within iron ore stockpiles, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2013 , pp 501-510 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 12, 2013

By L. Adler

Longwall caving, one of the most economical and attractive mining methods, is yet one of the most difficult and hazardous.1 This dualism is inherent in a method which manipulates the mine supports themselves to aid in excavation. The difficulty is further compounded by the lack of an analytical method to predict and control results. This paper is intended to meet this need by providing a first approximation to the mechanics involved. The analysis will be limited to materials which are linear-elastic, homogeneous and isotropic. The rock structure is assumed to consist of beds of uniform thickness with no interbed bonding.2 Consequently, the mine roof can be likened to a beam, in which the action characteristic of longwall caving is the controlled deflection of the barrier supports. This deflection causes load to be intentionally transferred from these barrier props to the working face.3 Two of the requirements of this method, shared in common with other mining methods, are the provision of (1) adequate and (2) safe working space. The third requirement is the one characteristic of longwall caving and is somewhat in conflict with the second; (3) the development of near-failure static loads at the face. Requirement (1) is handled by spacing the barrier props sufficiently far from the working face for efficient operation. Requirement (2) limits the static stresses in the structure to predetermined allowable values. This means that it is not desirable to induce a maximum load on the working face as requirement (3) may imply. Such a condition could produce collapse in the whole structure. It is the purpose of the undercut to limit the depth, and thereby control the failure of the face. Therefore, requirement (3) really means the development of an optimum, not maximum, load which, in conjunction with undercutting, produces failure at the working face, with minimum powder consumption. Stress analysis requires an exact delineation of the structure and loads. The structure will be defined as the immediate roof and its supports. Since the roof is severed at the caving line, the supports reduce to the barrier props and the working face, as shown in Fig. 1. The mechanics of failure within the working face itself are complex and beyond the scope of this study, since the face represents a typical mine invert structure.4 However, this lack can be made good by the judicious collection of field data. The primary load on the structure is its own weight or body load which can be considered uniformly distributed over its upper surface. Additional loading occurs due to interference of overbeds with the structure. Wherever this occurs, the effect can be approximated by a load uniformly distributed on the upper surface of the structure.5 When this interference is intermittent, as with a much thicker overbed, the elastic curve for the overbed is superimposed on that for the structure and the extent of interference noted, as Fig. 2 shows. However, for simplicity, this study will ignore such intermittent loads without impairing the generality of approach. Consequently, the free-body diagram is that of a uniformly loaded cantilever beam with an inter-mediate support, as shown in Fig. 3. For convenience of analysis, the diagram will be divided just to the

Jan 1, 1961

By Muir DM, Ritchie IM, Gibbons SL

Fundamental studies on the transformations of iron oxides have been carried out and related to the solution conditions in the Becher Process. The results show that a number of iron oxide interconversion reactions occur in the aeration reactor with the products depending on the pH, temperature and oxidation potential of the aeration liquor. It is concluded that the lack of process control in the aeration reactor of the Becher Process significantly hinders the ability to predict and produce high quality single phase iron oxides of a consistent colour.

Jan 1, 1989

By F. Samimi Namin

During the process of developing surface or underground mines, some sites are considered for dumping of surface soils, while others are applied to reclaiming surface and waste disposal. For each kind of overburden, whether it be waste rock, low-grade material, or process tails, a separate storage site is considered so that it becomes possible to transport or recover the overburden separately. Decision-making must be completed by means of a selection process which takes into account the best methods of alternative sets in order to achieve these goals. This decision- making involves many parameters that are inter-related in that changes in some parameters affect the others. There are many methods of decision-making, however, Fuzzy Multi-attribute Decision-making (FMADM) and its functions are studied in this paper. The advantages of this method lies in its theoretical background, formulation, revising capability, unlimited alternatives, and consideration of the counteraction of the different parameters upon one another.

Jan 1, 2007