Disaster of the bucket wheel excavator caused by extreme environmental impact: Consequences, rescue and reconstruction

•Slope failure was the cause of a severe accident of the bucket wheel excavator.•The technology of the excavator’s rescue and balancing are presented.•The redesign solution enabled repair and reconstruction in field conditions.•The redesigned slewing platform meets the strength criterion, unlike the original.•During two years of exploitation since the revitalization, no damages were observed.

A slope failure was the cause of a severe accident of bucket wheel excavator (BWE) Takraf SRs 1200. This paper is dedicated to the engineering challenges that accompanied the process of returning the BWE from its after accident state to the state of full exploitation readiness. After the accident, temporary stabilization of the superstructure was carried out as well as cutting off of severely damaged parts of the bucket wheel boom (BWB) with excavating device. Successful completion of the very delicate BWE rescue and balancing operation was followed by the reconstruction of the heavily damaged slewing platform. The integrity of the slewing platform structure was preserved by removing structural parts which were seriously damaged during long-term exploitation and breakdown, and installing the newly designed elements in critical zones. The redesign of the slewing platform structure produced favorable loads and stiffness distribution while eliminating geometrical stress concentrators. Comparative analyses of the stress states pointed out that the redesigned slewing platform structure meets the strength criterion, unlike the original structure. The redesign solution enabled reconstruction in field conditions. This way the time of the reconstruction realization was drastically cut and losses due to the downtime of the machine were reduced several times over. After completing the slewing platform reconstruction, the newly manufactured BWB structural elements as well as the newly manufactured bucket wheel with drive were installed i.e. a partial revitalization of the BWE was done and by that the BWE’s life was essentially prolonged.