Predicting the noise level in rock sawing from the physico-mechanical and mineralogical properties of rocks

Millions of employees in the World are exposed to noise at work. Block cutting machine is one of the most important noise sources in the stone processing plants. In this study, the predictability of the noise from the block cutting machines in the stone processing plants was investigated by using the physico-mechanical and mineralogical properties of rocks. The noise levels of some block cutting machines were firstly measured during the cutting of the three different rocks. Then, the core samples of the same rocks were cut by an automatic cutting machine in the laboratory and the noise levels were measured. A conversion factor was obtained by dividing the site noise levels by the laboratory noise levels. Then, nineteen different rocks were cut by the automatic cutting machine in the laboratory and the noise levels were measured. Strong correlations were found between the laboratory noise level and the rock properties. The noise level increases with increasing rock strength, abrasive mineral content, and density. However, increasing porosity decreases the noise level. It was concluded that the laboratory noise level for a new rock type to be cut can be estimated using the derived relations. Then, the laboratory noise level can be converted to the site noise level using the derived conversion factor.