Diagnostic methods and ways of testing the workability of coal - a review

Abstract The need to classify rocks in terms of workability stems primarily from the need to choose the appropriate, most effective diagnostic method (DM) and way of mining the given rock. Studying and measuring the workability of rocks is extremely difficult due to the fact that workability depends on many various factors. There are many DM for determining the workability of rocks, but none of them take into account the influence of all factors, hence the obtained results are only indicative. In the article, many DM and ways of determining the cutting resistance with the use of various devices are presented and characterized. The principles of their operations are presented, as well as the DM of measuring the cutting resistance and its utilitarian usefulness in forecasting the selection of mining machines on the basis of cutting for specific mining and geological conditions. The core of the problem is confirmed by the number of covered DM and tools in various research centers around the world. In the article, new tools measuring and evaluating the mechanical properties of the coal solid, all created in Poland, are presented. Their structure, principles of their operation, as well as the innovation of these solutions, are all presented. In this article, their ad-vantages and disadvantages are highlighted, as well as showing the DM which best represents the way of work of the winning machine. Therefore, the results achieved through the aforementioned DM can be understood as representative values.