PONE-D-23-35060Dynamic characteristics and fatigue life analysis of gyration platform of roadheaderPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Tian,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

 Please, address all the comments made by the reviewers, and highlight all the changes in the revised manuscript. More explanations on the methods and tools selected to perform the study and on how the data were obtained are required. Please, also give more details on the numerical calculations of the cutting head load. Finally, please, explain how a rectangular groove was produced by a dome head.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jan 08 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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 [This work was supported in part by The Science and Technology Tackling Key Project of Henan Province under Grant 232102321097, and in part by Colleges and Universities Scientific Research Projects of Henan Province under Grant 21B440004 and in part by The Science and Technology Research Project of Zhoukou city under Grant 2022GG01008.].  

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Manuscript entitled ‘Dynamic characteristics and fatigue life analysis of gyration platform of roadheader’ analyzed the cutting parameters of a roadheader during the excavation process. Some dynamic data was captured and discussed regarding the position and orientation or the roadheader. The authors believed that this study could provide a reference for the improvement of the gyration platform structure and the selection of a suitable swing speed. This research cannot be accepted due to the following arguments.

1.The methods and the tools that the authors selected to carry out the research were too rough and simple. The authors are not familiar with the real working conditions of an excavator, there are many types for different working environments, to be straight forward and simple, coal cutter is coal cutter, roadheader is roadheader, one is for long wall mining face, one is for roadway excavation. The authors need to add more details of the differences, regarding the working conditions of them, rather than mix them together, sometimes declare that the roadheader is also adaptable for long wall mining face, which is clearly not precise.

2.As stated by the authors, ‘In order to ensure the reliability of the gyration platform, when cutting in different swing directions, the swing speed should be reasonably selected based on the hardness of the coal and rock’. How did the authors consider the up and down movement, rather than just left and right, the real scenario for a roadheader is all directions, rather than just horizontal movement. Though it is acceptable to just discuss the horizontal one, it is indeed necessary to also consider the vertical one, at least to add some discussions regarding the limitations of this study.

3.In section 2.1.3, the authors stated that the cutting head load was calculated by Matlab software, but the inner process is lacking, the purpose and the results from the calculation are also unknown, which both make this section rough and insufficient in details.

4.In section 2.1.3, the authors mentioned firmness coefficient, what was the strength values of the rock?

5.Also in section 2.1.3, how did the authors obtain the data? it is a necessity to briefly introduce the methods, or the arrangement of the sensors that captured all data.

6.The most serious flaw of this paper exists in Fig. 8, obviously the cutting test couldn't shape a rectangular groove as shown in the figure, the cutting head was an overall domed appearance, how did it possible for a domed head cut a rectangular groove? from this point, there is no doubt that the paper suffers flaw of factitious results from a scientific research. Therefore, from this section and onward, there is no need to read it any more, and it directly hinders a potential positive decision of this submission.

Reviewer #2: (1) The fatigue lifespan expression and/or result are not enough in the current manuscript that is not consist with the defined TITLE.

(2) The analysis reference is not referring the classical strength theory despite the manuscript filling with enough stress and strain maps.

(2) The current English expression need to improve and polish.

(3) The figures are low resolution without scope of academic publish standards.

(4) The fitting curves are low in physical recombination without enough factors illustration in engineering applications. Why it is high-order function with the abscissa? (Fig. 7 and Fig. 17)

(5) Figure 1 and Figure 2 should add the 3D model to support the agreed assumption before the raised question.

(6) The line diagrams in the referred figures should be normalized for a uniform style, including the font, size, line type, etc.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Yanhu Zhang

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PONE-D-23-35060R1Dynamic characteristics and fatigue life analysis of gyration platform of roadheaderPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Tian,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please, address all the comments made by the reviewers. 

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jun 24 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #4: (No Response)

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Partly

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: No

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: No

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #2: Thanks for your revision. Some minor concerns are provided as follows:

(1) Deformation trend of the gyration platform in Fig 16 is unscientific because of the missed quantitative information, neither the legend, lined maps nor comparison.

(2) Some figures (e.g. Fig 17~Fig 20, Fig.22) are lacking in depth for optimized significance and designed objects.

(3) Results and Discussion section is raw and basic, especially there is no discussion and comparison analysis. Some constructive discussion is necessary for one research paper, rather than a one-plank narrative story.

(4) Three-lines table is welcome in the research paper.

Reviewer #3: The dynamic characteristics and fatigue life of the gyration platform of road header when cutting coal and rock, are developed in this manuscript. The simulated load was applied to the multibody model of the cutting section and dynamic simulation was conducted. It was found that the maximum stress and deformation of the gyration platform have a significant increase trend with the increase of swing speed. This paper is well-structured and of interest to this journal. But some minor issues need to be clarified before publication can be recommended.

1、“Due to the cutting power of this type of roadheader being 75kW, the swing speed should be ensured to be within 1.1m/min during the cutting process.” Please confirm if 1.1 m/min is correct？

2、“The maximum relative error of the effective torque values obtained by the two methods under different conditions is 10.2929%.” Please explain whether it is reasonable for the error to reach 10.2929%, and suggest modifying the model to reduce the error.

3、Figure 11 shows periodic phenomenon in acceleration Y, please explain?

Reviewer #4: Some calculations and numerical simulations were conducted to obtain the stress and fatigue life of a roadheader's cutting head and gyration platform. However, the siginification of this study fails to be stated clearly. Almost all the calculations were derived from some formulas cited from other literatures. Little innovative method was proposed. Some of my concerns are listed below.

1. The difficult or urgency for investigating the stress and fatigue life of a roadheader's gyration platform need to be explain firstly. Why does few of the existing studies involve the dynamics of the gyration platform?

2. The current studies cannot well illustrate the dynamic characteristics and fatigue life of gyration platform. Only the torque applied on the gyration platform and the acceleration and stress at some nodes were discussed. These data cannot reflect the dynamic characteristics such as vibration and modality. The fatigue life was figured out from a S-N curve of common Q235A material in the software by importing the stress distribution. Whether is this computation reliable to determine the actual fatigue life of the whole gyration platform?

3. In the sentence 'the cutting picks experience forces as illustrated in Figure 1', Figure 1 should be Figure 2.

4. Fig.16 should be presented at a more appropriate view angle to better illustrate the deformation. In addition, what does the color in this figure indicate? A color scale should be added next to the model.

5. What does the deformation in Fig.18 stand for? Where is this deformation?

6. What does the fatigue life in Fig.23 stand for? I just wonder what does the minimum fatigue life mean? If the nodes within the gyration platform had diffferent fatigue life, what should be the fatigue life of this component, i.e. gyration platform?

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #2: Yes: ZHANG Yanhu

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: No

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PONE-D-23-35060R2Dynamic characteristics and fatigue life analysis of gyration platform of roadheaderPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Tian,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

 Please, try to address the comments and concerns of the reviewers. 

Please submit your revised manuscript by Sep 21 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #4: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #4: Partly

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #4: N/A

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #4: The manuscript has been revised carefully. But I still wonder the academical significance for investigating fatigue life of a roadheader's cutting head and gyration platform. Neither innovative methods nor valuable conclusions were proposed. In addition, I don't think the fatigue life has been well examined in this study, because the 'fatigue life' was just given from a certain stress according to S-N curves of materials. It means the original data were still stress, i.e. the discusses were still stress analysis. Only difference is that they were explained from another view by assigning them to a certain fatigue life.

Nevertheless, this manuscript presents with relative high scholarly format and thus I'm not opposed to accepting it after minor modification. The conclusion need to be revised. It's too verbose to well refelct the objective and some main contribution of this study.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #4: No

**********

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PONE-D-23-35060R3Dynamic characteristics and fatigue life analysis of gyration platform of roadheaderPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Tian,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Please, address all the comments made by the reviewers. 

Please submit your revised manuscript by Nov 11 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #5: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #6: (No Response)

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

Reviewer #6: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #3: (No Response)

Reviewer #5: Yes

Reviewer #6: N/A

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #5: (No Response)

Reviewer #6: No

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

Reviewer #6: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #3: This manuscript provides a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the dynamic characteristics and fatigue life of the gyration platform in roadheaders under nonlinear impact loads. The authors have conducted a rigorous study by integrating modal analysis, stress-strain evaluations, and Miner's fatigue damage theory, leading to valuable conclusions regarding structural optimization and swing speed selection. The methodology is sound, and the results are significant for enhancing the reliability and operational efficiency of roadheaders. The paper is well-written and clearly presented. I strongly recommend the acceptance of this manuscript for publication.

Reviewer #5: Dear Editor,

Thank you for the opportunity to review the research paper submitted for potential publication in PLOS ONE. The manuscript has been evaluated for both its scientific merit and linguistic precision.

This is the third round of revisions, based on the referees' comments from previous rounds, in which I was not involved. However, it appears that the authors have adequately addressed all the feedback provided. The paper presents a study investigating the dynamic characteristics and fatigue life of the roadheader's gyration platform during the cutting process. The importance of exploring these aspects is well-recognized, and the subject matter fits within the journal’s scope.

The research background, originality, contribution to the field, and methodology are appropriate. While the paper references around 23 scientific sources, both the introduction and discussion sections would benefit from a more extensive integration of relevant previous studies, and the number of citations should be increased accordingly.

Regarding graphics and tables: I recommend using more professional graphic design techniques to enhance the quality of graphs, schematics, and tables. Ensure consistency in font sizes, symbols, and units between figures, tables, and the main text to improve legibility. In particular, revise the FEA printouts and ensure that the legends for each analysis are clearly readable.

In conclusion, I recommend this paper for publication in PLOS ONE after minor revisions.

Yours sincerely,

Reviewer #6: Comments and observations:

1. Formula (1) – (12) should be provided with units. How is the term “width of the pick blade” (formula (1)) understood if the cutting head is equipped with conical picks? Where is the pick width measured and how much is it – the tip diameter (Alloy head diameter) is given in Tab. 2)?

2. What are the values given in formulas (17) and (18) (187.9 mm and 2.2 mm/s), on what basis were they calculated, since no data is given?

3. Table 2 – the pick shank diameter and alloy head diameter seem to be unnecessary from the point of view of the presented analyses.

4. The description of Fig. 7-9 states that with the increase in boom swing speed, the torque and power consumption for cutting increase. Meanwhile, Fig. 9 shows that the cutting torque decreases. Where in Fig. 7 and 8 is the increase in load and power visible – the courses have a periodic character with a rotation period of the cutting head (1.13 s)?

5. The last line of the paragraph under Fig. 6 refers to optimal mining conditions. This is a rather lofty formulation, and it is not clear what it means.

6. In the description of the directions of acceleration components in the paragraph under Fig. 13, the Z axis is the vertical direction, and the X axis is the horizontal direction. This is different from Figs. 2 and 3. This is confusing.

7. How were the curves shown in Figs. 13, 15, 17, and 20 obtained – is this the result of computer simulation with the excitation shown in Fig. 6?

8. Table 4 – there is “Rsm” – it should be “RMS”.

9. Fig. 21 – for clarity, the lines could be made in different colors.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #5: No

Reviewer #6: No

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Dynamic characteristics and fatigue life analysis of gyration platform of roadheader

PONE-D-23-35060R4

Dear Dr. Tian,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #3: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #3: (No Response)

**********

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #3: No

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