Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Preprint 16-078
ROOF CONTROL, PILLAR STABILITY, AND GROUND CONTROL ISSUES IN UNDERGROUND STONE MINES
of the rock testing including the 58% reduction for use in finite element illustrates that the failure develops in the Level 1 pillars and along the
modeling is shown in Table 1. interface between the two limestone beds.
Figure 2. Finite Element Mesh for Analysis of 28 foot Sill Pillar PILLAR DESIGN AND MINING HEIGHT
between Levels 1 and 2.
Pillar design and mining height are related in that the mining
The result of the finite element analysis of the 28-foot sill pillar is height controls the pillar width. Pillars are required to support the
shown in Figure 3. The horizontal line in the bottom 1/3 of the Level 1 overburden based upon tributary area loading. Different than coal
pillars is the interface between two limestone beds. In Level 2, the mines, limestone pillars are designed for long-term stability. Although
immediate back is bolted with 6-foot long fully grouted resin bolts the failure of 4-foot to 10-foot coal pillars can initiate surface
installed on 6-foot centers while Level 1 is not bolted. Figure 3 clearly subsidence and structural damage, the failure of a 60-foot to 70-foot
high limestone pillar has catastrophic consequences. Therefore, a
pillar safety factor of 1.80 is a widely accepted value for limestone achieve higher recovery in mines where high horizontal stress or
mine (Esterhuizen, et al., 2008). where floor bearing capacity is a concern. Rectangular pillars enable
greater extraction parallel to the major horizontal stress direction in
Typical of all pillars irrespective of the mineral, pillar stability is a mines where there is a preferred horizontal stress orientation and
function of the width-to-height (w/h) ratio. Pillars with a w/h ratio of where the horizontal stress is an integer multiple of the vertical stress.
less than 0.8 (ibid) begin to fail by "hour glassing" where the center of The crosscut width is perpendicular to the major horizontal stress
the pillar spalls creating a concave geometry as shown in Figure 5 orientation and is narrow relative to the headers.
(Esterhuizen, et al., 2008a). Spalling of rock slabs is initiated in the
middle third of the pillar where there is no confinement. Movement in Figure 7 provides an example of the preferred orientation of
the upper and lower third of the pillar is confined by the frictional headers and crosscuts when the horizontal stress orientation is known.
resistance along the interface between the pillar and the back and For Mine B, the principal horizontal orientation was measured as
floor. The spalling reduces the pillar area in the middle third of the N77oE (Kuhnhein and Ramer, 2004). Mine B had experienced back
pillar which in turn increases the stress and propagates continued falls in the crosscuts that are oriented N26oW which is 13o from being
slabbing or spalling of rock. perpendicular to the major principal horizontal stress orientation. Since
a shift in the mine orientation was infeasible, Mine B reduced the
crosscut width in the unfavorable orientation from 40-feet to 30-feet
and in increased the header width in the favorable orientation from 40-
feet to 50-feet. The intersections were changed from four-way to
three-way to reduce the opportunity for back instability to propagate
along the crosscuts.
prior to the development of the upper level. The location of the upper Mine D is a three level mine terminated at the base of a 50-foot
level within the geologic column and mining height control and thick shale interval. Future levels are planned but at this time only the
constrain the options for underlying levels. Stone quality and physical initial three are of concern. The maximum overburden above Level 1
characteristics are the initial focus as the engineer wants to avoid is relatively light at 196-feet. The mine was planned based upon the
having a high calcium or comparably valuable ledge left in the pillars on Level 3. The overlying Levels are columnized because of the
interburden between two levels. thin sill pillars as shown in the cross section of Figure 11.
Geology is important to planning a single level mine and critical to
multiple level mine planning. Specifically, joint and fracture orientation
and the presence of calcite veins and or forms of mineral intrusion
should be determined from a surface exposure or active underground
level. The joint and fracture orientations should be measured using a
Brunton or Clar compass and corrected for the local magnetic
declination. A rosette diagram, shown in Figure 9 illustrates the
preferred joint and fracture orientation.
Limestone is typically strong so failures will occur along joint,
fractures, or other discontinuities. The objective is to orient the upper
level and those below it so that the headers and crosscuts intersect
joints at an angle, minimizing the exposure of these structural defects
in the mine openings. The intent is to have the joints pass through and
not parallel to the mine openings so they are supported by the pillars.
Figure 13. Safety Factor Results for the three Levels of Mine D.