Comprative cavability studies

To reveal differences as to the rock-mass properties in different directions. As each length of the
48-mm-diameter core was removed from the driller´s helper. Borehole shear test were performed
in the outermost 12 m of each of these boreholes, a limitation imposed by the length of the
hydraulic hoses. These test, performed by a two-man team in about one week at each site, were
initiated as soon as possible after the drill was moved, ordinarily within a few days after the
borehole was completed.

Also at each site three or four 38-mm-diameter holes were drilled about 10 m deep, in the same
directions as the larger holes. Cylindrical-pressure-cell tests to determine rock-mass stiffness were
performed in these holes within a few days of hole completion; a three-man team conducted
simultaneous tests operating two independent sets of testing apparatus, completing the testing in
about one week at each site.

Also at each site three or four 15-cm-diameter holes were core drilled about 1.5 m long, in the
same directions as the larger holes, but downward inclined. These cores were jacketed and tested
under triaxial load. The test was performed in place if the 70-MPa axial load capacity was sufficient
to fail the specimen was removed and tested in a laboratory press. Field test at each site occupied
a two-man crew for about one week.

The timing of these activities was such that undercutting and drawing usually began at each study
site soon after the in-place tests were completed.

Caved ore fragments were photographed at draw points in the vicinity of each study site, the
sampling being distributed over a period of several months. Like the mapping of fractures, this was
essentially an intermittent one-man task.

The total elapsed time to carry out the foregoing task was about one year at each mine. Priority
was given to completing the underground data-acquisition activities. Logging of drill cores,
followed by the removal of specimens and testing, were low-priority tasks, independent of the
underground activities.

The remainder of this report is structured around the several classes of data that were generated.

Fracture characterization

Natural fracturing in the rock mass was determined by the two procedures most readily available
at an operating mine—mapping of exposures on the walls of the underground openings, and
logging of drill cores. The possibilities were considered that the two techniques might not give the
same results, that one or the other might be more reliable, or that both should be employed in
combination to best reveal the significant mechanical characteristics.

The attitude of each fracture was determined by measuring two angles, the dip and the azimuth of
the dip, herein expressed as dipaz. The distance from fracture to fracture was measured along
prescribed straight lines on underground exposures, which makes possible a direct comparison
with measurements of spacing along drill cores.
Sorting, classifying, and finding the frequency distributions of large sets of numbers is facilitated by
the use of special computer codes devised for the purpose. The first step is to classify the fractures
into separate families by a clustering analysis, based on their dip and dipaz (Shanley and mahtab,
1975). The mean dip and dipaz and their standard deviations (scatter) are calculated for each
family. Although the equivalent results can be obtained by plotting the data on a stereographic
net, computer processing saves clerical labor and provides a systematic, objective, reproducible
result from a given set of data.

Fracture spacing measurements are converted to distances between successive members of the
same family, perpendicular to the fracture planes. The average spacing of the fractures within a
family provides a measure of the dimensions of the fragments that are potentially delineated by
that family. Determining the average spacing, however, is not sufficient to meet the objectives,
because the largest 5% or 10% of the fragments may crate significant mine operating problems
caused by excessive blockages at the draw points. The bookkeeping involved in taking account of
the individual spacing values is facilitated by describing the distribution of spacings in terms of
some well-known frequency distribution, such as the negative exponential or the lognormal,
because a large mass of numerical information can be expressed in terms of two or three
parameters of a mathematical distribution function, one of a mathematical distribution function,
one of which is the mean. The computer code GDIST (Alldredge and bolstad, 1997) compares the
measured distribution to six common distributions, evaluates the goodness of fit, and computes
the parameters. Analysis of the geometry of rock-mass fracture systems has received increasing
attention in recent years (Einstein et al, 1997).

Mapping of Exposures

Mapping sites were selected with a view to achieving a representative sample of the ore body at
each study site. The objective was not to characterize an tire ore body but only the part that was
also sampled by the drill cores, the in-place tests, and the size-distribution-of fragments
photography. Some attempts were made to map in the undercut, but the very limited.

DESING AND OPERATION OF CAVING SUBLEVEL STOPING MINES

Availability of such sites and the potential hazards to mapping personnel resulted in our
concentrating the data acquisition on the next lower level, the production level, where the ore
withdrawal activities are conducted. This level was in ore at all three mines. The walls of these
production drifts provided by far the greatest supply of exposures for mapping.

Any mapping site was usually exposed for only a few weeks after the drift was driven until the
concreting was done. The standard mapping site was a 15-m length of drift wall; 5 to 10 such sites
were mapped in the vicinity of each main cavability study site. The scheme was line mapping,
which consisted primarily of measuring the dip and dipaz of, and the distance to, every fracture
that crossed the pre-established reference lines. The latter were four of five parallel, 15-m lengths
of string, spaced usually 0.3 m apart, fastened to nails that were driven into the wall. A COCLA
compass was convenient for measuring dip and dipaz, if local magnetic effects were not
troublesome; the bureau of mines DRAP (Bolstad and Mahtab, 1974) was used if steel supports or
ore minerals were found to influence the readings.

The data from each mapping site were processed by computer to sort the fracture into separate
families according to dip and dipaz. The frequency distribution was found for the spacing of
fractures within each family, and the parameters of the distribution were calculated a multiplier
was then inserted so that each spacing parameter represented the dimension perpendicular to the
fracture planes.

The frequency distribution of fracture length was found by computing the fraction of all the
fractures mapped that were long enough to cross only one mapping reference line, long enough to
cross two lines, etc. Interval measurement of length is relatively coarse, but it speeds the mapping
work because the mapper need not hunt for the terminations of each fracture, producing results
of doubtful validity in the poorly lit mapping area.

A negative exponential distribution was found to provide the best fit to fracture data in most
instances; a lognormal distribution sometimes was better.

Some pooling of the data was attempted, combining the results from several mapping sites and
recalculating the parameters for these larger groupings. Whether or not every 15-m site is
different is not of great importance to cavability, however, if each site exhibits at least three
directions of fracturing.

LOOGING OF DRILL CORES

Inferences as to the fracturing in a rock mass that can be made from drill cores are not the same as
the information that can be generated by the mapping of exposures—the fracture length cannot
be measured; fracture orientation is a special problem. In the present study all drill cores were
labeled as to drill-hole orientation when they were removed from the core barrel, in order to
establish their geographic attitudes and in turn the attitudes of the fracture families with respect
to each other.

The geological engineer usually has available for examination a large quantity of exploration within
the drill hole. Despite this handicap, strategies can be devised for dealing with unoriented core,
especially if a limited amount of oriented core is recovered in accordance with a systematic
sampling plan. Our research approach was to ascertain what conclusions and correlations could be
developed from oriented cores and also to devise and use a practical, inexpensive core-orienting
procedure to generate the data. Thus, for situations in which core orienting is desirable, the means
will be available to implement it.

Core drilling subjects the rock core to torsional and flexural stresses.