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Rock Mechanics.pdf - Mining and Blasting

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Figure 15.16 Ground-support interaction<br />

analysis for longwall face support<br />

(after Everett <strong>and</strong> Medhurst,<br />

2003).<br />

LONGWALL AND CAVING MINING METHODS<br />

this method were found to agree well with those found to give satisfactory performance<br />

in the UK coalfields.<br />

Attempts to apply the “detached block” method to determine the required face<br />

support loads in other mining environments have not always been successful, often<br />

under-estimating the support requirements (Kelly et al., 2002). The method proposed<br />

by Ashton et al. (1970) does not allow for the influence of strong, thick s<strong>and</strong>stone roof<br />

strata, for thick seams or for the transmission to the supports of re-distributed stresses.<br />

This latter effect becomes more important as mining depth increases. The inadequacy<br />

of support loadings in early Australian longwalls, for example, led to the extensive<br />

use of a large-scale physical model. This model demonstrated the complexity of the<br />

loadings <strong>and</strong> the benefits of using higher setting <strong>and</strong> yield loads. More recently, numerical<br />

models of increasing complexity have replaced physical <strong>and</strong> simple analytical<br />

models in studies of this problem (Kelly et al., 2002).<br />

Figure 15.16 illustrates the application to face support of the rock-support interaction<br />

principles introduced in Chapter 11. Ground characteristic lines or ground<br />

response curves (GRC) for typical Australian longwall conditions are shown for a<br />

depth of 300 m <strong>and</strong> allowing for a 10% additional loading contingency for a given<br />

convergence. Support characteristics are shown for installed capacities of 100, 110<br />

<strong>and</strong> 120 t m −2 . These characteristics are shown with a 90% ratio of setting load to<br />

yield load to reflect optimal performance. In one case, a 80% setting to yield load<br />

ratio is also shown. As shown by Figure 15.16, under-rated supports (in this case the<br />

100tm −2 support) may allow excessive convergence before being set <strong>and</strong> may not be<br />

able to accommodate the full load generated once deterioration of the roof develops.<br />

Everett <strong>and</strong> Medhurst (2003) report the successful application of this ground response<br />

curve method in a number of Australian longwalls.<br />

15.3.5 Roadway formation <strong>and</strong> support<br />

In the first edition of this text (Brady <strong>and</strong> Brown, 1985), attention was focused on the<br />

formation <strong>and</strong> support of the gate roads used to service faces in the advancing longwall<br />

method of coal mining then in use in the UK. In this case, the roadways were formed<br />

448

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