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Rock Mechanics.pdf - Mining and Blasting

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Figure 16.8 Relation between stope<br />

span, L, rock mass cohesion, cm, <strong>and</strong><br />

factor of safety, F, for chimneying<br />

disintegration stability analysis (after<br />

Bétourney, 1994).<br />

MINING-INDUCED SURFACE SUBSIDENCE<br />

approach used is to approximate successive internal failure surfaces by circular arcs<br />

which represent lines of active earth pressure. In the vertical caving case shown in<br />

Figure 16.3, each rupture line is composed of symmetric circular arcs intersecting at<br />

an apex which is a point of passive earth pressure. The equilibrium of each successive<br />

volume of rock is assessed using the method of slices developed for slope stability<br />

analysis (see Hoek <strong>and</strong> Bray, 1981, Mitchell, 1983).<br />

Bétourney (1994) <strong>and</strong> Bétourney et al. (1994) reported the results of their analyses<br />

as a relation between stope span, L, rock mass cohesion, cm, <strong>and</strong> factor of safety,<br />

F, for a particular value of rock mass unit weight, , as shown in Figure 16.8. They<br />

found that for the chimneying disintegration mechanism to occur, the block size <strong>and</strong><br />

the degree of interlocking, <strong>and</strong> hence the cohesion, of the rock mass needed to be<br />

low. Bétourney (1994) applied this approach to the back analysis of the failures at<br />

the Brier Hill Mine (Rice, 1934) <strong>and</strong> the Athens Mine as illustrated in Figure 16.4<br />

(Allen, 1934, Boyum, 1961).<br />

It must be emphasised that the limiting equilibrium analyses presented here provide<br />

only approximate solutions for particular types of chimney caving. They are not<br />

applicable to the case in which caving occurs by progressive unravelling of discrete<br />

blocks of strong rock. They apply best to those cases in which geological planes of<br />

weakness form the vertical boundaries of the caving block, <strong>and</strong> those in which the<br />

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