Long-Term Stability Evaluation and Pillar Design Criterion for Room-and-Pillar Mines

Yang Yu, Shen-en Chen, Ka-zhong Deng and Hong-dong Fan
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Yang Yu: School of Environment Science and Spatial Information, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Shen-en Chen: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223, USA
Ka-zhong Deng: School of Environment Science and Spatial Information, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Hong-dong Fan: School of Environment Science and Spatial Information, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: The collapse of abandoned room-and-pillar mines is often violent and unpredictable. Safety concerns often resulted in mine closures with no post-mining stability evaluations. As a result, large amounts of land resources over room-and-pillar mines are wasted. This paper attempts to establish an understanding of the long-term stability issues of goafs (abandoned mines). Considering progressive pillar failures and the effect of single pillar failure on surrounding pillars, this paper proposes a pillar peeling model to evaluate the long-term stability of coal mines and the associated criteria for evaluating the long-term stability of room-and-pillar mines. The validity of the peeling model was verified by numerical simulation, and field data from 500 pillar cases from China, South Africa, and India. It is found that the damage level of pillar peeling is affected by the peel angle and pillar height and is controlled by the pillar width–height ratio.

Keywords: room-and-pillar mining; long-term pillar stability; pillar degradation; mine safety; pillar design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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