Analyzing the Stability of Underground Mines Using 3D Point Cloud Data and Discontinuum Numerical Analysis

Seung-Joong Lee and Sung-Oong Choi
Additional contact information
Seung-Joong Lee: Department of Energy and Resources Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
Sung-Oong Choi: Department of Energy and Resources Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: This study describes a precise numerical analysis process by adopting the real image of mine openings obtained by light detection and ranging (LiDAR), which can produce a point cloud data by measuring the target surface numerically. The analysis target was a section of an underground limestone mine, to which a hybrid room-and-pillar mining method that was developed to improve ore recovery was applied. It is important that the center axis and the volume of the vertical safety pillar in the lower parts match those in the upper parts. The 3D survey of the target section verified that the center axis of the vertical safety pillar in the lower parts had deviated in a north-westerly direction. In particular, the area of the lower part of the vertical safety pillar was approximately 34 m 2 lower than the designed cross-sectional area, which was 100 m 2 . In order to analyze the stability of the vertical safety pillar, a discontinuum numerical analysis and safety factor analysis were conducted using 3D surveying results. The analysis verified that instability was caused by the joints distributed around the vertical safety pillar. In conclusion, investigation of the 3D survey and 3D numerical analysis techniques performed in this study are expected to provide higher reliability than the current techniques used for establishing whether mining plans require new mining methods or safety measures.

Keywords: LiDAR; pillar stability; discontinuum analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/4/945/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/4/945/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:4:p:945-:d:205363

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().