Using the Relaxation Test to Study Variation in the Time-Dependent Property of Rock and the Consequent Effect on Time-Dependent Roof Failure

Field observations have demonstrated that roof failure occurs spatially in a mine from the time of excavation. It is suspected that time-dependent deformation propagates failure in the rock mass. In this paper, the relaxation test is used to study variation in the time-dependent property of rock and the consequent effect on time-dependent roof failure. This investigation uses a numerical simulation in 3DEC. The relaxation equation is developed from Burgers model. Variations in the time-dependent property in the post-failure region show negligible variation and, therefore, are averaged to represent the time-dependent property of the failed rock. Finally, these parameters are used in the numerical simulation of underground excavations. Two groups of parameters are used to represent the time-dependent property for pre- and post-failure conditions. FISH functions within 3DEC are used to monitor the state of each zone. Once failure is detected, the parameters are changed to the values corresponding to failed rock. The results show that the new relaxation model accurately predicts the time-dependent propagation of the failure zone. The variation of the time-dependent parameters significantly affects the rock mass behavior and roof convergence.