Floor design in underground coal mines

Summary

Floor failure and excessive heave in underground coal mines can jeopardize the stability of the whole structure, including the roof and pillars, due to differential settlements and redistribution of stress concentrations. Besides, floor failure is detrimental to haulageway operation and can lead to unacceptable conditions of high deformation. Thus, the design of any underground opening must consider roof/pillar and floor as one structural system.

This paper presents guidelines for the design of mine floors, including the necessary field and laboratory investigations and the determination of the bearing capacity of floor strata. The design methodology is based essentially on a modified Hoek-Brown rock mass strength criterion. The main modifications are the introduction of the concept of the point of critical energy release to account for the long term strength, the inclusion of tensile strength and the adoption of a lithostatic state of stress in the rock mass. The determination of the dimensionless parametersm ands result from correlations with the RMR (“rock mass rating”) of the Geomechanics Clasification. Nine case histories, both in longwall and room and pillar coal mining, were analyzed with the proposed methodology.