Influence of Water Pressure on the Stress State in Stopes with Cohesionless Backfill

The rapid increase of backfill use in underground mines requires a better understanding of the interaction between the fill material and the surrounding rock mass. This is a fairly complex issue as backfill materials are weak compared to the rock mass. This difference in the mechanical behavior induces a stress transfer along the contact area. Previous work conducted on backfilled trenches and mining stopes has shown that basic arching theory can be used to estimate earth pressures in narrow, vertical openings. In this regard, most existing solutions have been developed for dry backfills. However, in many cases, water is present in mine stopes, so its effect should be assessed. In this paper, the authors present a solution to evaluate the stress state in submerged or partially submerged backfilled stopes. The proposed analytical solution is validated against numerical modeling results.