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Rock characterization while drilling and application of roof bolter drilling data for evaluation of ground conditions

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2015.01.006Get rights and content
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Abstract

Despite recent advances in mine health and safety, roof collapse and instabilities are still the leading causes of injury and fatality in underground mining operations. Improving safety and optimum design of ground support requires good and reliable ground characterization. While many geophysical methods have been developed for ground characterizations, their accuracy is insufficient for customized ground support design of underground workings. The actual measurements on the samples of the roof and wall strata from the exploration boring are reliable but the related holes are far apart, thus unsuitable for design purposes. The best source of information could be the geological back mapping of the roof and walls, but this is disruptive to mining operations, and provided information is only from rock surface. Interpretation of the data obtained from roof bolt drilling can offer a good and reliable source of information that can be used for ground characterization and ground support design and evaluations. This paper offers a brief review of the mine roof characterization methods, followed by introduction and discussion of the roof characterization methods by instrumented roof bolters. A brief overview of the results of the preliminary study and initial testing on an instrumented drill and summary of the suggested improvements are also discussed.

Keywords

Roof bolter
Rock characterization
Three-dimensional (3D) visualization of ground
Ground support optimization

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Dr. Jamal Rostami is currently an associate professor and Centennial Chair of Carrier Development in Mining at the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, the Pennsylvania State University (PSU). He was born in Tehran and was admitted to Faculty of Engineering (Fanni), University of Tehran (UT) in 1983 and started his studies towards Mining Engineering and graduated first in his class in 1987. He subsequently started his graduate degree at Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in 1989 and got his MSc and PhD in mining engineering in 1992 and 1997, respectively. He was hired as a research faculty and deputy director of Earth Mechanics Institute at CSM immediately after his graduation and continued at this position till 2000. Simultaneously, he was a faculty at University of Tehran from 1988 through 2002 teaching in Mining Engineering Department. Dr. Rostami was a full time consultant with major A&E companies from 2002 till 2007 when he joined PSU. Dr. Rostami has over 25 years of experience in design, management, research, and teaching in the field of mining, tunneling, and underground construction. Dr. Rostami is a registered Professional Engineering (PE) in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. He has published over 40 peer reviewed journal publication and 130 conference papers and many technical reports. He is a member of SME, ASCE, ARMA, ISEE, IRSME, IRRMS, TRB tunneling committee, and University of Tehran alumni association. He is the 2013 chair of the Professional Engineering Exam Committee, and a Member of the Structure and Governance (S&G), and Education and Professional Services Strategic Committee, and Education Sustainability Committee of the Society of Mining Engineers (SME). Dr. Rostami was named the recipient 2014 of the Pittsburgh Coal Mining Institute of America's 2014 Stephen McCann Memorial Educational Excellence Award. He is on the editorial board of Tunneling and Underground Space Technology and Mining Engineering journals. He is also a founding member of Iranian American Academics and Professionals (IAAP) in 2013.

Peer review under responsibility of Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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