Numerical Modeling Study of the Effect of Some Critical Parameters on Caving Behavior of Strata and Support Performance in a Longwall Working

Excerpt

Systematic caving and sustainable load on support are the two most important factors for safe and successful longwall operation. The predictions of roof behavior and support requirement in longwall are major issues of research since the introduction of longwall mining technology in India. In the back-drop of past experiences in our own geo-mining conditions, a serious R&D effort is under progress for improving the current understanding of caving mechanism and support performance. These works are of genuine importance for achieving a capability of reliable rock mechanics based planning and design. This is necessary if the longwall mining has to be established in this country as a proven technology to work the deep coal seams which cannot be mined otherwise. With the current booming trends in manufacturing and energy sectors, an approach for longwall planning and design need to be formulated. In the recent years, the computational power, speed, and memory of the computers have tremendously increased and this, in turn, has made it possible to take up complex numerical models and study the response at micro-levels of probable factors which are responsible for the complex strata behavior in longwall mining. …