In this study, the tomography of dynamic stress coefficient (TDSC) was established based on a mechanical model of stress wave propagation in bedding planes and a mathematical model of the stress wave attenuation in rock masses. The reliability of the TDSC was verified by a linear bedding plane model and field monitoring. Generally, the TDSC in the dynamic stress propagation of bedding planes increases

Hydraulic fracturing technique is widely used for methane drainage and has achieved good effects in numerous coal mines, but negative effects may occur as the fracturing fluids are absorbed into the coal seam. Gas wettability alteration (GWA) technology can be used as it can enhance the gas and water mobility during dewatering process as a result of capillary pressure change. However, there have been

To evaluate the coal burst proneness more precisely, a new energy criterion namely the residual elastic energy index was proposed. This study begins by performing the single-cyclic loading-unloading uniaxial compression tests with five pre-peak unloading stress levels to explore the energy storage characteristics of coal. Five types of coals from different mines were tested, and the instantaneous destruction

This paper presents the development and implementation of an innovative mixed integer programming based mathematical model for an open pit mining operation with Grade Engineering framework. Grade Engineering comprises a range of coarse-separation based pre-processing techniques that separate the desirable (i.e. high-grade) and undesirable (i.e. low-grade or uneconomic) materials and ensure the delivery

It is significant to research the impact resistance properties of hydraulic support due to its key support role in the fully mechanized mining face. However, it is difficult for the entire hydraulic support to implement the impact experiment underground and analyze the response characteristic. Therefore, a dynamic impact experiment for the entire hydraulic support was proposed in this paper, where

A novel method of pellet calcification roasting-H2SO4 leaching was proposed to efficiently separate and extract vanadium (V) from vanadium-titanium (V-Ti) magnetite concentrates. The leaching rate of V is as high as 88.98%, while the leaching rate of impurity iron is only 1.79%. Moreover, the leached pellets can be used as raw materials for blast furnace ironmaking after secondary roasting. X-ray photoelectron

Rockburst is defined as a phenomenon with immediate dynamic instability under excavation unloading conditions of deep or high geostress areas. Inadequate knowledge and lack of characterizing information prevent engineers and experts from achieving appropriate prediction results related to the rockburst behaviour. In this study, a data set including 220 rockburst instances was collected for rockburst

The stability of cemented paste backfill (CPB) is threatened by dynamic disturbance, but the conventional low strain rate laboratory pressure test has difficulty achieving this research purpose. Therefore, a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) was utilized to investigate the high strain rate compressive behavior of CPB with dynamic loads of 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 MPa. And the failure modes were determined

Gravity is the most important load source in mining and geotechnical engineering, which causes both the stress level and stress gradient inside geomaterials. Different from the stress level, the influence of gravity-induced stress gradient on the behaviour of the material is still unknown. An in-deep study on it will help to promote the understanding of material behaviour, especially for those cases

The coal strength and deformation properties are key factors affecting safe coal mining and high-efficiency coalbed methane (CBM) development. In this paper, reconstituted coal samples are chosen to investigate the weakening behavior of gas on coal strength, meanwhile, its effects on coal deformation are quantitatively evaluated. The results indicate that the weakening degree of gas on coal strength

Large and super-large section chamber groups in coal mines are frequently affected by dynamic loads resulting from production activities such as roadway driving and blasting. The stability of the surrounding rock is poor, and it is difficult to control. In this paper, a similar simulation test was used to study the deformation and evolution laws of the surrounding rock of a triangle-shaped chamber

This study aims at proposing a reasonable roughness parameter that can reflect the peak shear strength (PSS) of rock joints. Firstly, the contribution of the asperities with different apparent dip angle to shear strength is studied. Then the shear strength of the entire joint asperities is derived. The results showed that the PSS of the entire joint asperities is proportional to a key parameter θτ

Surface roughness plays a significant role in floatability of coal. In the present paper, coking coal surface was polished by three different sandpapers and the surface properties were characterized by contact angle and roughness measurements. The effect of surface roughness on floatability was investigated by adhesion force measurement system for measuring interaction forces between droplets/bubbles

The discontinuous nature of rock cutting can easily cause unwanted vibrations in the structure of a surface miner. If these vibrations are not properly addressed, the related stress cycles can gradually damage the chassis resulting in fatigue failures. These events can seriously undermine the safety of operators and digging operations may be stopped for days, with an obvious economic impact. This work

The distribution of the various organic and inorganic constituents and their influences on the combustion of coal has been comprehensively studied. However, the combustion characteristics of pulverized coal depend not only on rank but also on the composition, distribution, and combination of the macerals. Unlike the proximate and ultimate analyses, determining the macerals in coal involves the use

The gasification kinetic modelling of two Victorian brown coal (Yallourn and Maddingley) chars and the validity for entrained flow gasification were investigated in this study. The study was conducted in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) at 750–1100 ℃, 30–90% CO2 concentration using different char particle sizes within 20–106 µm. It was found that random pore model and modified volumetric model are

A common and important task in mining industry is to estimate the settlement or final volume of the tailings or backfill associated with sedimentation and self-weight consolidation. Up to now however, most existing analytical solutions were developed by only considering the settlement induced by consolidation. In this paper, the process of shrinkage tests has been compared with those of sedimentation

Multiple seam interactions are a major source of ground instability in several U.S. coalfields. Empirical methods are well suited for this problem, because while the mechanics multiple seam interactions are very complex and poorly understood, many mining case histories are available for analysis. This study makes use of an updated database that includes 356 multiseam case histories, including 67 unsuccessful

This paper presents a novel approach to investigate the relations between drilling signals and bit wear condition in real world full-scale mining operations. This research addresses the increasing demand for automation in mining to increase the efficiency, safety, and ability to work in harsh environments. A crucial issue in fully autonomous unmanned drilling is to have a system to detect the bit wear

The hard roof difficult to collapse easily causes gas accumulation, which threatens the production safety of coal mine. Therefore, roof pre-cracking is required. Although blasting and hydraulic fracturing can also crack the roof, blasting can easily induce rock bursts, whereas hydraulic fracturing needs complex equipment. In contrast, soundless cracking demolition agents (SCDAs) with noise-free, dust-free

This paper presents the development of an innovative standing support for underground mines. The main feature of this standing support is its exterior container, a combination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with large rupture strain and fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) with high strength-to-weight ratio. To demonstrate the advantages of this cementitious grout filled PVC-FRP tubular (PFT) standing support

The effective reinforcement of two or more overlying layers of mine openings in a single installation is usually done by coupling of two standard rock bolts mainly during the extraction of medium-thick coal seams. However, field observations show that the couplers of multiple bolts often degrade or break mostly at their connections. These types of failures can be avoided by strengthening the couplers

The filtration and dewatering of fine clean coal not only ensure industrial water recycle in coal washing plant, but also reduce the moisture of coal product in order to meet the requirements of combustion or coking industry. Fine clean coal is mainly composed by organic matter, and the property difference of different organic matter determines the filtration and dewatering behavior. In this investigation

The spatiotemporal analysis of seismic zones characterised by the scattering and accumulation of strain energy in the roof-rocks of the excavated longwall panel where inelastic or elastic deformations occurred during hard coal seam mining is discussed. The studied longwall panel was designed to utilize the effect of partial stress relaxation caused by the earlier extraction of the coal seams located

Coal and gas outburst is a violent disaster driven by released energy from gas desorption. The initial expansion energy of released gas (IEERG) is a new method to predict coal and gas outburst. In this paper, an instrument for IEERG measurement was developed. Compared with previous setups, the new one which is equipped with three convergent nozzles and quick-release mechanism gets improved in data

Blasting of rocks has intrinsic environmental impacts such as ground vibration, which can interfere with the safety of lives and property. Hence, accurate prediction of the environmental impacts of blasting is imperative as the empirical models are not accurate as evident in the literature. Therefore, there is need to consider some robust predictive models for accurate prediction results. Gene expression

Solid backfill mining (SBM) is a form of green mining, the core of which is to control and minimize the deformation and movement of strata above longwall coal mines. Establishing a mechanical model that can reliably describe roof deformation by considering the viscoelastic properties of waste gangue is important as it assists in improving mine designs and reducing the environmental impact on the surface

To explore the failure mechanism of roadway in layered soft rocks, a physical model with the physically finite elemental slab assemblage (PFESA) method was established. Infrared thermography and a video camera were employed to capture thermal responses and deformation. The model results showed that layered soft roadway suffered from large deformation. A three-dimensional distinct element code (3DEC)

Roof bolts such as rock bolts and cable bolts provide structural support in underground mines. Frequent assessment of these support structures is critical to maintain roof stability and minimise safety risks in underground environments. This study proposes a robust workflow to classify roof bolts in 3D point cloud data and to generate maps of roof bolt density and spacing. The workflow was evaluated

The flow of blasted ore during mining of moderately dipping medium-thick orebodies is a challenge. Selecting a suitable mining system for such ore bodies is difficult. This paper proposes a diamond layout sublevel open stoping system using fan blastholes with backfilling to mine such orebodies. To evaluate the performance of system the relationships between ore recovery and stope footwall dip angle

In this article an attempt to determine the influence of mining factors on the seismic activity during the longwall mining of the upper layer of coal seam no. 405/2 in one of the Polish hard coal mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin was conducted. Two longwall panels were mined in analogous geological conditions and based on the same mining system and technology. However, there was significant difference

A series of gas inrush events occurred during development at Grosvenor Mine resulting in exposure to elevated levels of methane at the production face. A total of 22 gas inrush events occurred, with between 15 and 130 m3 of methane released during each event. The presence of an undrained seam in the immediate floor, geotechnical characteristics of the floor, and the stress environment all contributed

The exploitation of the underground is currently undergoing a major transformation process. Besides mining, alternative ways of utilization are playing an increasingly important role. These alternative utilizations include the storage of gases, the disposal of radioactive wastes, and the implementation of geothermal storage facilities. In addition, more and more mining operations are being shut down

Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are developing a coal pillar rib rating (CPRR) technique to measure the integrity of coal ribs. The CPRR characterizes the rib composition and evaluates its impact on the inherent stability of the coal ribs. The CPRR utilizes four parameters: rib homogeneity, bedding condition, face cleat orientation with respect to

Accurately estimating load distributions and ground responses around underground openings play a significant role in the safety of the operations in underground mines. Adequately designing pillars and other support measures relies highly on the accurate assessment of the loads that will be carried by them, as well as the load-bearing capacities of the supports. There are various methods that can be

Longwall mining has existed in Utah for more than half a century. Much of this mining occurred at depths of cover that significantly exceed those encountered by most other US longwall operations. Deep cover causes high ground stress, which can combine with geology to create a coal burst hazard. Nearly every longwall mine operating within the Utah’s Book Cliffs coalfield has been affected by coal bursts

In the Kaiping Coal field, mining of five coal seams, located within 80 m in the Kailuan Group, #5, #7, #8, #9 and #12 coal seam, is difficult due to small interburden thickness, concentrated stress distributions, high coal seam metamorphism, and complex geological conditions. By using the ZTR12 geological penetration radar (GPR) survey combined with borehole observations, the overburden caving due

This paper was developed as part of an effort by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to identify risk factors associated with bumps in the prevention of fatalities and accidents in highly stressed, bump-prone ground conditions. Changes of failure mechanism with increasing confinement, from extensional-to shear-dominated failure, are widely observed in the rupture of intact

Underground mine designs typically try to avoid extraction beneath streams and rivers of any significant size, especially when the overburden rock thickness between the stream bed and the mine is thin. Potential issues with mining beneath streams include excessive groundwater inflow to the mine, weak ground (roof, floor, and pillar) conditions, horizontal stress effects, as well as stream loss and

The Subtropolis Mine is a room-and-pillar mine extracting the Vanport limestone near Petersburg, Ohio, U.S. In February of 2018, mine management began implementing a heading re-orientation to better control the negative effects of excessive levels of horizontal stress. The conditions in the headings improved, but as expected, stress-related damage concentrated within crosscuts. The mine operator has

Two miners were fatally injured when a pillar bump occurred during retreat mining in a southern West Virginia coal mine. The mine was operating in the Eagle seam with overmining in the No. 2 Gas and Powellton seams. A coal bump is defined as a sudden and violent failure of coal caused by the release of stored strain energy in the pillar. While significant strides have been made by academia, industry

Estimating the overall floor stability in a coal mine using deterministic methods which require complex engineering properties of floor strata is desirable, but generally it is impractical due to the difficulty of gathering essential input data. However, applying a quantitative methodology to describe floor quality with a single number provides a practical estimate for preliminary assessment of floor

Surface subsidence that results from longwall mining can be large magnitude and can affect significant areas. Conventional methods for subsidence monitoring include leveling, global positioning system (GPS), and photogrammetric surveys. Remote sensing techniques including, aerial LiDAR, terrestrial laser scanning, and satellite-based Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR), are

In order to ensure safe mining and reduce surface damage in shallow multi-seam mining, the failure characteristics of interburden strata with different coal pillars offset distances between pillars in the upper and lower seams, the distribution characteristics of stress concentration in coal pillars, and the development characteristics of stratum cracks and subsidence were investigated by physical

Longwall gateroad entries are subject to changing horizontal and vertical stress induced by redistribution of loads around the extracted panel. The stress changes can result in significant deformation of the entries that may include roof sag, rib dilation, and floor heave. Mine operators install different types of supports to control the ground response and maintain safe access and ventilation of the

In order to reach a large, untapped reserve of high-quality coal, D8 Cloverlick Mine proposed to mine a corridor nearly 600 m deep beneath the Benham Spur of Black Mountain, Kentucky’s highest peak. D8 Cloverlick Mine was extracting the Owl seam, but the corridor’s route lay approximately 20 m above century-old mine workings in the C–(Darby) seam. Adding to the concern, three serious coal bursts had

Many states rely upon the Pennsylvania 1957 Gas Well Pillar Study to evaluate the coal barrier surrounding gas wells. The study included 77 gas well failure cases that occurred in the Pittsburgh and Freeport coal seams over a 25-year span. At the time, coal was mined using the room-and-pillar mining method with full or partial pillar recovery, and square or rectangle pillars surrounding the gas wells

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a comprehensive monitoring program in a room-and-pillar mine located in Southern Virginia. The deformation and the stress change in an instrumented pillar were monitored during the progress of pillar retreat mining at two sites of different geological conditions and depths of cover. The main objectives of the monitoring program

One of the most common critical areas of longwall mining in terms of ground stability are the gateroad and bleeder entries. These critical entries provide much-needed safe access for miners and allow for adequate ventilation required for dilution of hazardous airborne contaminants and must remain open during mining of a multi-panel district. This paper is focused on the stability of the longwall entries

Coal mines are continuously seeking to determine the performance of entries with different ground control products and installation methods. There are many factors that impact how an entry will perform which include but are not limited to geology, overburden, bolting type and pattern, and mine design. At the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), research has been instituted

Reports on corrosion failure of cable bolts, used in mining and civil industries, have been increasing in the past two decades. The previous studies found that pitting corrosion on the surface of a cable bolt can initiate premature failure of the bolt. In this study, the role of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (A. ferrooxidans) bacterium in the occurrence of pitting corrosion in cable bolts was studied

The simulation of crack propagation processes in rock engineering has been not only a research hot spot among scholars but also a challenge. Based on this background, a new numerical method named improved kernel of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (IKSPH) has been put forward. By improving the kernel function in the traditional smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, the brittle fracture characteristics

To investigate the creep and instability properties of a cemented gangue backfill column under a high-stress area, the uniaxial compression creep tests were conducted by single-step and multi-step loading of prismatic samples made of cemented gangue backfill material (CGBM) under the high stress-strength ratio. The creep damage was monitored using an electrical resistivity device, ultrasonic testing

This paper presents the results of a unique study conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) from 2016 to 2019 to evaluate the effects of longwall-induced subsurface deformations on shale gas well casing integrity and underground miner safety and health. At both deep-cover and shallow-cover instrumentation sites, surface subsidence measurements, subsurface in-place

To study the seepage and deformation characteristics of coal at high temperatures, coal samples from six different regions were selected and subjected to computed tomography (CT) scanning studies. In conjunction with ANSYS software, 3D reconstruction of CT images was used for the establishment of fluid-solid conjugate heat transfer model and coal thermal deformation model based on the microstructures

In multi-seam mining, the interlayer rock strata between the upper coal seam (UCS) and the lower coal seam (LCS) appear damage and strength weakening after mining the UCS. Ground stability control of the gob-side entry retaining (GER) under the gob with close distance coal seams (CDCS) is faced with difficulties due to little attention to GER under this condition. This paper focuses on surrounding

This paper presents the results of numerical simulations carried out to confirm the influence of former mining activities on deformation of the mining terrain. The assessment of deformation changes was carried out with the use of FLAC3D program based on the finite difference method. Numerical calculations were carried out for the example of actual mining operations in seams 703/1-2 and 707/2 of “Marcel”

Gob ventilation boreholes (GVBs) are widely used for degasification in U.S. longwall coal mines. Depending on geological conditions, 30–50% of methane can be recovered from longwall gob using GVBs. A NIOSH funded research at the Colorado School of Mines confirmed that GVBs can efficiently reduce methane at the face. However, GVBs can also draw some fresh air from the face and create explosive gas zones

A surfactant-polyalkane system is investigated using chemical reagents to dissolve methane and control coal seam gas from low-energy, high-efficiency, safety, and environmental protection perspectives. At different temperatures and pressures, a high-temperature and high-pressure reactor, gas chromatograph, and other related experimental equipment were used to perform methane dissolution experiments