• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.35-39
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• 2016

Influence of rock fall from upper-level roofs to lower-level roofs and pillars at a multi layered room and pillar mine was numerically simulated by using AUTODYN. The analysis results showed that the maximum displacement and stress in the roof of the lower-level stope are respectively 0.001 mm and 36 MPa, and those in the pillars of the lower-level stope are 0.0003 mm and 3 MPa. The maximum damage levels in the roof and pillar of the lower-level stope were evaluated to be about 0.03 when a half of the roof rock of the upper-level stope was assumed to be fallen to the floor.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.161-171
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• 2017

Demand for high-grade limestone is increasing, but the production in the domestic mines has been limited due to the lack of systematic development plans and efforts to develop mining technology to improve the recovery ratio, transition to high-cost underground mining due to increasing social awareness of environmental protection, and the smallness of the domestic mining industry, etc. In this study in connection with this issue, an analysis on the recovery change by improvement of mining method was executed. 3D modeling technique was used to construct a 3D model. 3D model includes the geological structure, the limestone ore body and the underground pits and tunnels excavated at the Daepyeong District of Daesung MDI Donghae District. By using the 3D model, measured resources, reserves and ore recovery were evaluated from the results of pilot operation of the room and pillar hybrid mining method, which is a variant of room and pillar mining method. These results were compared with those obtained from the conventional mining method. The ore recovery obtained by hybrid mining method was found to be up to 71.6%, showing about 26%p. increase compared with the case of conventional mining method.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.508-515
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• 2016

In this study, we compared the stability of the pillars by using room and pillar mining method with the four models with different stiffness and pillar overlap ratio. The experimental models consist of two plaster models (overlap ratio 0%, 100%) and two cement models(overlap ratio 0%, 100%). The soft and hard rocks are modeled by plaster and cement models respectively. In these experiments, the model materials with strength values reflecting the calculated scaled factors not been used, so it is not a true scaled model test that reproduces in situ state in the laboratory. Experimental results show that the different overlap ratio pillars are one of the factors that can affect the stability of the mine.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

In this paper, parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the contribute effect of multi layered room and pillar mine structures by underground accidental explosions. Influence of PPV(Peak Particle Velocity) obtained from large explosion at a multi layered room and pillar mine was numerically simulated by using AUTODYN. Parameters for contribution rate Analysis was analyzed by the robust design method. Orthogonal array is $L_9(3^4)$, which was adopted in this study, the parameters were pillar height, pillar width, mine span and sill pillar of 3 levels. Results of analysis showed that bottom mine of vertical direction from explosion point are most affected by pillar height, followed by sill pillar thickness, mine span and pillar width. Parameters affecting adjacent mine of horizontal direction from explosion are in the order of pillar width, mine span, pillar height and sill pillar thickness.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.585-597
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• 2013

In this study, in order to evaluate stability of the room-and-pillar underground structure, a series of preliminary numerical analyses were performed. Design concept and procedure of an underground structure for obtaining a space are proposed, which should be different from structural design for the room-and-pillar in mine. With assumed material properties, a series of numerical analyses were performed by varying size ratios of room and pillar and then the failure modes and location at yielding initiation were investigated. From the results, relationship between the ratio of pillar width to the roof span (w/s) and overburden pressure at failure initiation shows a relatively linear relation, and the effect of w/s on structural stability is much more critical than the ratio of pillar width and height (w/H) which is a crucial parameter in design of the room-and-pillar mining. It means that roof tensile failure and shear failure at shoulder and pillar are necessary to be considered together for confirming overall structural stability of the room-and-pillar structure, rather than considering the pillar stability only in mining. Failure modes and location at failure initiation were varied with respect to the ratio of room and pillar widths. Therefore, it is necessary to simultaneously consider stability of both roof span and pillar for design of underground structure by the room-and-pillar method.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.335-343
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• 2014

Room-and-pillar mining method is one of the most popular underground mining method in the world. If the room-and-pillar mining method is able to be adopted in civil works, it would be highly probable to reduce underground construction costs and to expand a underground structure in use. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the design procedure of unsupported rock pillars which are indispensable to ensure the stability of a room-and-pillar underground structure. Parametric studies on their key design parameters are also carried out for 125 different kinds of design conditions. From the study, the width of a rock pillar is found to show a linear relationship with its corresponding safety factor. The safety factor of a unsupported rock pillar decreased drastically like a negative exponential function as the ratio of room width to pillar width increases in the same rock strength condition. Based on the parametric studies, a design chart to simply evaluate the geometric design parameters of a unsupported rock pillar satisfying a design safety factor is also proposed in this study.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.675-683
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• 2015

The room-and-pillar construction method for underground space is adopted from the room-and-pillar mining method which is one of the most popular underground mining method in the world. Drainage system in the room-and-pillar underground construction method can be similar with the concept of single shell in tunnel because additional reinforcement except the TSL (thin spray-on liner) is not applied in the room-and-pillar construction method. That is, to decrease groundwater level and maintain safety in tunnel, the drainage pin hole inside lining (shotcrete) can be used. However, if total amount of outflow in the underground structure is relatively small or groundwater is not detected, such drainage system will not be useful and cause additional construction cost. In this study, outflow of conventional tunnels in South Korea was investigated and the criteria to determine whether the drainage pin hole is effective was suggested. And the guided drainage system was suggested when drainage pin hole was not applied in the room-and-pillar construction method.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2018

When an underground limestone mine selects room-and-pillar mining method, in which the stability of mine openings is maintained by leaving safety pillars, the stability of safety pillars is always incompatible with their productivity. Therefore, the engineering decision for stability and productivity is essential. In this study, a progress of excavation faces by conventional blasting pattern has been examined in field for investigating over-break and stereo-photogrammetry method has been applied to this field measurement for improvement of accuracy. Also this result has been reflected instantly to composite blasting pattern by feedback, for minimizing overbreak. Field tests showed the relevant results that $3.5m^2$ in over-break out of $70m^2$ in total excavation face has been decreased, that is 5% of reduction rate in maximum.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.406-421
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• 2017

This study describes a precise numerical analysis process by adopting the real image of mine openings obtained by LIDAR, which can produce a point cloud data by measuring the target surface numerically. Research area is a section of underground limestone mine which is used hybrid room-and-pillar method for improving the production rate. From the application of LIDAR to this section several results were deduced, that is, the central axis of upper and lower vertical safety pillars is distorted to the direction of NW and the section area of lower vertical safety pillar is $34m^2$ smaller than the designed area of $100m^2$. The results of precise measurement in geometrical shape of mine openings and precise simulation in numerical analysis confirms that LIDAR techniques can be suggested as a valuable tool for stability analysis in underground mine by configuring the mine opening shape.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.473-483
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• 2020

This paper examines the vertical stress change concentrated on mine pillar which occurs due to the stress disturbance from opening excavation at room and pillar mine by FLAC3D, a finite difference method (FDM) software. The mesh size combination is decided with a careful consideration of relative error and run-time, then its performance is verified. A series of numerical analyses is conducted and the vertical stress at central pillar was observed for the test cases of 1×1 to 11×11 mine pillars, 40 m to 320 m depth with 40 m difference. The results show that the vertical stress of pillar approaches to the similar value with the value estimated by tributary area theory(TAT) when the development area (N_P) is increased or the height of overburden (H_OB) is decreased, while it is overestimated in the opposite case. Furthermore, it also represents that the vertical stress factor (VSF) converges to a specific value when the depth is increased whille keeping the development area identical.