• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.453-464
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• 2008

This study is to examine a relation between coal mining subsidence occurrence at abandoned underground coal mines and underground goaf with respect to surface geology, subsurface structure, depth and thickness of coal beds and the distribution of drifts. A study is carried out at the site where susceptibility of coal mining subsidence was proven high in a previous study. In that previous study, the susceptibility of coal mining subsidence was spatially analyzed by GIS using digitized geological maps, investigation reports, digitized mining tunnel maps without consideration of subsurface structure and the multi-level arrangement of drifts. Here we analyze geological characteristics around the goaf and the distribution of coal seam based upon digitized geological maps and investigation reports on the study area. And digitized mining tunnel maps are also used to analyze the depth and multi-level arrangement of drifts. The results show that weakened surface rock strength, relatively shallow depth and large thickness of coal seam below the surface are closely related to the coal mining subsidence occurrence. Complicatedly inter-connected drifts, shallow depth of drifts and surface rock fractures are revealed as additional control factors affecting coal mining subsidence. These factors examined in this study as well as original factors should be taken into account for the quantitative estimation of coal mining subsidence occurrence at abandoned underground coal mine.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.255-265
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• 2007

As the mechanism and effect range of subsidence are altered according to the various conditions (the ground condition, the earth pressure, the geometric condition of underground cavity and the structure load), the analysis and prediction of subsidence in abandoned mining area are very difficult. Also, as the geological characteristics and the mining methods are differed in each mines, the application of the pre-existing reinforcements without improvement has a lot of difficulties and limits. In this study, the various underground investigation such as long-depth core drilling, seismic tomography and BIPS (borehole image processing system) were performed, the distribution of underground cavity and coal seam and rock relaxation condition were analyzed. And we predicted the type of subsidence and estimated the subsidence by theories of mining subsidence. With these results, we analyzed the mechanism of subsidence occurrence in the research object area. Finally, we improved existing methods which were applied to the abandoned mining area and also we established the rational reinforcement for the ground and structure foundation against each subsidence cause.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.149-158
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• 2018

Background: Work comfort studies have been extensively conducted, especially in the underground and meteorological fields resulting in an avalanche of recommendations for their evaluation. Nevertheless, no known or universally accepted model for comprehensively assessing the thermal work condition of the underground mine environment is currently available. Current literature presents several methods and techniques, but none of these can expansively assess the underground mine environment since most methods consider only one or a few defined factors and neglect others. Some are specifically formulated for the built and meteorological climates, thus making them unsuitable to accurately assess the climatic conditions in underground development and production workings. Methods: This paper presents a series of sensitivity analyses to assess the impact of environmental parameters and metabolic rate on the thermal comfort for underground mining applications. An approach was developed in the form of a "comfort model" which applied comfort parameters to extensively assess the climatic conditions in the deep, hot, and humid underground mines. Results: Simulation analysis predicted comfort limits in the form of required sweat rate and maximum skin wettedness. Tolerable worker exposure times to minimize thermal strain due to dehydration are predicted. Conclusion: The analysis determined the optimal air velocity for thermal comfort to be 1.5 m/s. The results also identified humidity to contribute more to deviations from thermal comfort than other comfort parameters. It is expected that this new approach will significantly help in managing heat stress issues in underground mines and thus improve productivity, safety, and health.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.421-433
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• 2003

Demand for limestone production from both the underground and opencast mines in Korea is gradually increasing. Increase in productivity with safe mining operations is the emphasis laid on the mining industry. KIGAM has undertaken a detailed investigation to apply RMR and Q classification system for the design of underground limestone mining operations. The field investigations were confined to the underground mines of Daesung Mining Development Co. Ltd. and Pyunghae Mines of Korean Airport Service. Modification to the standard RMR and Q for limestone mines in Korea along with the correlation between these two systems are discussed while attempts were also made to calculate the width of a safe unsupported span.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.167-178
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• 2019

Open-pit (OP) and underground (UG) mining are usually used to exploit shallow and deep ore deposits, respectively. When mine deposit starts from shallow subsurface and extends to a great depth, sequential use of OP and UG mining is an efficient and economical way to maintain mining productivity. However, a transition from OP to UG mining could induce significant rock movements that cause the slope instability of the open pit. Based on Yanqianshan Iron Mine, which was in the transition from OP to UG mining, a large-scale two-dimensional (2D) model test was built according to the similar theory. Thereafter, the UG mining was carried out to mimic the process of transition from OP to UG mining to disclose the triggered rock movement as well as to assess the associated slope instability. By jointly using three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning, distributed fiber optics, and digital photogrammetry measurement, the deformations, movements and strains of the rock slope during mining were monitored. The obtained data showed that the transition from OP to UG mining led to significant slope movements and deformations that can trigger catastrophic slope failure. The progressive movement of the slope could be divided into three stages: onset of micro-fracture, propagation of tensile cracks, and the overturning and/or sliding of slopes. The failure mode depended on the orientation of structural joints of the rock mass as well as the formation of tension cracks. This study also proved that these non-contact monitoring technologies were valid methods to acquire the interior strain and external deformation with high precision.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.295-305
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• 2019

The bedding plane has a significant influence on the effect of blasting fragmentation and the overall performance of underground mining. This paper explores the effects of fragmentation of the bedding plane and different angles by using the numerical analysis. ANSYS/LS-DYNA code was used for the implementation of the models. The models include a dynamic compressive and tensile failure which is applied to simulate the fractures generated by the explosion. Firstly, the cracks propagation with the non-bedding plane in the coal with two boreholes detonated simultaneously is calculated and the particle velocity and maximum principal stress at different points from the borehole are also discussed. Secondly, different delay times between the two boreholes are calculated to explore its effects on the propagation of the fractures. The results indicate that the coal around the right borehole is broken more fully and the range of the cracks propagation expanded with the delay time increases. The peak particle velocity decreases first and then increases with the distance from the right borehole increasing. Thirdly, different angles between the bedding plane and the centerline of the two boreholes and the transmission coefficient of stress wave at a bedding plane are considered. The results indicated that with the angles increase, the number of the fractures decreases while the transmission coefficient increases.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.411-426
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• 2023

Soft clay is widely distributed in the southeast coastal areas of China. Many large underground structures, such as subway stations and underground pipe corridors, are shallow buried in the soft clay foundation, so the dynamic characteristics of the soft clay must be considered to the seismic design of underground structures. In this paper, the dynamic characteristics of saturated soft clay in Shanghai under the bidirectional excitation for earthquake loading are studied by dynamic triaxial tests, comparing the backbone curve and hysteretic curve of the saturated soft clay under different confining pressures with those under different vibration frequencies. Considering the coupling effects of the confining pressure and the vibration frequency, a fitting model of the maximum dynamic shear modulus was proposed by the multiple linear regression method. The M-D model was used to fit the variations of the dynamic shear modulus ratio with the shear strain. Based on the Chen model and the Park model, the effects of the consolidation confining pressure and the vibration frequency on the damping ratio were studied. The results can provide a reference to the earthquake prevention and disaster reduction in soft clay area.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.9-20
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• 2012

These days, mining industry prefers underground development for large mining because of exhaustive minning resources and large drafts and mining cavities thanks to extensive distribution of heavy excavation machines. In a mining design, to control collapse of cavities and secure stability, design of cavities and pillars are considered as very important. Therefore, this study obtained a prediction equation of blasting vibration through instrumentation for underground cavities. And we obtained theoretical shock vibration imposed on pillar through fragmentation analysis and measurement of flyrock distance. To examine the influence of pillar in underground mining blasting, we carried a finite element analysis and compared the result with prediction equation of blasting vibration, and shock vibration of flyrock when a impact was imposed on pillar and theoretical shock vibration.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.479-489
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• 2021

Background: During 2011, a study was undertaken to assess safety conditions in Serbian underground coalmines by analysis of injury data. The study covered all Serbian coalmines, identified week spots from the aspect of safety, and recommended possible courses of action. Since then, Serbia has made changes to safety and health legislation; all coalmines introduced new preventive measures, adopted international standards, and made procedures for risk management. After 10 years a new study has been performed to analyze the impact of these changes. Materials and methods: In this study, the injuries that have occurred in the Serbian underground coal mines over the last 20 years were analyzed. Statistical data analysis was performed by IBM SPSS Statistics v23. The injuries that occurred in the last ten years were compared with the results of the previous study (2000-2009). The average values of injury rates for both periods were compared for each of the categories (severity, age, body part, qualification), and the results were presented as absolute difference or percentile difference. Results: The results showed reduction in the number of injuries in the category of 20-30 years old workers, where the new training procedures for workers, which were set by mandatory legal regulations, certainly contributed. They also showed an increase in the number of injuries in the category of old workers, which indicates that the law did not have a positive effect on this category. Conclusion: The total number of injuries is still high; therefore, it is necessary to introduce mechanization and automation in mines and have a better policy for older workers who retire later nowadays.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.421-434
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• 2019

It is of great significance to study the mechanical properties and failure mechanism of the defected rock for geological engineering. The defected sandstone modeling with power-law distribution of pre-cracks was built in this paper by Particle Flow Code software. Then the mechanical properties of sandstone and the corresponding failure process were meticulously analyzed by changing the power-law index (PLI) and the number of pre-cracks (NPC). The results show that (1) With the increase of the PLI, the proportion of prefabricated long cracks gradually decreases. (2) When the NPC is the same, the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of sandstone increases with the PLI; while when the PLI is the same, the UCS decreases with the NPC. (3) The damage model of rock strength is established based on the Mori-Tanaka method, which can be used to better describe the strength evolution of damaged rock. (4) The failure mode of the specimen is closely related to the total length of the pre-crack. As the total length of the pre-crack increases, the failure intensity of the specimen gradually becomes weaker. In addition, for the specimens with the total pre-crack length between 0.2-0.55 m, significant lateral expansion occurred during their failure process. (5) For the specimens with smaller PLI in the pre-peak loading process, the concentration of the force field inside is more serious than that of the specimens with larger PLI.