• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.463-475
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• 2022

In the mine exploitation stage; one of the critical issues is the stability assessment of post-pillars. The instability of post-pillars leads to serious safety hazards in mining operations. The focus of this study is to assess the stability of post-pillars in the 130# stope in the central ore body at Trepça hard rock mine by employing both conventional (i.e., critical span curve) and numerical methods (i.e., FLAC3D). Moreover, a new numerical based index (i.e., Pillar Yield Ratio-PYR) was proposed. The aim of PYR index is to determine a border line between stable, potentially unstable, and failure state of post-pillars at a specific mine site. The critical value of pillar width to height ratio is 2.5 for deep production stopes (e.g., > 800 m). Results showed that pillar size, mining height and mining depth significantly have affected the post-pillar stability. The reliability of numerical based index (i.e., PYR) is verified based on empirical underground pillar stability graph developed by Lunder, 1994. The proposed pillar yield ratio index and pillar stability graph can be used as a design tool in new mining areas at Trepça hard rock mine and for other situations with similar geotechnical conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.461-474
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• 2020

Analysing the incompatible deformation and damage evolution around the tunnels in mixed strata is significant for evaluating the tunnel stability, as well as the interaction between the support system and the surrounding rock mass. To investigate this issue, confined compression tests were conducted on upper-soft and lower-hard strata specimens containing a circular hole using a rock testing system, the physical mechanical properties were then investigated. Then, the incompatible deformation and failure modes of the specimens were analysed based on the digital speckle correlation method (DSCM) and Acoustic Emission (AE) data. Finally, numerical simulations were conducted to explore the damage evolution of the mixed strata. The results indicate that at low inclination angles, the deformation and v-shaped notches inside the hole are controlled by the structure plane. Progressive spalling failure occurs at the sidewalls along the structure plane in soft rock. But the transmission of the loading force between the soft rock and hard rock are different in local. At high inclination angles, v-shaped notches are approximately perpendicular to the structure plane, and the soft and hard rock bear common loads. Incompatible deformation between the soft rock and hard rock controls the failure process. At inclination angles of 0°, 30° and 90°, incompatible deformations are closely related to rock damage. At 60°, incompatible deformations and rock damage are discordant due that the soft rock and hard rock alternately bears the major loads during the failure process. The failure trend and modes of the numerical results agree very well with those observed in the experimental results. As the inclination angles increase, the proportion of the shear or tensile damage exhibits a nonlinear increase or decrease, suggesting that the inclination angle of mixed strata may promote shear damage and restrain tensile damage.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.517-525
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• 2020

The long-term stability of rock engineering is significantly affected by the time-dependent deformation behavior of rock, which is an important mechanical property of rock for engineering design. Although the hard rocks show small creep deformation, it cannot be ignored under high-stress condition during deep excavation. The inner mechanism of creep is complicated, therefore, it is necessary to investigate the relationship between microscopic creep mechanism and the macro creep behavior of rock. Microscopic numerical modeling of sandstone creep was performed in the investigation. A numerical sandstone sample was generated and Parallel Bond contact and Burger's contact model were assigned to the contacts between particles in DEM simulation. Sensitivity analysis of the microscopic creep parameters was conducted to explore how microscopic parameters affect the macroscopic creep deformation. The results show that the microscopic creep parameters have linear correlations with the corresponding macroscopic creep parameters, whereas the friction coefficient shows power function with peak strength and Young's modulus, respectively. Moreover, the microscopic parameters were calibrated. The creep modeling curve is in good agreement with the verification test result. Finally, the creep curves under one-step loading and multi-step loading were compared. This investigation can act as a helpful reference for modeling rock creep behavior from a microscopic mechanism perspective.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.367-376
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• 2018

Samples composed of coal and rock show different mechanical properties of the pure coal or rock mass. For the same coal seam with different surrounding rocks, the frequency and intensity of rock burst can be significantly different in. First, a method of measuring the strain variation of coal in the coal-rock combined sample was proposed. Second, laboratory tests have been conducted to investigate the influences of rock lithologies, combined forms and coal-rock height ratios on the deformation and failure characteristics of the coal section using this method. Third, a new bursting liability index named combined coal-rock impact energy speed index (CRIES) was proposed. This index considers not only the time effect of energy, but also the influence of surrounding rocks. At last, a new approach considering the influences of roof and/or floor was proposed to evaluate the impact capability of coal seam. Results show that the strength and elastic modulus of coal section increase significantly with the coal-rock height ratio decreasing. In addition, the values of bursting liability indexes of the same coal seam vary greatly when using the new approach. This study not only provides a new approach to measuring the strain of the coal section in coal-rock combined sample, but also improves the evaluation system for evaluating the impact capability of coal.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.371-377
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• 2020

There are currently three common methods for selecting excavation supports in Polish hard coal mines. While many factors are considered when choosing appropriate support, these do not include layering or cracking in the excavation ceiling. Although global classifications of rock mass are rarely used in hard coal mines, they are utilised much more frequently during the construction of underground structures such as tunnels. Mining classifications of rock mass have been developed (e.g., in Germany) and they rely on a number of factors but are often related to local mining and geological conditions. This paper discusses the selected findings of a study carried out on seven excavation sites with diverse mining and geological characteristics. Based on the collected data, two indicators were developed to describe rock mass quality. The first indicator is referred to as the roof lithology index WL and describes the quality of the excavation roof in terms of its layering and lithology. The second indicator is the crack intensity factor n and represents the amount of cracks in an excavation's roof. The correctness of the developed indicators was supported by reliable data from the excavation in which the designed support did not fulfill its task but was changed at a later stage, after calculating the proposed indicators.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1153-1160
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• 2018

Rockbursts, catastrophic events involving the violent release of elastic energy stored in rock features, remain a worldwide challenge for geoengineering. Especially at deep-mining sites, rockbursts can occur in hard, high-stress, brittle rock zones, and the associated risk depends on such factors as mining activity and the stress on surrounding rocks. Rockbursts are often sudden and destructive, but there is still no unified standard for predicting them. Based on previous studies, a new Bayesian multi-index model was introduced to predict and evaluate rockbursts. In this method, the rock strength index, energy release index, and surrounding rock stress are the basic factors. Values from 18 rock samples were obtained, and the potential rockburst risks were evaluated. The rockburst tendencies of the samples were modelled using three existing methods. The results were compared with those obtained by the new Bayesian model, which was observed to predict rockbursts more effectively than the current methods.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.573-581
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• 2019

Excavation of underground cavern and shaft was proposed for the construction of a ventilation facility in an urban area. A shaft connects the street-level air plenum to an underground cavern, which extends down approximately 46 m below the street surface. At the project site, the rock mass was relatively strong and well-defined joint sets were present. A kinematic block stability analysis was first performed to estimate the required reinforcement system. Then a 3-D discontinuum numerical analysis was conducted to evaluate the capacity of the initial support and the overall stability of the required excavation, followed by a 3-D continuum numerical analysis to complement the calculated result. This paper illustrates the application of detailed numerical analyses to the design of the required initial support system for the stability of underground hard rock mining at a relatively shallow depth.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.7-20
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• 2003

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 2023

This study focused on understanding the relationship between the design of a tunnel boring machine disc cutter ring and its rock-breaking efficiency, as well as the applicable conditions of different cutter ring types. The discrete element method was used to establish a numerical model of the rock-breaking process using disc cutters with different ring types to reveal the development of rock damage cracks and variation in cutter penetration load. The calculation results indicate that a sharp-edged (V-shaped) disc cutter penetrates a rock mass to a given depth with the lowest load, resulting in more intermediate cracks and few lateral cracks, which leads to difficulty in crack combination. Furthermore, the poor wear resistance of a conventional V-shaped cutter can lead to an exponential increase in the penetration load after cutter ring wear. In contrast, constant-cross-section (CCS) disc cutters have the highest quantity of crack extensions after penetrating rock, but also require the highest penetration loads. An arch-edged (U-shaped) disc cutter is more moderate than the aforementioned types with sufficient intermediate and lateral crack propagation after cutting into rock under a suitable penetration load. Additionally, we found that the cutter ring wedge angle and edge width heavily influence cutter rock-breaking efficiency and that a disc cutter with a 16 to 22 mm edge width and 20° to 30° wedge angle exhibits high performance. Compared to V-shaped and U-shaped cutters, the CCS cutter is more suitable for soft or medium-strength rocks, where the penetration load is relatively small. Additionally, two typical case studies were selected to verify that replacing a CCS cutter with a U-shaped or optimized V-shaped disc cutter can increase cutting efficiency when encountering hard rocks.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.883-898
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• 2017

To eliminate the holding and gluing problems making the direct tensile strength test hard to be applied, a new method of testing specimens prepared using lathe machine to make the dog bone shape is assessed whether it could be applied to determine accurate direct tensile strength values of rock materials. A series of numerical modelling analyses was performed using finite element method to investigate the effect of different specimen and steel holder geometries. In addition to numerical modelling study, a series of direct tensile strength tests was performed on three different groups of rock materials and a rock-like cemented material to compare the results with those obtained from the finite element analyses. A proper physical property of the lathed specimens was suggested and ideal failure of the dog bone shaped specimens was determined according to the results obtained from this study.