Abstract
Water-bearing caves in the Maokou limestone have caused disastrous water inrushes in mines in southern China. A linkage analysis between the hydro-mechanical coupling and the strength reduction method was used to investigate the stability of water-resistant rock pillars. The factor of safety (FOS) of the pillar was established, and a criterion for establishing the required width of the pillar was proposed in engineering practice, i.e., the width of the pillar should be based on the blast hole depth and blast-disturbance depth, along with a FOS of 1.5. The permeability of the water-resistant pillar and the probability of water inrush both increase as the strength reduction factor increases because the effective width of the pillar narrows. A numerical analysis of the Qiyi coal mine “4·16” water inrush accident shows that the cause of the inrush was that the 3.0 m wide barrier left by roadway excavation was too narrow to withhold the karst water pressure of about 4.0 MPa.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 508-519 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Mine Water and the Environment |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1 2017 |
Keywords
- Factor of safety
- Hydro-mechanical coupling
- Mining engineering
- Strength reduction method
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Water Science and Technology
- Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology