Numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separation

Destress blasting (DB) implemented along the perimeter of safety pillars is a special application of destressing in coal longwall mining. The goal is to separate relatively more deformed mined areas from safety pillars, such as shaft pillars or cross-cut pillars, to reduce the transfer of high stres...

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Main Authors: Petr Konicek, Tuo Chen, Hani S. Mitri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-09-01
Series:Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775523001579
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author Petr Konicek
Tuo Chen
Hani S. Mitri
author_facet Petr Konicek
Tuo Chen
Hani S. Mitri
author_sort Petr Konicek
collection DOAJ
description Destress blasting (DB) implemented along the perimeter of safety pillars is a special application of destressing in coal longwall mining. The goal is to separate relatively more deformed mined areas from safety pillars, such as shaft pillars or cross-cut pillars, to reduce the transfer of high stresses to the protective pillar. This case study aims to numerically simulate selected destress blasts in the Czech part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin and examine its impact on stress transfer to the safety pillar area. To separate the area between the protective pillar and the longwall (LW), two fans of five 93-mm blast holes (length of 93–100 m) were drilled from the gate roads into the overburden strata. Each set of blast holes was fired separately in two stages without time delay. The explosive charge (gelatin-type of explosive) of each stage is 3450 kg. The two DB stages were fired when the longwall face was approximately 158 m and 152 m away from the blast. A 3D mine-wide model is built and validated with in situ stress measured with hydrofracturing. Mining and destressing in three 5-m thick coal seams are simulated in the region. Numerical modeling of DB is successfully conducted using a rock fragmentation factor α of 0.05 and a stress reduction/dissipation factor β of 0.95. Buffering of transfer of additional stress from the mining area into the safety pillar is evaluated by comparison of yielding volume before and after DB. It is shown that yielding volume drops after DB by nearly 80% in the area of the destressing panel and near the safety shaft pillar.
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spelling doaj.art-52ee117900194953b85ef59f7bd07fab2023-08-31T05:01:34ZengElsevierJournal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering1674-77552023-09-0115922382249Numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separationPetr Konicek0Tuo Chen1Hani S. Mitri2Institute of Geonics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Ostrava, 708 00, Czech RepublicDepartment of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 0E8, Canada; Corresponding author.Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 0E8, CanadaDestress blasting (DB) implemented along the perimeter of safety pillars is a special application of destressing in coal longwall mining. The goal is to separate relatively more deformed mined areas from safety pillars, such as shaft pillars or cross-cut pillars, to reduce the transfer of high stresses to the protective pillar. This case study aims to numerically simulate selected destress blasts in the Czech part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin and examine its impact on stress transfer to the safety pillar area. To separate the area between the protective pillar and the longwall (LW), two fans of five 93-mm blast holes (length of 93–100 m) were drilled from the gate roads into the overburden strata. Each set of blast holes was fired separately in two stages without time delay. The explosive charge (gelatin-type of explosive) of each stage is 3450 kg. The two DB stages were fired when the longwall face was approximately 158 m and 152 m away from the blast. A 3D mine-wide model is built and validated with in situ stress measured with hydrofracturing. Mining and destressing in three 5-m thick coal seams are simulated in the region. Numerical modeling of DB is successfully conducted using a rock fragmentation factor α of 0.05 and a stress reduction/dissipation factor β of 0.95. Buffering of transfer of additional stress from the mining area into the safety pillar is evaluated by comparison of yielding volume before and after DB. It is shown that yielding volume drops after DB by nearly 80% in the area of the destressing panel and near the safety shaft pillar.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775523001579Rockburst hazardDestress blasting (DB)Strata separationSafety pillarNumerical modelingFragmentation factor
spellingShingle Petr Konicek
Tuo Chen
Hani S. Mitri
Numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separation
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
Rockburst hazard
Destress blasting (DB)
Strata separation
Safety pillar
Numerical modeling
Fragmentation factor
title Numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separation
title_full Numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separation
title_fullStr Numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separation
title_full_unstemmed Numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separation
title_short Numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separation
title_sort numerical modeling of destress blasting for strata separation
topic Rockburst hazard
Destress blasting (DB)
Strata separation
Safety pillar
Numerical modeling
Fragmentation factor
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775523001579
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AT tuochen numericalmodelingofdestressblastingforstrataseparation
AT hanismitri numericalmodelingofdestressblastingforstrataseparation