Mechanical behaviors of deep pillar sandwiched between strong and weak layers

A variety of coal room and pillar mining methods have been efficiently practiced at depths of up to 500 m with least strata mechanics issues.However,for the first time,this method was trialled at depths of 850 e900 m in CSM mine of Czech Republic.The rhomboid-shaped coal pillars with acute corners of 70,surrounded with 5.2 m wide and 3.5e4.5 m high mine roadways,were used.Pillars were developed in a staggered manner with their size variation in the Panel II from 83 m×25 m to 24 m×20 m(corner to corner)and Panel V from 35 m×30 m to 26 m×16 m.Coal seam inclined at 12was affected by the unusual slippery slickenside roof bands and sometimes in the floor levels with high vertical stress below strong and massive sandstone roof.In order to ensure safety,pillars in both the panels were continuously monitored using various geotechnical instruments measuring the induced stresses,side spalling and roof sagging.Both panels suffered high amounts of mining induced stress and pillar failure with side-spalling up to 5 m from all sides.Heavy fracturing of coal pillar sides was controlled by fully encapsulated steel bolts.Mining induced stress kept increasing with the progress of development of pillars and galleries.Instruments installed in the pillar failed to monitor actual induced stress due to fracturing of coal mass around it which created an apprehension of pillar failure up to its core due to high vertical mining induced stress.This risk was reduced by carrying out scientific studies including the three-dimensional numerical models calibrated with data from the instrumented pillar.An attempt has been made to study the behavior of coal pillars and their yielding characteristics at deeper cover based on field and simulation results.

Pillar design and coal burst experience in Utah Book Cliffs longwall operations

Longwall mining has existed in Utah for more than half a century.Much of this mining occurred at depths of cover that significantly exceed those encountered by most other US longwall operations.Deep cover causes high ground stress,which can combine with geology to create a coal burst hazard.Nearly every longwall mine operating within the Utah’s Book Cliffs coalfield has been affected by coal bursts.Pillar design has been a key component in the burst control strategies employed by mines in the Book Cliffs.Historically,most longwall mines employed double-use two-entry yield pillar gates.Double-use signifies that the gate system serves first as the headgate,and then later serves as the tailgate for the adjacent panel.After the 1996 burst fatality at the Aberdeen Mine,the inter-panel barrier design was introduced.In this layout,a wide barrier pillar protects each longwall panel from the previously mined panel,and each gate system is used just once.This paper documents the deep cover longwall mining conducted with each type of pillar design,together with the associated coal burst experience.Each of the six longwall mining complexes in the Book Cliffs having a coal burst history is described on a panel-by-panel basis.The analysis shows that where the mining depth exceeded 450 m,each design has been employed for about 38000 total m of longwall panel extraction.The double-use yield pillar design has been used primarily at depths less than 600 m,however,while the inter-panel barrier design has been used mainly at depths exceeding 600 m.Despite its greater depth of use,the inter-panel barrier gate design has been associated with about one-third as much face region burst activity as the double-use yield pillar design.

Extraction of locked-up coal by strengthening of rib pillars with FRP--A comparative study through numerical modelling

In some of the coalfields in India, coal seams are only developed but no extraction of pillars is possible due to the presence of surface or sub-surface structures and also non-availability of stowing materials which leads to huge amounts of coal being locked-up underground. Spontaneous heating and fire, accumulation of poisonous gases, severe stability issues leading to unsafe workings and environmental hazards are the major problems associated with the developed coal pillars. So, there is a pressing need for a technology for the mining industry to extract the huge amount of coal locked-up under different constraints. In this study, the locked-up coal is proposed to be extracted by artificially strengthening the rib pillars. The detailed comparative study is carried out to know the increase of extraction percentage of locked-up coal by strengthening the rib pillars with FRP. Extraction methodology is designed and studied through numerical modelling for its stability analysis to evaluate its suitability of application in underground.