Development and application of novel high‐efficiency composite ultrafine cement grouts for roadway in fractured surrounding rocks

The fractured surrounding rocks of roadways pose major challenges to safe mining.Grouting has often been used to reinforce the surrounding rocks to mitigate the safety risks associated with fractured rocks.The aim of this study is to develop highly efficient composite ultrafine cement(CUC)grouts to reinforce the roadway in fractured surrounding rocks.The materials used are ultrafine cement(UC),ultrafine fly ash(UF),ultrafine slag(US),and additives(superplasticizer[SUP],aluminate ultrafine expansion agent[AUA],gypsum,and retarder).The fluidity,bleeding,shrinkage,setting time,chemical composition,microstructure,degree of hydration,and mechanical property of grouting materials were evaluated in this study.Also,a suitable and effective CUC grout mixture was used to reinforce the roadway in the fractured surrounding rock.The results have shown that the addition of UF and US reduces the plastic viscosity of CUC,and the best fluidity can be obtained by adding 40%UF and 10%US.Since UC and UF particles are small,the pozzolanic effect of UF promotes the hydration reaction,which is conductive to the stability of CUC grouts.In addition,fine particles of UC,UF,and US can effectively fill the pores,while the volumetric expansion of AUA and gypsum decreases the pores and thus affects the microstructure of the solidified grout.The compressive test results have shown that the addition of specific amounts of UF and US can ameliorate the mechanical properties of CUC grouts.Finally,the CUC22‐8 grout was used to reinforce the No.20322 belt roadway.The results of numerical simulation and field monitoring have indicated that grouting can efficaciously reinforce the surrounding rock of the roadway.In this research,high‐performance CUC grouts were developed for surrounding rock reinforcement of underground engineering by utilizing UC and some additives.

Surrounding rock pressure in the tunnel portal section through moraine under freeze-thaw action

Moraines,characterized by the accumulation of rock and soil debris transported by glacial activity,present unique challenges for tunnel construction,particularly in portal sections,due to prevailing geographical and climatic conditions that facilitate freeze-thaw action.Despite these challenges,there is a dearth of studies investigating the influence of freeze-thaw action and water content on the mechanical properties of moraines,and no research on calculating surrounding rock pressure in moraine tunnels subjected to freeze-thaw conditions.In this study,direct shear tests under freeze-thaw cycles were conducted to examine the effects of freeze-thaw cycles and water content on the mechanical properties of frozen moraine.A comprehensive parameter K,integrating the number of freeze-thaws and water content,was introduced to model cohesion c.Drawing on Terzaghi Theory,we propose an improved algorithm for calculating surrounding rock pressure at the portal section of moraine tunnels.Using a tunnel as a case study,surrounding rock pressure was calculated under various conditions to validate the Improved Algorithm's efficacy.The results show that:(1)Strength loss exhibits a linear trend with the number of freeze-thaw cycles at water content levels of 4%and 8%,while at 12%water content,previous freeze-thaw cycles induce more significant damage to the soil.(2)Moraine saturation peaks between 8%and 12%water content.Following repeated freeze-thaw cycles,moraine shear strength initially increases before decreasing with varying water content.(3)The internal friction angle of moraine experiences slight reductions with prolonged freeze-thaw cycles,but both freeze-thaw cycles and water content significantly influence cohesion.(4)Vertical surrounding rock pressure increases after the initial freeze-thaw cycle,particularly with higher water content,although freeze-thaw cycles have minimal effect on it.(5)Freeze-thaw cycles lead to a substantial increase in lateral surrounding rock pressure,necessitating reinforced support structures at the arch wall,arch waist,and arch foot in engineering projects to mitigate freeze-thaw effects.This study provides a foundation for designing and selecting tunnel support structures in similar geological conditions.

Sub-Homogeneous Peridynamic Model for Fracture and Failure Analysis of Roadway Surrounding Rock

The surrounding rock of roadways exhibits intricate characteristics of discontinuity and heterogeneity.To address these complexities,this study employs non-local Peridynamics(PD)theory and reconstructs the kernel function to represent accurately the spatial decline of long-range force.Additionally,modifications to the traditional bondbased PD model are made.By considering the micro-structure of coal-rock materials within a uniform discrete model,heterogeneity characterized by bond random pre-breaking is introduced.This approach facilitates the proposal of a novel model capable of handling the random distribution characteristics of material heterogeneity,rendering the PD model suitable for analyzing the deformation and failure of heterogeneous layered coal-rock mass structures.The established numerical model and simulation method,termed the sub-homogeneous PD model,not only incorporates the support effect but also captures accurately the random heterogeneous micro-structure of roadway surrounding rock.The simulation results obtained using this model show good agreement with field measurements from the Fucun coal mine,effectively validating the model’s capability in accurately reproducing the deformation and failure mode of surrounding rock under bolt-supported(anchor cable).The proposed subhomogeneous PD model presents a valuable and effective simulation tool for studying the deformation and failure of roadway surrounding rock in coal mines,offering new insights and potential advancements.

Numerical Simulation of Surrounding Rock Deformation and Grouting Reinforcement of Cross-Fault Tunnel under Different Excavation Methods

Tunnel construction is susceptible to accidents such as loosening, deformation, collapse, and water inrush, especiallyunder complex geological conditions like dense fault areas. These accidents can cause instability and damageto the tunnel. As a result, it is essential to conduct research on tunnel construction and grouting reinforcementtechnology in fault fracture zones to address these issues and ensure the safety of tunnel excavation projects. Thisstudy utilized the Xianglushan cross-fault tunnel to conduct a comprehensive analysis on the construction, support,and reinforcement of a tunnel crossing a fault fracture zone using the three-dimensional finite element numericalmethod. The study yielded the following research conclusions: The excavation conditions of the cross-fault tunnelarray were analyzed to determine the optimal construction method for excavation while controlling deformationand stress in the surrounding rock. The middle partition method (CD method) was found to be the most suitable.Additionally, the effects of advanced reinforcement grouting on the cross-fault fracture zone tunnel were studied,and the optimal combination of grouting reinforcement range (140°) and grouting thickness (1m) was determined.The stress and deformation data obtained fromon-site monitoring of the surrounding rock was slightly lower thanthe numerical simulation results. However, the change trend of both sets of data was found to be consistent. Theseresearch findings provide technical analysis and data support for the construction and design of cross-fault tunnels.

Heterogeneous information phase space reconstruction and stability prediction of filling body–surrounding rock combination

Traditional research believes that the filling body can effectively control stress concentration while ignoring the problems of unknown stability and the complex and changeable stress distribution of the filling body–surrounding rock combination under high-stress conditions.Current monitoring data processing methods cannot fully consider the complexity of monitoring objects,the diversity of monitoring methods,and the dynamics of monitoring data.To solve this problem,this paper proposes a phase space reconstruction and stability prediction method to process heterogeneous information of backfill–surrounding rock combinations.The three-dimensional monitoring system of a large-area filling body–surrounding rock combination in Longshou Mine was constructed by using drilling stress,multipoint displacement meter,and inclinometer.Varied information,such as the stress and displacement of the filling body–surrounding rock combination,was continuously obtained.Combined with the average mutual information method and the false nearest neighbor point method,the phase space of the heterogeneous information of the filling body–surrounding rock combination was then constructed.In this paper,the distance between the phase point and its nearest point was used as the index evaluation distance to evaluate the stability of the filling body–surrounding rock combination.The evaluated distances(ED)revealed a high sensitivity to the stability of the filling body–surrounding rock combination.The new method was then applied to calculate the time series of historically ED for 12 measuring points located at Longshou Mine.The moments of mutation in these time series were at least 3 months ahead of the roadway return dates.In the ED prediction experiments,the autoregressive integrated moving average model showed a higher prediction accuracy than the deep learning models(long short-term memory and Transformer).Furthermore,the root-mean-square error distribution of the prediction results peaked at 0.26,thus outperforming the no-prediction method in 70%of the cases.

Assessing the range of blasting-induced cracks in the surrounding rock of deeply buried tunnels based on the unified strength theory

Blasting-induced cracks in the rock surrounding deeply buried tunnels can result in water gushing and rock mass collapse,posing significant safety risks.However,previous theoretical studies on the range of blasting-induced cracks often ignore the impact of the in-situ stress,especially that of the intermediate principal stress.The particle displacement−crack radius relationship was established in this paper by utilizing the blasthole cavity expansion equation,and theoretical analytical formulas of the stress−displacement relationship and the crack radius were derived with unified strength theory to accurately assess the range of cracks in deep surrounding rock under a blasting load.Parameter analysis showed that the crushing zone size was positively correlated with in-situ stress,intermediate principal stress,and detonation pressure,whereas negatively correlated with Poisson ratio and decoupling coefficient.The dilatancy angle-crushing zone size relationship exhibited nonmonotonic behavior.The relationships in the crushing zone and the fracture zone exhibited opposite trends under the influence of only in-situ stress or intermediate principal stress.As the in-situ stress increased from 0 to 70 MPa,the rate of change in the crack range and the attenuation rate of the peak vibration velocity gradually slowed.

Prediction model of surrounding rock deformation in doublecontinuous-arch tunnel based on the ABC-WNN

Purpose–The wavelet neural network(WNN)has the drawbacks of slow convergence speed and easy falling into local optima in data prediction.Although the artificial bee colony(ABC)algorithm has strong global optimization ability and fast convergence speed,it also has the drawbacks of slow speed while finding the optimal solution and weak optimization ability in the later stage.Design/methodology/approach–This article uses an ABC algorithm to optimize the WNN and establishes an ABC-WNN analysis model.Based on the example of the Jinan Yuhan underground tunnel project,the deformation of the surrounding rock of the double-arch tunnel crossing the fault fracture zone is predicted and analyzed,and the analysis results are compared with the actual detection amount.Findings–The comparison results show that the predicted values of the ABC-WNN model have a high degree of fitting with the actual engineering data,with a maximum relative error of only 4.73%.On this basis,the results show that the statistical features of ABC-WNN are the lowest,with the errors at 0.566 and 0.573,compared with the single back propagation(BP)neural network model and WNN model.Therefore,it can be derived that the ABC-WNN model has higher prediction accuracy,better computational stability and faster convergence speed for deformation.Originality/value–This article uses firstly the ABC-WNN for the deformation analysis of double-arch tunnels.This attempt laid the foundation for artificial intelligence prediction in deformation analysis of multiarch tunnels and small clearance tunnels.It can provide a new and effective way for deformation prediction in similar projects.

Study on creep deformation and energy development of underground surrounding rock under four‐dimensional support

There is an urgent need to develop optimal solutions for deformation control of deep high‐stress roadways,one of the critical problems in underground engineering.The previously proposed four‐dimensional support(hereinafter 4D support),as a new support technology,can set the roadway surrounding rock under three‐dimensional pressure in the new balanced structure,and prevent instability of surrounding rock in underground engineering.However,the influence of roadway depth and creep deformation on the surrounding rock supported by 4D support is still unknown.This study investigated the influence of roadway depth and creep deformation time on the instability of surrounding rock by analyzing the energy development.The elastic strain energy was analyzed using the program redeveloped in FLAC3D.The numerical simulation results indicate that the combined support mode of 4D roof supports and conventional side supports is highly applicable to the stability control of surrounding rock with a roadway depth exceeding 520 m.With the increase of roadway depth,4D support can effectively restrain the area and depth of plastic deformation in the surrounding rock.Further,4D support limits the accumulation range and rate of elastic strain energy as the creep deformation time increases.4D support can effectively reduce the plastic deformation of roadway surrounding rock and maintain the stability for a long deformation period of 6 months.As confirmed by in situ monitoring results,4D support is more effective for the long‐term stability control of surrounding rock than conventional support.

Surrounding Rock Control Technology of Strong Dynamic Pressure Roadway in Hudi Coal Industry

Aiming at the problems of large deformation and difficult maintenance of deep soft rock roadway under the influence of high ground stress and strong dynamic pressure, taking the surrounding rock control of 1105 lane in Hudi Coal Industry as an example, the deformation characteristics and surrounding rock control measures of deep soft rock roadway are analyzed and discussed by means of geological data analysis, roadway deformation monitoring, rock crack drilling and field test. The results show that the main causes of roadway deformation are high ground stress, synclinal tectonic stress, advance mining stress, roadway penetration and surrounding rock fissure development. Based on the deformation characteristics and mechanism of lane 1105, the supporting countermeasures of “roof synergic support, layered grouting, anchor cable beam support, closed hardening of roadway surface” are proposed, which can provide reference for the control of deep roadway surrounding rock under similar conditions.

Surrounding Rock Failure Mechanism and Control Technology of Gob-Side Entry with Triangle Coal Pillar at Island Longwall Panel in 15 m Extra-Thick Coal Seams

Taking the return air roadway of Tashan 8204 isolated island working face as the background, the evolution law of the stress field in the surrounding rock of the widened coal pillar area roadway during the mining period of the isolated island working face is obtained through numerical simulation. The hazardous area of strong mine pressure under different coal pillar widths is determined. Through simulation, it is known that when the width of the coal pillar is less than 20 m, there is large bearing capacity on the coal side of the roadway entity. The force on the side of the coal pillar is relatively small. When the width of the coal pillar ranges from 25 m to 45 m, the vertical stress on the roadway and surrounding areas is relatively high. Pressure relief measures need to be taken during mining to reduce surrounding rock stress. When the width of the coal pillar is greater than 45 m, the peak stress of the coal pillar is located in the deep part of the surrounding rock, but it still has a certain impact on the roadway. It is necessary to take pressure relief measures to transfer the stress to a deeper depth to ensure the stability of the triangular coal pillar during the safe mining period of the working face. This provides guidance for ensuring the stability of the triangular coal pillar during the safe mining period of the working face.

Modeling time-dependent mechanical behavior of hard rock considering excavation-induced damage and complex 3D stress states

To investigate the long-term stability of deep rocks,a three-dimensional(3D)time-dependent model that accounts for excavation-induced damage and complex stress state is developed.This model comprises three main components:a 3D viscoplastic isotropic constitutive relation that considers excavation damage and complex stress state,a quantitative relationship between critical irreversible deformation and complex stress state,and evolution characteristics of strength parameters.The proposed model is implemented in a self-developed numerical code,i.e.CASRock.The reliability of the model is validated through experiments.It is indicated that the time-dependent fracturing potential index(xTFPI)at a given time during the attenuation creep stage shows a negative correlation with the extent of excavationinduced damage.The time-dependent fracturing process of rock demonstrates a distinct interval effect of the intermediate principal stress,thereby highlighting the 3D stress-dependent characteristic of the model.Finally,the influence of excavation-induced damage and intermediate principal stress on the time-dependent fracturing characteristics of the surrounding rocks around the tunnel is discussed.

3D DEM simulation of hard rock fracture in deep tunnel excavation induced by changes in principal stress magnitude and orientation

To achieve the loading of the stress path of hard rock,the spherical discrete element model(DEM)and the new flexible membrane technology were utilized to realize the transient loading of three principal stresses with arbitrary magnitudes and orientations.Furthermore,based on the deep tunnel of China Jinping Underground Laboratory II(CJPL-II),the deformation and fracture evolution characteristics of deep hard rock induced by excavation stress path were analyzed,and the mechanisms of transient loading-unloading and stress rotation-induced fractures were revealed from a mesoscopic perspective.The results indicated that the stressestrain curve exhibits different trends and degrees of sudden changes when subjected to transient changes in principal stress,accompanied by sudden changes in strain rate.Stress rotation induces spatially directional deformation,resulting in fractures of different degrees and orientations,and increasing the degree of deformation anisotropy.The correlation between the degree of induced fracture and the unloading magnitude of minimum principal stress,as well as its initial level is significant and positive.The process of mechanical response during transient unloading exhibits clear nonlinearity and directivity.After transient unloading,both the minimum principal stress and minimum principal strain rate decrease sharply and then tend to stabilize.This occurs from the edge to the interior and from the direction of the minimum principal stress to the direction of the maximum principal stress on theε1-ε3 plane.Transient unloading will induce a tensile stress wave.The ability to induce fractures due to changes in principal stress magnitude,orientation and rotation paths gradually increases.The analysis indicates a positive correlation between the abrupt change amplitude of strain rate and the maximum unloading magnitude,which is determined by the magnitude and rotation of principal stress.A high tensile strain rate is more likely to induce fractures under low minimum principal stress.

A novel nano-grade organosilicon polymer:Improving airtightness of compressed air energy storage in hard rock formations

Enhancing cavern sealing is crucial for improving the efficiency of compressed air energy storage(CAES)in hard rock formations.This study introduced a novel approach using a nano-grade organosilicon polymer(NOSP)as a sealant,coupled with an air seepage evaluation model that incorporates Knudsen diffusion.Moreover,the initial coating application methods were outlined,and the advantages of using NOSP compared to other sealing materials,particularly regarding cost and construction techniques,were also examined and discussed.Experimental results indicated a significant reduction in permeability of rock specimens coated with a 7–10μm thick NOSP layer.Specifically,under a 0.5 MPa pulse pressure,the permeability decreased to less than 1 n D,and under a 4 MPa pulse pressure,it ranged between4.5×10^(-6)–5.5×10^(-6)m D,marking a 75%–80%decrease in granite permeability.The sealing efficacy of NOSP surpasses concrete and is comparable to rubber materials.The optimal viscosity for application lies between 95 and 105 KU,and the coating thickness should ideally range from 7 to 10μm,applied to substrates with less than 3%porosity.This study provides new insights into air transport and sealing mechanisms at the pore level,proposing NOSP as a cost-effective and simplified solution for CAES applications.

Forward prediction for tunnel geology and classification of surrounding rock based on seismic wave velocity layered tomography

Excavation under complex geological conditions requires effective and accurate geological forward-prospecting to detect the unfavorable geological structure and estimate the classification of surround-ing rock in front of the tunnel face.In this work,a forward-prediction method for tunnel geology and classification of surrounding rock is developed based on seismic wave velocity layered tomography.In particular,for the problem of strong multi-solution of wave velocity inversion caused by few ray paths in the narrow space of the tunnel,a layered inversion based on regularization is proposed.By reducing the inversion area of each iteration step and applying straight-line interface assumption,the convergence and accuracy of wave velocity inversion are effectively improved.Furthermore,a surrounding rock classification network based on autoencoder is constructed.The mapping relationship between wave velocity and classification of surrounding rock is established with density,Poisson’s ratio and elastic modulus as links.Two numerical examples with geological conditions similar to that in the field tunnel and a field case study in an urban subway tunnel verify the potential of the proposed method for practical application.

Deformation characteristics and damage ontologies of soft and hard composite rock masses under impact loading

As one of the most common occurring geological landforms in deep rock formations, the dynamic mechanical properties of layered composite rock bodies under impact loading have been widely studied by scholars. To study the dynamic properties of soft and hard composite rocks with different thickness ratios, this paper utilizes cement, quartz sand and gypsum powder to construct soft and hard composite rock specimens and utilizes a combination of indoor tests, numerical calculations, and theoretical analyses to investigate the mechanical properties of soft and hard composite rock bodies. The test results reveal that:(1) When the proportion of hard rock increases from 20% to 50%, the strength of the combined rock body increases by 69.14 MPa and 87 MPa when the hard rock face and soft rock face are loaded, respectively;however, when the proportion of hard rock is the same, the compressive strength of the hard rock face impact is 9%-17% greater than that of the soft rock face impact;(2) When a specimen of soft and hard combined rock body is subjected to impact loading, the damage mode involves mixed tension and shear damage, and the cracks generally first appear at the ends of the specimen, then develop on the laminar surface from the impact surface, and finally end in the overall damage of the soft rock part. The development rate and the total number of cracks in the same specimen when the hard rock face is impacted are significantly greater than those when the soft rock face is impacted;(3) By introducing Weibull’s statistical strength theory to establish the damage variables of soft-hard combined rock bodies, combined with the DP strength criterion, the damage model and the Kelvin body are concatenated to obtain a statistical damage constitutive model, which can better fit the full stress-strain curve of soft-hard combined rock body specimens under a single impact load.

Frost heaving force considering synchronous damage to tunnel lining and surrounding rocks under freeze—thaw cycles

In areas with seasonal freezing,when the tunnel lining concrete is saturated with water infiltrating the interior,the lining and the surrounding rocks will simultaneously freeze.However,the current calculation of the frost heaving force fails to consider the synchronous damage to the lining and surrounding rocks under freeze-thaw cycles.Therefore,as per the elastic calculation model of the frost heaving force and model of steady-state heat transfer of circular tunnels,this study introduces the frost heaving rate of lining and surrounding rocks.First,the analytical solution of frost heaving force is obtained for simultaneous frost heaving of lining and surrounding rocks under any steady-state temperature field.Then,based on the fracture theory and meso-damage mechanics,the damage variables of lining and surrounding rocks under freeze-thaw cycles are extracted,representing their elastic modulus and porosity.Finally,the formula of frost heaving force for synchronous damage to the lining and surrounding rocks at any steady-state temperature field is obtained.The calculation results demonstrate that the lower the temperature inside the lining,the greater the frost heaving force.With the increasing number of freeze-thaw cycles,frost heaving force tends to gradually increase initially,reaching a peak value at 85 freeze-thaw cycles,decreasing to 80%of the peak value at 140 cycles before reaching a constant value.The lining participates in frost heaving,increasing the frost heaving force.The initial increase rate of frost heaving force is 15.7%.Changing the fitting coefficients s1 and s2 of the lining and surrounding rocks can effectively control the magnitude of the frost heaving force in the tunnels.

Failure mechanism and control countermeasures of surrounding rock at deep large section chamber intersection in the Wanfu Coal Mine

In order to solve the problem of large deformation at the intersection of deep large section soft rock roadway,this paper takes the intersection of kilometer-deep roadway in the Wanfu Coal Mine as an engineering example and applies Negative Poisson’s Ratio(NPR)steel anchor cable in roadway support for the first time.By combining numerical simulation indoor test,theoretical analysis and field test,the deformation mechanism of surrounding rock at the intersection of deep-buried roadway was analyzed,and the control strategy with micro NPR steel anchor cable as the core was put forward.Through numerical simulation,the numerical analysis model of roadway intersection with different intersection angles and excavation sequence was constructed,and the impact of two key variables of rake angle and excavation sequence on the stability of surrounding rock at roadway intersection was studied.The optimal dip angle is 90°and the optimal excavation sequence was determined as pump house-pump house passage-substation.The mechanical properties of the micro-NPR steel anchor cable were studied through the static tensile test in the laboratory.The results showed that the micro-NPR steel anchor cable showed high constant resistance,uniform tensile,no yield platform,and no obvious necking phenomenon during breaking.Through theoretical derivation,it was calculated that the vertical stress of roadway intersection is 45 MPa,and the bearing capacity of superposed arch composed of micro NPR steel anchor cable is 1257 kN,which is enough to guarantee the overall stability of intersection.Support application test and monitoring were carried out on site,and it was verified that the combined support strategy of short and long micro NPR steel anchor cable has a good control effect on large deformation of surrounding rock at intersection,which provides a new support material and support means for the safety and stabilization control of surrounding rock at intersection.

Heterogeneity identification method for surrounding rock of large-section rock tunnel faces based on support vector machine

Purpose–The purpose of the study is to quickly identify significant heterogeneity of surrounding rock of tunnel face that generally occurs during the construction of large-section rock tunnels of high-speed railways.Design/methodology/approach–Relying on the support vector machine(SVM)-based classification model,the nominal classification of blastholes and nominal zoning and classification terms were used to demonstrate the heterogeneity identification method for the surrounding rock of tunnel face,and the identification calculation was carried out for the five test tunnels.Then,the suggestions for local optimization of the support structures of large-section rock tunnels were put forward.Findings–The results show that compared with the two classification models based on neural networks,the SVM-based classification model has a higher classification accuracy when the sample size is small,and the average accuracy can reach 87.9%.After the samples are replaced,the SVM-based classification model can still reach the same accuracy,whose generalization ability is stronger.Originality/value–By applying the identification method described in this paper,the significant heterogeneity characteristics of the surrounding rock in the process of two times of blasting were identified,and the identification results are basically consistent with the actual situation of the tunnel face at the end of blasting,and can provide a basis for local optimization of support parameters.

Spalling failure of deep hard rock caverns

Spalling is a typical brittle failure phenomenon of hard rock in deep caverns under high geostress.In this study,key issues are systematically studied concerning the spalling failure of deep hard rock caverns.First,the prismatic rock specimens with small thicknesses(i.e.width×thickness×height:20 mm×50 mm×100 mm)are employed in our tests which not only successfully simulate the spalling failure of hard rock in the laboratory but also obtain a reasonable spalling strength similar to that of the rock mass.Then,a series of spalling experiments is carried out to investigate the mechanism of spalling failure of deep hard rock caverns.Our results show that the intermediate principal stress,weak dynamic disturbances,and rock microstructure have significant effects on the spalling failure.The spalling strength is approximately(0.3–0.8)UCS,where UCS is the uniaxial compressive strength of the cylindrical rock sample with a diameter of around 50 mm.The spalling strength increases first and then decreases with increasing intermediate principal stress.Moreover,an empirical spalling strength criterion and a numerical method of spalling failure are proposed.This numerical method can not only simulate the spalling failure zone formed by tangential compressive stress concentration after excavation under different intermediate principal stresses,but also successfully simulate the failure transition from tensile mode to shear mode associated with confinement change in deep hard rock caverns.Furthermore,an acoustic emission-based early warning method using neural network is proposed to predict the spalling failure.Finally,a technical roadmap for preventing and controlling spalling failure of deep hard rock caverns is presented after summarizing the successful experiences in a typical engineering case.

Stability prediction of hard rock pillar using support vector machine optimized by three metaheuristic algorithms

Hard rock pillar is one of the important structures in engineering design and excavation in underground mines.Accurate and convenient prediction of pillar stability is of great significance for underground space safety.This paper aims to develop hybrid support vector machine(SVM)models improved by three metaheuristic algorithms known as grey wolf optimizer(GWO),whale optimization algorithm(WOA)and sparrow search algorithm(SSA)for predicting the hard rock pillar stability.An integrated dataset containing 306 hard rock pillars was established to generate hybrid SVM models.Five parameters including pillar height,pillar width,ratio of pillar width to height,uniaxial compressive strength and pillar stress were set as input parameters.Two global indices,three local indices and the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve with the area under the ROC curve(AUC)were utilized to evaluate all hybrid models’performance.The results confirmed that the SSA-SVM model is the best prediction model with the highest values of all global indices and local indices.Nevertheless,the performance of the SSASVM model for predicting the unstable pillar(AUC:0.899)is not as good as those for stable(AUC:0.975)and failed pillars(AUC:0.990).To verify the effectiveness of the proposed models,5 field cases were investigated in a metal mine and other 5 cases were collected from several published works.The validation results indicated that the SSA-SVM model obtained a considerable accuracy,which means that the combination of SVM and metaheuristic algorithms is a feasible approach to predict the pillar stability.