The state of periodic loading and the interval of periodic roof weighting have an important role in geomechanical stability, and hence in the continuity of longwall mining operations. In this paper, the mechanism of roof caving in longwall mining -together with the effect of engineering and geomechanical properties of surrounding rock masses on the magnitude and timing of periodic loading -is studied. For this purpose, a longwall mine is first modeled using Phase2 software, and then, by simulating the roof caving process, the periodic roof weighting intervals are calculated. Sensitivity analysis is then applied in order to determine the effect of changes in the mechanical properties of the rock mass, especially in the main roof and immediate roof. Results show that the applied algorithm in this study can effectively calculate the periodic roof weighting interval in the longwall mining method. Also, due to the flexible nature of numerical modeling, a reliable application of this approach can be envisaged in most mining conditions.

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