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Non-pillar sublevel caving is beginning to use large structural parameters in China. Appropriate structural parameters can effectively control the loss and dilution of stope and improve ore drawing efficiency. In this study, taking Chengchao Iron Mine as the engineering background, a theoretical calculation, a numerical simulation, and physical similarity experiments were combined to optimize sublevel height, production drift spacing, and drawing space. The optimal structural parameter range, based on the ellipsoid ore drawing theory, was obtained as a theoretical reference for subsequent studies. A “two-step” strategy was used, in which PFC2D software (Itasca Consulting Group, Minneapolis, MN, USA) was used to numerically simulate 20 groups of different sublevel heights and production drift spacing parameters were used to determine the appropriate sublevel height and production drift spacing for the project. Subsequently, the optimization of the ore drawing space was studied using PFC3D (Itasca Consulting Group, Minneapolis, MN, USA) particle unit software, numerical simulation analysis, and similar physical experiments. The results showed that safe and efficient mining can be achieved when the structural parameters of the stope are 17.5 m sublevel height, 20 m production drift spacing, and 6 m drawing space. The findings of this study can further the goal of green and efficient mining, and provide a theoretical reference for the popularization and application of pillarless sublevel caving with large structural parameters at home and abroad. It is an effective measure for the green mining of caving mines.

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Hydraulic conductivity (K) and the specific storage coefficient (S) are among the most important hydrogeological parameters of an aquifer. Traditionally, the hydrogeological parameters of a field aquifer system are mainly determined through a range of experiments that are both time-consuming and of poor operability. To accurately characterize aquifer heterogeneity, a synthetic sandbox is constructed using VSAFT2 (Variably Saturated Flow and Transport utilizing the Modified Method of Characteristics, in 2D) as a reference aquifer system by incorporating multilevel a priori geologic information into the sandbox configuration. The spatial distribution of the field of hydraulic conductivity (i.e., K) is inversely obtained by hydraulic tomography (HT). Then HT is compared with traditional kriging-estimated method in the fine characterization of aquifer heterogeneity, and the optimal K field is eventually selected to predict the solute transport. The influence of the number of pumping cycles on the accuracy of heterogeneity characterization is also discussed. The results show that the accuracy of the inversely obtained K field is improved with the increased number of pumping cycles. When incorporating multilevel a priori geological information, HT can characterize aquifer heterogeneity more finely than traditional kriging, and there is also a very good fitting of solute transport between the optimally estimated K field and the reference K field. Our study highlights the importance of the fine characterization of aquifer heterogeneity for the prediction of solute transport.