No abstract

Studying the additional force in topsoil containing multiple aquifers can have a significant impact on predicting shaft wall fracture and guaranteeing shaft safety, as the aquifer number increases as drainage occurs. In this study, a numerical model calculating the effect of drainage on additional force in topsoil, containing multiple aquifers, was established on the basis of several practical engineering cases. The changes in the stress displacement of the shaft wall was analyzed during three different stages of shaft construction using typical parameters, and the effects of the various factors on the additional force variation under different water level gap conditions, depending on whether the drainage was synchronized or unsynchronized, were studied. The results indicate that the increment in the additional force, with an increasing water level gap in the central aquifer, is obviously larger than that in the bottom aquifer, and the difference in the maximum additional force between these two aquifers is approximately 0.6 MPa. The increasing number of central aquifers results in a higher increment in this force, which reaches 12 MPa with an increasing number of central aquifers. Meanwhile, a threshold value (about 0.6~0.7 H) exists for the depth of a central aquifer in terms of its effect on the additional force.

The mining area in the Muli region, Qinghai Province, China, is an important source of water and an ecological security barrier in the Qilian Mountains region and has a very important ecological status. A series of ecological problems such as vegetation degradation and loss of biodiversity caused by mining have attracted widespread attention. In this paper, we used Landsat secondary data from 2000 to 2021 from the Muli region to obtain the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the vegetation in the Muli region by inversion of the fractional vegetation cover, above-ground biomass and the land surface phenology to comprehensively analyze the ecological changes in the vegetation in the Muli region. The results showed the following: (1) the above-ground biomass and cover of grassland in the Muli region showed a decreasing trend between 2000 and 2021, with a particularly pronounced decrease in grassland cover between 2009 and 2016; (2) the start of the vegetation growth cycle, i.e., the beginning of the vegetation growing season (SOG) became more advanced, the end of the vegetation growing season (EOG) was delayed, and the length of the growing cycle (LOG) became longer for most of the vegetation in the Muli region; (3) the results of this comprehensive analysis showed that the grassland in the Muli region showed dynamic changes with complex characteristics from 2000 to 2021, and anthropogenic disturbances had some influence on ecological indicators such as fractional vegetation cover and biomass. The extension of the vegetation growing season might be related to climate change. Based on the results of this paper, it is recommended to utilize biomass and fractional vegetation cover as indicators to assess the grass growth status of mining sites. This study analyzed the spatial and temporal characteristics of grasslands in the Muli area with several indicators, which will help relevant departments continue to improve and optimize ecological restoration measures. In addition, this study provides a reference for achieving comprehensive restoration of the ecological environment and ecological functions in mining areas.

Due to their advantages, artificial ground freezing methods are widely used in deep shaft construction and repair with the continuous exploitation of coal and other mineral resources. The boundary convection due to ventilation conditions will affect the formation and development of this frozen soil wall, which needs to be studied systematically. Thus, in this study, a numerical calculation model of a freezing temperature field was established based on the actual conditions of the east ventilation shaft in the Chengjiao coal mine during repair by the freezing method, and the temperature and thickness laws of the frozen soil wall and the shaft wall were studied by changing the influencing parameters. The results indicated that the thickness of the outside position gradually exceeded that of the inside position of the frozen soil wall due to the ventilation effect, and the difference between these two parameters was approximately 0.2~0.3 m, while the temperature difference was no more than 1 °C. The frozen soil wall did not complete a cross-loop within 180 d under ventilation conditions when the freezing tube pitch exceeded a certain threshold, which was about 2.3~2.5 m for this ventilation shaft. The soil moisture content played an important role in the initial freezing under ventilation conditions in the full combination calculation. This paper provides theoretical support for studying the application of the artificial ground freezing method for shaft construction and repair under ventilation conditions.