Purpose is to develop a new approach to the design of mining operations basing upon models and methods of decision making.Methods. The paper has applied a complex approach involving approaches of decision-making theory. Analysis of the pro-duction development scenarios is proposed for strategic activity planning; criteria to make decisions under the uncertainty conditions as well as decision-making trees for day-to-day management are proposed to determine balanced production level.Findings. It has been identified that mining production design is of the determined character demonstrating changes in "state of the nature" depending upon the made decisions. The idea of mining production is to reduce uncertainty gradually by means of analysis of production scenarios, and elimination of unfavourable alternatives. Operative management is implemented while constructing decision trees, and optimizing operation parameters. Representation of sets of rational equipment types as well as development scenarios, and their comparison in terms of decision-making parameters makes it possible to determine adequate capacity of a working area, and to reduce expenditures connected with the equipment purchase and maintenance. In this context, limiting factors, effecting anticipatory mining out-put, are taken into consideration. Successive comparison of the alternatives helps identify decision-making area for different scenarios of the production development.Originality. To manage mining production, approaches of decision-making theory have been proposed which involve the use of decision trees, decision-making criteria, and analysis of scenarios basing upon representation of operating procedures in the form of a network model within which the shortest route corresponds to optimum decision. Practical implications. Decision-making system has been developed making it possible to optimize operation parameters, to reduce prime cost of mining, and to select a structure of engineering connections with the specified production level. The described approaches may be applied at the stage of a stope design as well as in the process of a field development. Specific attention has been paid to a software development to implement the approaches.

No abstract

Purpose is to substantiate the efficiency of geomechanical model of the mine working on the basis of qualitative and quantitative parameters of stress and strain state of the mine working and to compare the results of computational experiment both with the results obtained while designing mine working support and with the results of field studies under mine conditions.Methods. The studies consisted of three stages. Stage one involved development of the computational model and, using a finite-element method (ANSYS Software Package), and performance of computational experiment for mining and geological conditions of MM "Pokrovske". Stage two involved field measurements in the mine working with the support pattern developed according to the results of first stage of the research. Characteristic points were selected to determined separate stress and deformation components of a geomechanical system. Stage three dealt with comparative analysis of both computational and field experiments to define the efficiency of the selected computational model and the engineering solutions.Findings. The substantiated physical and mathematical model as well as geometry of computational region of the geomechanical system have made is possible to determine to a high precision stress and strain state of all the components of mine working support and neighbouring rock mass. Analysis of changes in mine working border, while calculating and full-scale measuring, has demonstrated high accuracy degree in description of deformation processes within the rock mass. Qualitative changes in stresses within the selected anchors, in the process of the stope plane movement, correspond in their appearance to the curves of graphs obtained as a result of calculations. Originality. For the first time, complex multicriteria approach has been proposed and applied to determine efficiency of the selected support scheme based on the measurements of mine working border displacement and internal effects of the support components; the approach makes it possible to evaluate adequacy of the selected computational scheme while predicting changes in the geomechanical system state.Practical implications. The developed innovative methodology to prove the efficiency of selecting optimal system for mine working support helps reduce design costs and cut production expenses while mounting and operating the support from a holistic perspective. Validation of the fact that calculated results of stress and strain state of a geomechanical system correspond to the data of field measurements in terms of various stress and deformation criteria provides the possibility of the computational model interpolation with respect to the mine workings driven and designed under similar mining and geological conditions.

Purpose. To determine the effect of rock overworking and underworking on massif stress-strain state while extracting the series of flat coal seams. Methods.Mining, geological and technical conditions; current approaches to solution of the related problems were theoretically analysed on the basis of the developed calculation algorithm with the help of the boundary element method. We calculated maximum coefficients of stress concentration in the roof and floor of the working seam in the zones affected by pillars and contiguous seams.Findings. Boundaries for areas of increased rock pressure in the roof and floor of the extracted seam at mining enterprise "Lvivvuhillia" were determined. Values of maximum coefficients of stress concentration were derived. The load acting on the section of powered support was calculated considering the weight of rocks located in the area of boundary stress state in the roof above the longwall face. It was stated that during stope workings in areas affected by contiguous seams' selvage, the period of longwall face exposure from under the selvage of the low seam is the most hazardous in terms of rock pressure manifestation.Originality. Analysis of stress-strain state of stratified heterogeneous massif around the stope was conducted considering overworking and underworking. Actual values of the force and geometrical parameters of the powered support were derived; rational velocity of stope advance in the given mining and geological conditions was determined. Practical implications.The results of the study allowed to obtain the data necessary to choose the type of standing support and estimate rational force parameters for the powered support during its operation in the areas of high and low rock pressure as well as to determine the velocity of longwall face advance and permissible distance between stopes of contiguous seams for the mines of Lviv-Volyn basin.

No abstract