Numerical study of time-dependent stresses in the floor of the stope with powered support

Abstract

When sections of the powered support are clamped in the stope, one of the ways to move them is to explode the rock under them. In the case when there is outburst-prone sandstone in the seam floor, blasting operations becomes dangerous and it is necessary to study the stress field in the host rocks. In this work, a numerical study of the time-dependent stress field in the floor of the stope with powered support is performed. Distributions of values of geomechanical parameters characterizing the stress field and zones of inelastic deformations at different time steps are given. Graphs of changes in these parameters in the floor of the stope are plotted. The minimum time for unloading sandstone at the place of drilling the hole for explosive charge is calculated. It is shown that in front of the mine face plane, the sandstone in the seam floor is in a uniform compressed state; all components of the stress field are close to unity. However, they start to decrease already 2.5 m before the mine face plane. At the hole drilling site, the maximum stress is 0.77γH, the minimum stress is 0.35γH at a depth of 1 m for given conditions.