Coal pillar design when considered a reinforcement problem rather than a suspension problem

Current coal pillar design is the epitome of suspension design.A defined weight of unstable overburden material is estimated, and the dimensions of the pillars left behind are based on holding up that material to a prescribed factor of safety.In principle, this is no different to early roadway roof support design.However, for the most part, roadway roof stabilisation has progressed to reinforcement, whereby the roof strata is assisted in supporting itself.This is now the mainstay of efficient and effective underground coal production.Suspension and reinforcement are fundamentally different in roadway roof stabilisation and lead to substantially different requirements in terms of support hardware characteristics and their application.In suspension, the primary focus is the total load-bearing capacity of the installed support and ensuring that it is securely anchored outside of the unstable roof mass.In contrast, reinforcement recognises that roof de-stabilisation is a gradational process with ever-increasing roof displacement magnitude leading to ever-reducing stability.Key roof support characteristics relate to such issues as system stiffness, the location and pattern of support elements and mobilising a defined thickness of the immediate roof to create(or build) a stabilising strata beam.The objective is to ensure that horizontal stress is maintained at a level that prevents mass roof collapse.This paper presents a prototype coal pillar and overburden system representation where reinforcement, rather than suspension, of the overburden is the stabilising mechanism via the action of in situ horizontal stresses.Established roadway roof reinforcement principles can potentially be applied to coal pillar design under this representation.The merit of this is evaluated according to failed pillar cases as found in a series of published databases.Based on the findings, a series of coal pillar system design considerations for bord and pillar type mine workings are provided.This potentially allows a more flexible approach to coal pillar sizing within workable mining layouts, as compared to common industry practice of a single design factor of safety(Fo S) under defined overburden dead-loading to the exclusion of other relevant overburden stabilising influences.     

Influence of longwall mining on the stability of gas wells in chain pillars

Longwall mining has a significant influence on gas wells located within longwall chain pillars. Subsurface subsidence and abutment pressure induced by longwall mining can cause excessive stresses and deformations in gas well casings. If the gas well casings are compromised or ruptured, natural gas could migrate into the mine workings, potentially causing a fire or explosion. By the current safety regulations,the gas wells in the chain pillars have to be either plugged or protected by adequate coal pillars. The current regulations for gas well pillar design are based on the 1957 Pennsylvania gas well pillar study. The study provided guidelines for gas well pillars by considering their support area and overburden depth as well as the location of the gas wells within the pillars. As the guidelines were developed for room-andpillar mining under shallow cover, they are no longer applicable to modern longwall coal mining, particularly, under deep cover. Gas well casing of failures have occurred even though the chain pillars for the gas wells met the requirements by the 1957 study. This study, conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH), presents seven cases of conventional gas wells penetrating through longwall chain pillars in the Pittsburgh Coal Seam. The study results indicate that overburden depth and pillar size are not the only determining factors for gas well stability. The other important factors include subsurface ground movement, overburden geology, weak floor, as well as the type of the construction of gas wells. Numerical modeling was used to model abutment pressure, subsurface deformations, and the response of gas well casings. The study demonstrated that numerical models are able to predict with reasonable accuracy the subsurface deformations in the overburden above,within, and below the chain pillars, and the potential location and modes of gas well failures, thereby providing a more quantifiable approach to assess the stability of the gas wells in longwall chain pillars.     

Analysis of coal pillar stability(ACPS): A new generation of pillar design software

Thirty years ago, the analysis of longwall pillar stability(ALPS) inaugurated a new era in coal pillar design.ALPS was the first empirical pillar design technique to consider the abutment loads that arise from full extraction, and the first to be calibrated using an extensive database of longwall mining case histories.ALPS was followed by the analysis of retreat mining stability(ARMPS) and the analysis of multiple seam stability(AMSS). These methods incorporated other innovations, including the coal mine roof rating(CMRR), the Mark-Bieniawski pillar strength formula, and the pressure arch loading model. They also built upon ever larger case history databases and employed more sophisticated statistical methods.Today, these empirical methods are used in nearly every underground coal mine in the US. However,the piecemeal manner in which these methods have evolved resulted in some weaknesses. For example,in certain situations, it may not be obvious which program is the best to use. Other times the results from the different programs are not entirely consistent with each other. The programs have also not been updated for several years, and some changes were necessary to keep pace with new developments in mining practice. The analysis of coal pillar stability(ACPS) now integrates all three of the older software packages into a single pillar design framework. ACPS also incorporates the latest research findings in the field of pillar design, including an expanded multiple seam case history data base and a new method to evaluate room and pillar panels containing multiple rows of pillars left in place during pillar recovery.ACPS also includes updated guidance and warnings for users and features upgraded help files and graphics.     

The current perspective of the PA 1957 gas well pillar study and its implications for longwall gas well pillars

Many states rely upon the Pennsylvania 1957 Gas Well Pillar Study to evaluate the coal barrier surrounding gas wells. The study included 77 gas well failure cases that occurred in the Pittsburgh and Freeport coal seams over a 25-year span. At the time, coal was mined using the room-and-pillar mining method with full or partial pillar recovery, and square or rectangle pillars surrounding the gas wells were left to protect the wells. The study provided guidelines for pillar sizes under different overburden depths up to213 m(700 ft). The 1957 study has also been used to determine gas well pillar sizes in longwall mines since longwall mining began in the 1970 s. The original study was developed for room-and-pillar mining and could be applied to gas wells in longwall chain pillars under shallow cover. However, under deep cover, severe deformations in gas wells have occurred in longwall chain pillars. Presently, with a better understanding of coal pillar mechanics, new insight into subsidence movements induced by retreat mining, and advances in numerical modeling, it has become both critically important and feasible to evaluate the adequacy of the 1957 study for longwall gas well pillars. In this paper, the data from the 1957 study is analyzed from a new perspective by considering various factors, including overburden depth, failure location, failure time, pillar safety factor(SF), and floor pressure. The pillar SF and floor pressure are calculated by considering abutment pressure induced by full pillar recovery. A statistical analysis is performed to find correlations between various factors and helps identify the most significant factors for the stability of gas wells influenced by retreat mining. Through analyzing the data from the 1957 study, the guidelines for gas well pillars in the 1957 study are evaluated for their adequacy for roomand-pillar mining and their applicability to longwall mining. Numerical modeling is used to model the stability of gas wells by quantifying the mining-induced stresses in gas well casings. Results of this study indicate that the guidelines in the 1957 study may be appropriate for pillars protecting conventional gas wells in both room-and-pillar mining and longwall mining under overburden depths up to 213 m(700 ft),but may not be sufficient for protective pillars under deep cover. The current evaluation of the 1957 study provides not only insights about potential gas well failures caused by retreat mining but also implications for what critical considerations should be taken into account to protect gas wells in longwall mining.     

Probability and reliability analysis of pillar stability in South Africa

A deterministic approach is frequently used in engineering design. In this quantitative design methodology, a safety factor, which is typically a strength-to-stress ratio, is derived as an index for the stability assessment of the engineering design. In underground coal mining applications such as pillar design,however, the inputs of pillar design are variables. This is widely overlooked in the deterministic approach. A probabilistic approach assessing the probability of failure or reliability of a system might be an alternative to the conventional quantitative methodology. This approach can incorporate the degree of uncertainty and deviations of variables and provide more versatile and reliable results. In this research, the reliability of case histories from stable and failed pillars of South Africa presented by Merwe and Mathey is examed. The updated Salamon and Munro strength formula(S-M formula) and Merwe and Mathey strength formula(M-M formula) are evaluated through a probabilistic approach. It is concluded that stable pillar cases have a reliability value greater than 0.83 while the reliability value of failed pillar cases are slightly larger than 0.50. There seems to be a positive relation between safety factor and reliability. The reliability of a pillar increases with pillar width but decreases with depth of cover, pillar height and entry width. The reliability analysis also confirms that M-M strength formula has a better distinction between the stable and failed pillar cases.     

Numerical investigation into the effect of backfilling on coal pillar strength in highwall mining

This paper attempts to quantify the effect of backfilling on pillar strength in highwall mining using numerical modelling. Calibration against the new empirical strength formula for highwall mining was conducted to obtain the material parameters used in the numerical modelling. With the obtained coal strength parameters, three sets of backfill properties were investigated. The results reveal that the behavior of pillars varies with the type and amount of backfill as well as the pillar width to mining height ratio(w/h). In case of cohesive backfill, generally 75% backfill shows a significant increase in peak strength, and the increase in peak strength is more pronounced for the pillars having lower w/h ratios. In case of noncohesive backfill, the changes in both the peak and residual strengths with up to 92% backfill are negligible while the residual strength constantly increases after reaching the peak strength only when 100%backfill is placed. Based on the modelling results, different backfilling strategies should be considered on a case by case basis depending on the type of backfill available and desired pillar dimension.     

Characteristics of stress distribution in floor strata and control of roadway stability under coal pillars

Given the difficulties encountered in roadway support under coal pillars, we studied the characteristics of stress distribution and their effect on roadway stability, using theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. The results show that, under a coal pillar, vertical stress in a floor stratum increases while horizontal stress decreases. We conclude that the increased difference between vertical and horizontal stress is an important reason for deformation of the surrounding rock and failures of roadways under coal pillars. Based on this, we propose control technologies of the surrounding rock of a roadway under a coal pillar, such as high strength and high pre-stressed bolt support, cable reinforcement support,single hydraulic prop with beam support and reinforcement by grouting of the surrounding rock, which have been successfully applied in a stability control project of a roadway under a coal pillar.     

倾斜煤层区段煤柱变形破坏规律

煤层倾角是影响区段煤柱稳定性的关键因素之一.利用理论分析、相似模拟、数值模拟等方法研究了倾斜煤层开挖后倾向覆岩结构演化特征、煤柱变形及失稳破坏形式.研究结果表明,0~45°范围内随着煤层倾角增大,区段煤柱发生剪切失稳破坏的可能性增大;煤柱两侧覆岩结构呈现不对称分布,煤柱上侧砌体梁结构形成层位较低,煤柱下侧形成冒空区,砌体梁结构形成层位高于上侧;与水平煤层煤柱破坏以挤压变形为主不同,倾斜煤柱以沿着弱面剪切滑移破坏为主;不同倾角煤层煤柱围岩变形量呈不对称分布,煤柱下侧围岩变形量大于上侧,煤层倾角越大煤柱围岩变形量不对称分布趋势越明显.     

A coal rib monitoring study in a room-and-pillar retreat mine

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH) conducted a comprehensive monitoring program in a room-and-pillar mine located in Southern Virginia. The deformation and the stress change in an instrumented pillar were monitored during the progress of pillar retreat mining at two sites of different geological conditions and depths of cover. The main objectives of the monitoring program were to better understand the stress transfer and load shedding on coal pillars and to quantify the rib deformation due to pillar retreat mining; and to examine the effect of rib geology and overburden depth on coal rib performance. The instrumentation at both sites included pull-out tests to measure the anchorage capacity of rib bolts, load cells mounted on rib bolts to monitor the induced loads in the bolts, borehole pressure cells(BPCs) installed at various depths in the study pillar to measure the change in vertical pressure within the pillar, and roof and rib extensometers installed to quantify the vertical displacement of the roof and the horizontal displacement of the rib that would occur during the retreat mining process.The outcome from the monitoring program provides insight into coal pillar rib support optimization at various depths and geological conditions. Also, this study contributes to the NIOSH rib support database in U.S coal mines and provides essential data for rib support design.     

煤柱失稳的突变学特征研究

对建立在力学分析基础上的条带开采煤柱失稳条件进行拓扑变换。得到煤柱失稳的势函数。它符合尖点突变模式．结果表明;煤柱失稳具有突变、缓慢2条路径。相应地形成了煤柱失稳的突然猛烈破坏和较缓慢的“瘫软”破坏;在失稳临界点附近煤柱失稳具有发散性。即控制变量有微小的变化就会引起煤柱失稳;煤柱一旦失稳,如要使其恢复到稳定状态,需要的煤柱强度要比煤柱破坏时的强度大的多;煤柱失稳还具有模态软化特性,可以对失稳的可能性进行估计．根据这些特性,可通过调控煤柱失稳条件使之不失稳,达到控制煤柱稳定的目的．     

Research on 3D Modeling and Visualization of Coal Pillars for Surface Protection

In order to safely exploit coal resource, protection coal pillars must be prepared in coal mines. Some correlative parameters of protection coal pillar are calculated by Drop face and Drop line methods. Models of protecting surface objects and coal pillars are established by TIN modeling and object-oriented technique. By using ACCESS2000as the database and the VC＋＋ and OpenGL as the language, the calculation of protective coal pillars is realized and the 3D-visulizaiton system for protected objects on ground surface and for coal pillars is developed. The system can obtain the data of characteristic points on the surface interactively from the digitized mine topography map, constructing 3D model automatically. It can also obtain the interrelated parameters of the coal seam and drill hole data from existing geolog!cal surveying database to calculate the location, surface area and the total coal columns. The whole process can be computed quickly and accurately. And the 3D visualization system was applied in a mine, showing that the system solve the problem of complex calculation, not only realized the automatic 3D mapping and visualization of coal pillars for buildings protection, but also greatly improves the working efficiency.     

Coal pillar mechanics of violent failure in U.S. Mines

This paper seeks to enhance the understanding that the horizontal stresses build up and release during coal pillar loading and unloading(post-failure) drawing upon three decades of observations, geomechanical monitoring and numerical modeling in bump-prone U.S. mines. The focus is on induced horizontal stress in mine pillars and surrounding strata as highly stressed pillars punch into the roof and floor, causing shear failure and buckling of strata; under stiff stratigraphic units of some western US mines, these events could be accompanied by violent failure of pillar cores. Pillar punching eventually results in tensile stresses at the base of the pillar, facilitating transition into the post-failure regime; this transition will be nonviolent if certain conditions are met, notably the presence of interbedded mudstones with low shear strength properties and proper mine designs for controlling seismicity and dynamic loads. The study clearly shows high confining stress build-up in coal pillars resulting in up to twice higher peak vertical stress and high strain energy accumulations in some western US mines in comparison with peak stresses predicted using common empirical pillar design methods. It is the unstable release of this strain energy that can cause significant damage resulting from pillar dilation and ground movements. These forces are much greater than the capacity of most common internal support systems, resulting in horizontal stressinduced roof falls locally, in mines under unremarkable far-field horizontal stress. Attention should be placed on pillar designs as increasing support density may prove to be ineffective. This mechanism is analyzed using field measurements and generic finite-difference stress analyses. The study confirms the higher load carrying capacity of confinement-controlled coal seams in comparison with structurally controlled coal seams. Such significant differences in confining stresses are not taken into account when estimating peak pillar strength using most common empirical techniques such as those proposed by Bieniawski and Salamon. While using lower pillar strength estimates may be considered conservative,it underestimates the actual capacity of pillars in accumulating much higher stress and strain energies,misleading the designer and inadvertently diminishing mine safety. The role of induced horizontal stress in mine pillars and surrounding strata is emphasized in coal pillar mechanics of violent failure. The triggering mechanism for the violent events is sudden loss of pillar confinement due to dynamic loading resulting from failure of overlying stiff and strong strata. Evidence of such mechanism is noted in the field by observed red-dust at the coal-rock interfaces at the location of coal bumps and irregular, periodic caving in room-and-pillar mines quantified through direct pressure measurements in the gob.     

Simulation of recovery of upper remnant coal pillar while mining the ultra-close lower panel using longwall top coal caving

With the depletion of easily minable coal seams, less favorable reserves under adverse conditions have to be mined out to meet the market demand. Due to some historical reasons, large amount of remnant coal was left unrecovered. One such case history occurred with the remnant rectangular stripe coal pillars using partial extraction method at Guandi Mine, Shanxi Province, China. The challenge that the coal mine was facing was that there is an ultra-close coal seam right under it with an only 0.8–1.5 m sandstone dirt band in between. The simulation study was carried out to investigate the simultaneous recovery of upper remnant coal pillars while mining the ultra-close lower panel using longwall top coal caving(LTCC). The remnant coal pillar was induced to cave in as top coal in LTCC system. Physical modelling shows that the coal pillars are the abutments of the stress arch structure formed within the overburden strata. The stability of overhanging roof strata highly depends on the stability of the remnant coal pillars. And the gob development(roof strata cave-in) is intermittent with the cave-in of these coal pillars and the sandstone dirt band. FLAC3 D numerical modelling shows that the multi-seam interaction has a significant influence on mining-induced stress environment for mining of lower panels. The pattern of the stress evolution on the coal pillars with the advance of the lower working face was found. It is demonstrated that the stress relief of a remnant coal pillar enhances the caveability of the pillars and sandstone dirt band below.     

Coupling control on pillar stress concentration and surface cracks in shallow multi-seam mining

In order to ensure safe mining and reduce surface damage in shallow multi-seam mining, the failure characteristics of interburden strata with different coal pillars offset distances between pillars in the upper and lower seams, the distribution characteristics of stress concentration in coal pillars, and the development characteristics of stratum cracks and subsidence were investigated by physical and UDEC2 D simulation. Meanwhile, the effect of different coal pillar offset distances on stress concentration of coal pillar and development of stratum cracks were studied. Based on those results, a formula for safe mining and reducing surface damage was established, which provided a theoretical basis for safe and environmentally friendly mining in shallow multi-seam. According to the results, the optimal coal pillar offset distance(the side to side horizontal distance of the upper and lower coal pillars) between the upper and lower coal seams was developed to reduce the stress concentration of coal pillars and surface damage.The results of this study have been applied in Ningtiaota coal mine and have achieved good results in safe and environmentally friendly mining.     

基于FLAC3D大冶铁矿矿柱回采过程的应力分析

为了增加资源回收率,金属非金属矿山在回采后期需要对残留矿柱进行二次回采. 矿柱结构破坏必然引发采场力学状态发生变化,甚至影响整个采空区的稳定性. 以大冶铁矿矿柱回采过程为例,选用动力有限元法分析其采空区动力扰动下的响应特征及应力分布规律. 选取直径3 m、高12 m的竖直圆形矿柱采用FLAC3D（Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua）对矿柱应力随时间变化情况进行数值模拟分析. 模拟分析结果表明,矿柱负载分别在20 MPa, 40 MPa的情况下,动力扰动对矿柱的影响随其负载的增大越来越明显,在动力扰动下矿柱越容易导致失稳破坏. 矿柱的负载越小,整个采场的稳定性、安全性也就越好,因此,在为矿柱回采进行充填设计时,应充分考虑矿柱的负载作用.     

Design of crown pillar thickness using finite element method and multivariate regression analysis

Minerals are now being extracted from deep mines due to drying up of resource in shallow ground. The need for suitable supports and ground control mechanisms for safe mining necessitates proper pillar design with filling technology. In addition, high horizontal stress may cause collapse of hanging wall and footwall rocks, hence designing of suitable crown pillars is absolutely necessary for imposing overall safety of the stopes. This paper provides a methodology for the evaluation of the required thickness of crown pillars for safe operation at depth ranging from 600 m to 1000 m. Analyses are conducted with the results of 108 non-linear numerical models considering Drucker-Prager material model in plane strain condition. Material properties of ore body rock and thickness of crown pillars are varied and safety factors of pillars estimated. Then, a generalized statistical relationship between the safety factors of crown pillars with the various input parameters is developed. The developed multivariate regression model is utilized for generating design/stability charts of pillars for different geo-mining conditions.These design charts can be used for the design of crown pillar thickness with the depth of the working,taking into account the changes of the rock mass conditions in underground metal mine.     

Laboratory investigation of the anisotropic confinement-dependent brittle-ductile transition of a Utah coal

This paper was developed as part of an effort by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH) to identify risk factors associated with bumps in the prevention of fatalities and accidents in highly stressed, bump-prone ground conditions. Changes of failure mechanism with increasing confinement, from extensional-to shear-dominated failure, are widely observed in the rupture of intact specimens at the laboratory scale and in rock masses. In the previous analysis conducted in 2018, both unconfined and triaxial compressive tests were conducted to investigate the strength characteristics of some specimens of a Utah coal, including the spalling limits, the ratio of apparent unconfined compressive strength(AUCS) to unconfined compressive strength(UCS), the damage characteristics, and the postyield dilatancy. These mechanical characteristics were found to be strongly anisotropic as a function of the orientation of the cleats relative to the loading direction. However, the transition from extensional to shear failure at the given confinements was not clearly identified. In this study, a total of 20 specimens were additionally prepared from the same coal sample used in the previous study and then tested under both unconfined and triaxial compressive conditions. The different confining stresses are used as analogs for different width-to-height(W/H) ratios of pillar strength. Although the W/H ratios of the specimens were not directly considered during testing, the equivalent W/H ratios of a pillar as a function of the confining stresses were estimated using an existing empirical solution. According to this relationship,the W/H at which in-situ pillar behavior would be expected to transition from brittle to ductile is identified.     

非均布荷载作用下煤柱-顶板系统的失稳分析

针对实际工程中作用在煤柱-顶板系统上的荷载为非均布荷载的现象,研究了煤柱-顶板系统在非均布荷载下的失稳机制。基于温克尔假设,把坚硬顶板视为弹性梁,把煤柱等效为连续均匀分布的支撑弹簧,从而形成煤柱-顶板相互作用系统的力学模型;基于尖点突变理论,对采空区煤柱-顶板系统失稳机理进行了探索,导出了该系统失稳的充要力学判据,并得出了顶板破坏的临界厚度;同时,分析了影响系统失稳的主要参数,并给出了若干工程建议;最后以甘肃省某煤矿为例,计算了该矿体的临界顶板厚度。所得结果为进一步研究煤柱-顶板系统的失稳机制和制定相关规范提供了参考。     

条带采煤柱体稳定性模糊数学分析

本文在全面分析影响条带采煤柱体稳定性因素的基础上，对条带采煤柱体的稳定性进行综合评价，建立了柱体稳定性的数学评价模型，将柱体的稳定性程度划分为五个等级。这将对条带采煤的开采设计及生产管理以及类似矿体的稳定性研究有很重要的参考价值。     

An assessment of coal pillar system stability criteria based on a mechanistic evaluation of the interaction between coal pillars and the overburden

Coal pillar design has historically assigned a factor of safety(Fo S) or stability factor(SF) according to their estimated strength and the assumed overburden load acting on them. Acceptable Fo S values have been assigned based on past mining experience or a statistical link between Fo S and probability of failure(Po F). Pillar width-to-height(w/h) ratio has long been established as having a material influence on both pillar strength and its potential failure mode. However, there has been significant disagreement on using both factor of safety(Fo S) and w/h as part of pillar system stability criterion, as compared to using Fo S in isolation. This paper will argue that there are valid technical reasons to bring w/h ratio into system stability criteria(other than its influence on pillar strength), as it is related to the post-failure stiffness of the pillar, as measured in situ, and its interaction with overburden stiffness. When overburden stiffness is also brought into pillar system stability considerations, two issues emerge. The first is the width-todepth(W/D) ratio of the panel and whether it is sub-critical or super-critical from a surface subsidence perspective. The second relates to a re-evaluation of pillar Fo S based on whether the pillar is in an elastic or non-elastic(i.e., post-yield) state in its as-designed condition, as this is relevant to maintaining overburden stiffness at the highest possible level. The significance of the model is the potential to maximise both reserve recovery and mining efficiencies without any discernible increase in geotechnical risk, particularly in thick seams and higher depth of cover mining situations. At a time when mining economics are, at best, marginal, removing potentially unnecessary design conservatism is of interest to all mine operators and is an important topic for discussion amongst the geotechnical community.