Artificial concrete pillars as temporal support system to stabilize active stopes at Al Masane Al Kobra Mine, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
This study focuses on evaluating the stability and suitability of the designed artificial concrete pillars. The study describes stability of artificial concrete pillars in terms of stress change, plastic zone distribution, and convergence and displacement changes. The study considered experimental w...
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| Published in: | Arabian journal of geosciences Vol. 17; no. 1 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cham
Springer International Publishing
2024
Springer Nature B.V |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | This study focuses on evaluating the stability and suitability of the designed artificial concrete pillars. The study describes stability of artificial concrete pillars in terms of stress change, plastic zone distribution, and convergence and displacement changes. The study considered experimental works, field measurements, and numerical approach. The artificial concrete pillars were constructed in a wide section of the orebody (≥ 15 m span), with some ground instability problems ranging from weak footwall and hanging wall formation to structural failure. Welded wire mesh together 75–100-mm-thick Shotcrete was also applied to the peripheral of the artificial concrete pillars to provide confinement, improve the shear strength, and prevent movement of the packs. Samples were extracted from the mixed concrete at the construction stage and taken for laboratory testing. The samples were tested locally from civil engineering laboratory. Material properties that were tested from the sample are the strength, density, Poisson’s ratio, cohesion, and internal friction angle. Empirical approach was conducted to determine stope stability. The material properties from the experimental models were used as input parameters in FLAC
3D
numerical code to simulate the effective of artificial pillars before and during stoping. In FLAC
3D
, simulations were conducted before and after artificial concrete pillars installed. The study results have demonstrated that the designed artificial concrete pillars can bear the weight of the above overburden rock, showed good stability itself, effectively prevent the destruction of the surrounding rock and overburden rock of the orebody, and achieve the purpose of mining support. The designed artificial concrete pillars can meet the needs of safety operation; however, the real-time stability monitoring should be emphasized at some key positions. |
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| ISSN: | 1866-7511 1866-7538 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s12517-024-11861-3 |