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By A. Ignatieff

"A practical picture of the effects of stress and of the structural environment in an extraction area in a bedded deposit is described, and the main factors of ground control where principles of rock mechanics can be applied are discussed. Reference is made to early work in Europe, where systematic rock mechanics studies started in coal mines, as well as to the early work in the Canadian coal mines.During the past two decades, considerable theoretical and experimental knowledge, pursued both in the laboratory and in the field, has accumulated throughout the world, but the state of the science still does not permit application of substantiated theory such as is found in the design of above-ground structures, largely because of the complexity of the rocks. The mining engineer, as oppm1ed to the civil engineer, is constantly faced by exposures of new ground that is often subject to unpredictable discontinuities. However, the rationale already developed by rock mechanics principles and experimentation provides concepts and information that may be useful in selecting mining layouts. These concepts and existing measuring techniques can also assist ground control as mining progresses.Many of the bedded deposits, much as coals and evaporites, have pronounced deformation properties, and there are limitations in making stress measurements within short distances of mine openings or extraction areas. On the other hand, the measurement of movement of the hanging wall (roof) and footwall (floor) of roadways and extraction faces, as well as the sides of pillars, provides a most useful tool in assessing ground stability.This paper is to be regarded as a brief progress report with particular reference to Canadian applications of rock mechanics to bedded deposits."

Jan 1, 1968

By Jerzy Iskra, Wlodzimierz Sikora

INTRODUCTION The effect of stress concentration in coal seams leads to a sudden release in the form of rock bursts. This effect is controlled along many lines, but the most efficient methods consist in preventing the accumulation of energy in the seam or in the roof. The over- burden weight resulting from mining is the main cause of excessive stresses in a seam. An additional weighting of roof takes place due to formation of abutment loads. The accumulation of energy in the roof takes place where thick sandstone beds occur in overburden strata. An essential problem is to watch, with appropriate measurements, the stress of coal and roof rocks, and to conclude, on this basis, the degree of rock burst hazard. The methods for determining the stresses in a coal seam are quite well developed at present. Let me mention here the seismoacoustic methods, or borehole overcoring measurement methods. On the other hand, an examination of the state of stress in the roof rocks is almost impossible at the actual stage of development of the measuring technique. Hence, the model of stresses in roof was analyzed and determined theoretically. Based on this model, a technology for roof fracturing was developed which aims at destressing rock masses in a planned way. The essentials of the fracturing method consist of a controlled breaking of sandstone roof beds in order to: - prevent the excessive weight on the pillar - prevent a spontaneous breaking of roof beds at a limiting state followed by sudden energy release. High pressure fluid infusion is used to release buildup of stresses. THEORETICAL AND RESEARCH BASES According to the tests carried out by A. Kidybinski by the method of finite elements, isobars of stresses occurring in the roof over the working face are shown in [Fig. 1]. The results indicate: - the highest values of compressive stresses occur in the roof directly over the seam, at a distance of about 5 m ahead of the working face - at a distance of about 22 m above the seam there is a line of transition of compressive stresses into tensile - within the tested roof area, the highest tensile stresses occur at a vertical distance of 35 m, and at a horizontal distance of 20 m from the line of the working face. H. Gil (1) determined the pres- sure initiating the fracture of roof rocks by the formula: [ ] On the basis of results of analysis of isobars, and of the initiation of failure stress formula (1), isobars may be designed for a given roof class. Assuming for sandstones the Poisson ratio equal 0.3, a field of failure stresses presented in [Fig. 2] is obtained. In this figure it can be seen in which areas the effects of sandstone breakage may be obtained with the operation of a determined hydraulic pressure. To use formula (I), the knowledge of Rr is still necessary. This value may be determined in two ways: - taking a sample and testing it in the laboratory, if there is access to roof rocks in the existing openings, - drilling boreholes in the roof from surface and examination of the rock mass by using hydraulic breaking, if there is no access to roof rocks.

Jan 1, 1982

By A. A. Campoli

Retreat pillar mining concentrates stresses on workings directly outby gob areas, which can result in coal mine bumps. The development of bump-control design criteria by the U.S. Bureau of Mines was furthered by data from a novel bump control mining method at the Olga Mine, McDowell County, WY. The pillar splitting, retreat mining system induced large pillar pressure increases and roof-to-floor con-vergence. Roof-to-floor convergence monitoring proved to be a valuable tool in evaluating the pillar splitting mining method and localized destressing techniques. Maximum strain energy storage in chain pillars appears to have occurred just prior to the first of four split cuts. At that point a 15-ft-wide, highly fractured perimeter confined the core of the 55-by 70-ft pillars, permitting the pillar core to support tremendous pressures. Splitting the chain pillars into two 17.5-by 70-ft wings removed the confinement load, resulting in pillar yield. Thus, the pillar splitting mining method successfully redistributed the weight of the roof away from the pillar line. Shot fire and auger drilling destressing techniques aug-mented the pillar splitting mining method by redistributing the weight of the roof.

Jan 1, 1989

By C. J. Guntner, R. P. Reed

A commercial 18Cr-8Ni iron alloy (AISI 304L) was examined in tension at 300°, 76°, 20°, and 4°K. Continuous stress-strain recordings were made, X-ray analyses at periodic stress (strain) intervals were obtained, and the magnetic measurements were taken. From this data the percentage of martensitic products [bcc(a) and hcp (E)] was computed as a function of stress (strain). It was found thatup to 15 pct E phase forms at low temperntures. The amount of E formed increases to a maximum at about 5 pct strain, then decreases. This decrease indicates the additional transformation of E to a'. The total amount of E and a' was suppressed at constant stress (strain) at 4°K as compared to 76°K. It is proposed that the suppression of E and a' is associated with the decreased mobility of extended dislocations at very low temperatures. The yield strength decreased as the temperature was depressed below room temperature and then increased rapidly near 4°K. SOME ferrous alloys which are austenitic (fcc ?) at room temperature appear to be unique in that two martensitic products (hcp e and bcc a') may form on cooling to lower temperatures or on application of mechanical stress. The most common room-temperature austenitic ferrous alloys are 18Cr, 8Ni stainless steels. Most aspects of the spontaneous transformations have been previously described for these steels.' Several previous papers have described special aspects of the stress-induced transformations at low temperatures for the stainless steels, such as the existence of the hcp phase (c) after straining at 76oK,2-7 the morphology after straining using electron microscopy,7 and the decrease in E at higher strains at 76oK.4 However, for a complete representation, one must know the stress-strain characteristics and the dependence of both martensitic products on applied stress and temperature. It is the intention of this paper to provide that documentation. To accomplish this, continuous stress vs strain recordings were made at four temperatures: 300°, 76", 20°, and 4°K for annealed AISI 304L (a commercial 18Cr-8Ni alloy). At periodic stress intervals at each temperature the integrated X-ray line intensity of a selected peak for each phase (y, E, and a') was measured. In addition, photomicrographs of the strained surfaces were taken and magnetic measurements were made. The magnetic readings can be directly converted into percent a'.',e With these measurements the percentage of each phase may be plotted as a function of stress (or strain) and test temperature. It was found that up to 15 pct E phase forms upon stressing the AISI 304L alloy at low temperatures. The E percentage increases abruptly after the alloy yields, but then decreases gradually at higher stresses. The rapid increase in e at 76°K is associated with an "easy-glide" portion of the stress-strain curve. The total amount of a' + .G is suppressed below 76°K at a constant stress or strain. The yield strength decreases down to 76°K but increases rapidly below 20°K. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Tensile test specimens were cut parallel to the rolling direction from 0.1-in.-thick sheet. Continuous stress vs strain recordings were obtained at each test temperature (300°, 76o, 20°, and 4°K) using equipment and methods described elsewhere.' The specimens which were used in the X-ray analysis were stressed to successive increments of strain at each temperature, analyzed at room temperature, then restressed at the test temperature. This procedure was repeated until approximately ten X-ray analyses had been performed with approximately 1.0 pct strain increments. The specimens had a reduced section 1 in. long, 1.2 in. wide, and 0.1 in. thick. They were electro polished prior to testing and after each strain increment. Table I lists the chemical composition, grain size, and hardness for the alloy which was used. This is the same alloy for which extensive mechanical-property tests3 and morphological studies of the spontaneous transformations' have previously been made. For the low-temperature tests (76o and 4°K) below the Ms temperature the specimens were initially cooled to the test temperature, held for 1/2 hr, then warmed and X-rayed at room temperature. The results are listed in Table 11. From earlier work8 it was known that additional transformation on the second cycle would be considerably less (-0.1 pct

Jan 1, 1964

By D. J. McAdam, G. W. Geil, D. H. Woodard, W. D. Jenkins

INTRODUCTION IN a series of papers, the authors and their associates have shown the influence of four important factors on the technical cohesion limit.3-16 By "technical cohesion limit" is meant the technically determinable resistance to fracture. The four important factors are the stress system, plastic deformation, temperature, and the strain rate. The influence of any one of these factors may be represented by a curve of cohesion limits, although only one point on the curve may represent actual fracture. As the term "fracture stress" has come into general use with the same significance as technical cohesion limit, the authors are here using the shorter term with the understanding that it does not always refer to actual fracture. The previously-mentioned series of papers contains ample evidence that plastic extension increases the fracture stress of any polycrystalline metal. In a recent paper of the series,15 moreover, it has been shown that the effect of plastic deformation on the fracture stress cannot be attributed to reorientation of internal flaws but is a work-strengthening effect, similar to the effect on the flow stress.[$] Plastic deformation of steels, however, may not only cause work hardening, but may result in additional hardness because of strain aging. Some evidence that strain aging affects not only the flow stress but also the fracture stress, has been presented in a recent paper.14 In that paper, a study is made of the influence of plastic deformation at room temperature on the fracture stress of ferritic steels at -188°C. The study is based on the results of two-stage tests. In the first stage each specimen was extended a predetermined amount at room temperature; in the second stage the specimen was tested to fracture in liquid air. In most of these tests the specimen remained in the testing machine during the interval of about one hour between the first and second stages, it was kept under a tensile load of about 500 lb and maintained at liquid air temperature. The effects of various amounts of plastic deformation on the fracture stress were thus determined and curves were obtained to represent the influence of plastic deformation at room temperature on the stress at brittle fracture in liquid air.14 Two specimens of ingot iron, however, were removed from the testing machine at the end of the first stage and several days elapsed before the specimens were tested to fracture in liquid air. As shown in Fig 8 of that paper," the points representing fracture of these specimens are far above the curve representing the results of two-stage tests without a rest interval between the stages. The evidence thus indicated that the fracture stresses of these two specimens were increased not only by the work-strengthening, but also by strain aging. The present paper presents results of further investigation of the influence of strain aging on the fracture stress. There are two kinds of aging of steel.

Jan 1, 1948

By Bezalel C. Haimson

Long before excavation begins, the in situ stresses in the horizon of planned underground chambers can be measured by employing the hydrofracturing technique in existing exploratory holes. Such measurements produce the stress magnitudes and directions required for the rational design of rock structures. Two recent case histories are cited in which preexcavation stress measurements for the design of underground powerhouses proved very beneficial in the orientation of the chambers and the estimation of the stability and required support. A third stress measurement case is related to the preexcavation design of tunnels that will house doughnut-shaped superconductive magnets for the storage of electric energy. In all cases, expensive later modifications were probably prevented by measuring stresses early in the design stage.

Jan 1, 1976

By D. H. Gray, G. Bergamini, I. Fatt

A method developed by soil scientists for measuring permeability anisotropy of soils has been adapted for use in studies of sandstone permeability aniso-tmpy. Studies on Berea and Bandera sandstone show that permeability of these materials decreases upon application of simulated overburden pressure. Permeability reduction of Berea and Grubb sandstone cores subjected to simulated overburden pressure is shown to be a function of the ratio of radial to axial stress. INTRODUCTION The effects of mechanical stress on reservoir rock parameters are now generally accepted as being important in reservoir engineering calculations. In several oil fields the unique behavior of the reservoir has been attributed to the influence of overburden pressure or internal fluid pressure on rock permeability or fluid content. l Although the gross effects of overburden pressure on permeability, porosity, waterflood efficiency, electrical resistance and sonic velocity have now been established,3-9 there are some very interesting, and perhaps important, details of rock behavior under stress that have not heretofore been studied. In this paper we will show that permeability anistropy of several sandstones is a function of overburden pressure. We will also show that permeability reduction of cylindrical samples of two sandstones, when subjected to mechanical stress, is a function of the ratio of radial to axial stress. Most studies of overburden pressure effects made in the past have attempted to duplicate reservoir conditions by applying hydrostatic external pressure on all surfaces of the sample. Assuming perfect elasticity, that is, no viscoelastic flow during geological time, reservoir rock in situ cannot be under hydrostatic stress as is apparent from the value of 0.25 for Poisson's ratio for most rock. In the absence of tectonic forces the horizontal stress component If there are directional permeability effects, as has been reported from field and laboratory studies, l0,11 then one would expect hydrostatic stress as used in the laboratory to give a different permeability reduction from that occurring under reservoir stress conditions. The influence of stress on directional permeability was measured by a modification of the method first described by Maasland and Kirkham for use on soil samples.12 Their method permits calculation of the permeabilities along each of the three mutually perpendicular axes of a cubic sample. The modification reported in this paper extends the method to observing these permeabilities when the sample is under hydrostatic stress. The Hassler sleeve type of core holder is satisfactory for studying overburden pressure effects on permeability if a known force is applied to the end plugs. Wyble6 used a sleeve core holder but did not load the end plugs. In this paper we combine sleeve pressure and axial force to give permeability changes which we believe are close to those occurring in reservoirs when reservoir pressure changes. The combination of sleeve pressure and axial force assumes, however, that the sleeve pressure simulates both vertical stress and horizontal stress in one direction. METHOD PERMEABILITY ANISOTROPY The Maasland and Kirkhaml2 method of measuring permeability anisotropy uses a cube of porous material which is Open On three faces and has discs with a Center hole for an air inlet cemented to the other three mutually perpendicular faces (Fig. 1). The rate at which air pressure falls in a bottle of known volume, and pressure slightly above atmospheric, when the bottle discharges through each disc, is

A knowledge of the principles of punctuation is essential to effective and intelligible writing, for the ease and pleasure of the reader, and even his understanding, may depend upon the choice and the placing of punctuation marks. To 'punctuate' is to mark with stops or points; the word comes from the medieval Latin punctuare (punctuatus), which in turn is derived from the Latin punctum, a point. The purpose of punctuation is to show the manner in which the writing is to be understood; to indicate the relations between parts of a sentence and between successive sentences. To some extent "it does for the eye what vocal stress does for the ear", but especially it marks logical relations. Some punctuation marks, such as those indicating admiration, exclamation, and interrogation, are rhetorical as well as grammatical, but most of the common ones are logical or grammatical. My discussion will be confined to grammatical punctuation in ordinary writing. "The problem of punctuation in text matter", as George Summey * says, "is to employ words, points, and paragraph breaks in such a way as to achieve at the same time clearness, proper distribution of emphasis, and the desired kind of movement." The criticism of the punctuation of a sentence or of a group of sentences is not final until the context, within the paragraph, is read. A paragraph is a sentence or a group of' sentences forming an independent unit of the composition; it represents a unit of thought. A multiplicity of paragraphs produces a choppy effect; on the other hand, paragraphs of excessive length are tiresome, because the belaboring of one unit of thought wearies the reader. The aim should be to

Jan 1, 1931

By K. E. Gray

The status of rock mechanics as applied to petroleum production might be termed, "Rock Mechanics-A New Name for Old Problems." The petroleum industry's efforts, from its earliest days, have been concerned with rocks, hopefully containing hydrocarbon accumulations in economic quantities. Geophysical and geological studies, wildcat and development drilling procedures, well bore mechanics and reservoir engineering operations, and certain aspects of production operations involve rock mechanics in various ways. Stress states and temperatures of interest range from low values in surface or near-surface activities, to very high values encountered at depths now exceeding 25,000 ft; deeper and deeper drilling will continue to increase this range. Time scales vary from a few microseconds in wave propagation measurements and some aspects of rock behavior during drilling, to seconds, minutes or hours for other drilling and well bore mechanics problems, to several years during which the efficient and economical depletion of reservoir systems is achieved. Subsurface sedimentary formations contain various fluids, of course, and reservoir fluid movement commonly involves three-dimensional, three-phase (oil, gas, and water) fluid flow. Many extremely difficult problems in rock mechanics arise for the Petroleum Engineer because of fluid movement (or lack of desired movement) in a well bore or reservoir. The discussion to follow illustrates just a few of the many topics in rock mechanics of significance to the petroleum industry. Time precludes anything other than a superficial treatment of the topics mentioned. A great deal of work has been carried out by various research groups in the petroleum field and significant efforts are continuing, as a review of the technical literature will reveal.

Jan 1, 1968

By T. Rockley, J. Brune

"The mining of tabular deposits accounts for a significant portion of modern production in both underground hard rock and especially, soft rock mining. There is a large discrepancy between the availability of tabular reserves and the amount of development of these deposits, particularly when the deposit has a dip of around 25-50 degrees. This project studied the technical and practical barriers to the mining of these deposits through modern and historical case studies. The primary technical barriers to the development of these deposits are material movement and roof support. The study of historical attempts overcome these barriers and why they failed allowed us to research the possibility of implementing modern technology on previously unsuccessful methods. By modifying some common mining methods, some of these deposits can be mined at only a marginal increase in cost and using readily available equipment. These modified mining methods could make previously underdeveloped deposits to become viable. INTRODUCTION Tabular deposits are defined as orebodies that extend at least hundreds of meters along two dimensions, and a substantially smaller amount along another [1]. Moderately bedded tabular deposits are mined less often than their more horizontal counterparts due to the technical issues they present. These issues often cause lower productivity, higher cost, and more frequent accidents. Moderate dip is a less well defined term; but in this case, it will refer to any deposit which has a dip of at least 20°. This paper will focus on deposits that dip around 25°-50° and are deep enough to require underground excavation methods. These deposits are too steep for most conventional methods yet not steep enough for gravity fed methods to work efficiently. In some cases, this dip range is also referred to as intermediate or steeply dipping. The types of deposits most likely to fall into this category are sedimentary bedded deposits such as coal, trona, evaporates, placers, and other alluvial deposits. Some other types of deposits can fall into this category as well. These include some of the metal reefs such as the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, which was deposited by lava flows, but is tabular. Some areas have dips that fall into the moderately inclined category. There are also some metamorphic deposits such as slate or marble that can have dips of more than 20°. The dip angle of these deposits can cause several challenges. Ore movement becomes more difficult as the exceeds the limits of conventional conveyors, rubber-tired, or tracked vehicles. At the same time the dip is below the angle of repose of the material. This prevents gravity assisted haulage, as the ore and waste will not run downhill by itself. Another common problem in moderately inclined underground mines is roof support. The dip angle can increase the risk of pillar and support failure. This is due to slippage between rock layers, non-perpendicular support of the vertical stresses, and slippage of standing supports. The inclination leads to stresses that are not usually found in typical horizontally bedded deposits. These stresses may require larger pillars that may reduce ore recovery below profitable levels."

Jan 1, 2017

By Luís Claudio Antunes Ferreira

No atual cenário econômico as siderúrgicas estão buscando cada vez mais a redução dos seus custos para a produção do aço, com o objetivo de manter-se competitiva neste mercado. O custo da manutenção refratária corresponde a um valor expressivo para a produção do aço, portanto trabalhos com objetivos de novas técnicas de manutenção para aumentar a produtividade, fazem com que estes custos sejam reduzidos. A CSN Porto Real é uma filial com vocação para o mercado automobilístico e possui um forno de galvanização. Conforme o plano de manuteção houve a necessidade de troca de todas as chapas de inox do forno da linha de galvanização, pois encontravam-se queimadas e com alto grau de deformação. Esta atividade, por motivo de histórico de execução em um forno vertical, sempre foi realizada com a utilização de um grande volume de andaime e de mão de obra, tendo assim um alto custo para a sua execução. Este trabalho foi fruto do estudo para redução do custo de manutenção com a aplicação da técnica de Alpinismo Industrial para se aumentar a produtividade.

Aug 17, 2017

The N3500 orebody is the northern continuation of the 3500 orebody at Xstrata Copper's Enterprise Mine and occurs at a depth of 1.3 to 1.8 km. At the nearby S3500 orebody, extreme deformation was observed in access drives where there was a high number of bedding planes per metre combined with either graphite or talc infill. The observed failure mechanism was largely controlled by the geometry of the inclined bedding submitted to high horizontal stresses. Due to the anisotropic strength and deformation behaviour of the shale rock mass, traditional isotropic methods of geomechanical property estimation based upon GSI are not appropriate. A numerical modelling approach, based upon the distinct element codes UDEC (2D) and 3DEC (3D), has been developed to accurately simulate the failure mechanisms and deformation observed in the initial infrastructure surrounding the N3500 orebody.

Nov 25, 2010

By P. W. Davies, B. Wilshire

PREVIOUS investigations on the effect of stress changes on the high-temperature creep and fracture behavior of metals have been confined mainly to the testing of complex alloys.172 Most of these alloys are structurally unstable during creep because of such effects as recrystallization, overaging, and so forth, so that the results are of limited application. The only pure metals on which observations have been made appear to be lead3,4 and aluminum5 tested under conditions which allow rapid recovery to take place. The present work describes the effect of a single stress change on the creep and fracture properties of a metal in which recovery is very slow. A Ni 0.1 at. pct Pd alloy was used so that grain growth and recrystallization did not occur during creep testing. Specimens of this material were heat-treated to give a uniform grain size of 10 grains per mm. Creep tests were carried out at 500°C using Denison T.47 machines; details of the creep-testing procedure have been given elsewhere.' All specimens were tested at a constant initial stress of 5 tpsi which gives, in an uninterrupted test, a minimum creep rate of ~10-3 pct per rnin and a life of -7000 min. Specimens were loaded under these standard conditions and after 1500 min, when secondary creep was well-established, the stress was changed to either 8, 7, 6, 4, 2, or 0 tpsi for a period of 180 min. After this time the original load was reapplied and the tests continued to fracture. The results are shown in Fig. 1. No detectable creep occurred during the period of reduced load, even at 4 tpsi, and on reverting to 5 tpsi the creep rate returned to its original value immediately. Increasing the stress to 8, 7, or 6 tpsi resulted in an instantaneous extension followed by a period of transient creep leading to a new steady creep rate. On returning from these higher stresses, the resulting creep rate at 5 tpsi was very low compared with the original value. Furthermore, the higher the stress during the stress change, the lower was the final creep rate. It is significant that the rupture life is comparatively unaffected by any of these stress changes.

Jan 1, 1965

By Shosei Serata

Stress control methods of mining have been developed separately in at least four different parts of the world in entirely different types of mining -- coal, trona, salt and potash -- during the decade of the 1960s. They all utilized yield pillars as tools for ground control. Today, yield pillars are becoming widely used in under- ground mines in a variety of geological conditions. Stress control methods are effective in stabilizing openings in weak, complex grounds, especially at greater depths. Their advantage is that they utilize existing ground media to stabilize mine openings by altering the stress distribution patterns around the openings, by controlling design parameters such as room width, pillar geometry, and excavation sequence, rather than by using a conventional means of artificial ground support such as roof bolts, cribbing, or arches. Stress control methods, therefore, are suitable for both advance and retreat mining, including total extraction mining. Adaptation of these methods results in substantially greater safety, productivity, and ecnomy over conventional methods. These methods are based on scrutiny of the actual stress conditions in the ground, by both in-situ measurement and computer simulation. This paper provides a summary of stress control methods as developed over the last ten years. The field examples are limited largely to salt and potash mining applications, although the method has been used successfully in other mining applications. The examples illustrate that stress control methods actually address general ground weakness problems -- separation at discontinuity planes, swelling by shale expansion, deterioration by brittle fracture, and interference by ground water. That is, although the principle is developed mainly with reference to salt and potash applications, it is generally applicable to weak ground.

Jan 1, 1983

By R. L. Blackwood

The solid inclusion cell for absolute in situ stress measurement has been found to give reliable results in coal. The cell is described briefly, along with the methods of installing, overcoring and taking readings in underground coal mines. The validity of the cell performance is demonstrated by reference to the stress-relief curves obtained during overcoring and a three-dimensional B.I.E.M. analysis of the installation to test for stress anomalies deriving from the geometry of the overcoring groove-borehole-cell arrangement. Case studies of two stress measurement projects using the cell are presented for coal mines in New South Wales, Australia.

Jan 1, 1982

By J. P. Harrison, G. F. Gambino

"This paper examines unpredictability in the parameters governing hydraulic fracturing (HF) as used in stress amelioration for underground excavations, with the aim of showing how this unpredictability may affect design decisions. Using uncertainty models that are appropriate to particular levels of information and degrees of uncertainty, this paper demonstrates how these can aid in decision-making related to feasibility assessments of HF arrays for stress amelioration.Cave mining operations produce large underground voids and high stress concentrations around critical mine locations. These stress concentrations increase the potential for rock burst events. Although de-stress blasting has a long history for redistributing high stress concentrations, to improve safety and reliability HF is now being trialled as an alternative.Unfortunately the HF process is extremely uncertain, and so predicting fracture propagation geometry is difficult. Although the major parameters governing HF propagation have been previously identified, no indication has been given regarding the contribution that uncertainty in these makes to unpredictability in the overall HF system. Using simplified models of HF and referencing a recently proposed characterization of unpredictability, we relate unpredictability in the various governing parameters to the effect it has on strain energy density (SED) in the surrounding rock. Within these models we analyse SED as well as the stress intensity factor (KIc) when investigating the effect of parameter uncertainty and its influence on various crack propagation criteria (Sih & Macdonald, 1974). These models are applicable to unpredictability associated with the development of new fractures; the case of pre-existing fractures is the subject of on-going work.The paper will assess in greater detail the various governing parameters, and investigate the appropriate use of other uncertainty models. As a result, we will show how assessment of uncertainty in HF parameters can be used to both guide feasibility studies and determine the optimal allocation of resources to improve the final design."

Jan 1, 2015

By Shosei Serata, Bruce Gardner

A system of three new field instruments has been developed to measure, in situ, the three basic classes of geomechanical parameters: material properties, stress state, and creep deformation. The significance of this development is that it represents a successful adaptation of recent computer technology to underground rock mechanics work, opening up new possibilities in underground mining methods. The system was developed to meet the application requirements of the stress control method of mining, a method which is based on the actual geomechanical conditions of the underground, rather than upon conventional linear-elastic, idealizations of ground conditions. These instruments enable in situ measurement not only of elastic, but also post-elastic, yielding, and failure conditions of geological materials, establishing the stress control method on a truly scientific foundation. In order to evaluate the present status of this field instrumentation system, case examples of underground mine openings designed with the stress control method are reviewed and analyzed, in terms of the effectiveness of the three instruments for informing and guiding the site-specific application of stress control design.

Jan 1, 1984

By Leonardo Matsumota

Este trabalho aborda um estudo de caso sobre a transferência do conhecimento siderúrgico de colaboradores da empresa para o sistema que realiza o controle de produção da Usina de Cubatão. Este processo de transferência foi realizado em etapas até a implantação do sistema que registra os principais eventos realizados pelas máquinas operacionais. Estes registros são armazenados em banco de dados e com o uso de ferramentas, podem ser apresentados em relatórios e gráficos. Com isso, a empresa possui um sistema de produção muito confiável, por ter condição de analisar e diagnosticar cada etapa do processo de produção e acompanhar com precisão as falhas e acertos operacionais. Quando há estabilidade no processo e todos os eventos acontecem de acordo com a condição normal de operação, o sistema possibilita um controle aprimorado no consumo de gás e da produtividade. O método utilizado é baseado em um projeto de experimentos que examina a influência dos principais parâmetros de controle no processo de produção industrial.

Jul 30, 2018

By Corrie Pitzer

Safety performance in many companies and even industries has stalled in the few years. Accidents rates are at a ?plateau? and yet, serious accidents and fatality rates are not. In more dramatic cases, such as in the BP Texas disaster, organizations that have ?exemplary? safety statistics, suddenly have a catastrophic or multi-fatality event occurring. Other classic examples are the Piper Alpha disaster and NASA?s Challenger and Columbia disasters and even the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Looking into the root causes of these accidents provides an insight into the events and deficiencies that led up to the accident, but what are the common features in the organization?s mindset? What characterizes these organizations? decision making, their approach to safety and to risk and are there specific cultural features that can be delineated? The research and review presented in this paper covers a period since 1994, which started in the Australian resource industry and since then covered international events. The features of these organizations are summarized as the seven deadly delusions, based on extensive research since 1997 of organizations that suffered unexpected disasters. Their huge focus on safety, the achievement of lofty goals and celebration of safety successes led to ?mindset? that they are leaders in safety, protected by an extraordinary safety system and that their safety incident figures indicated a truly world-class safety performance. It led them into the trap of the seven deadly delusions?

May 1, 2011