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Numerical Analysis of Karst Water Inrush and a Criterion for Establishing the Width of Water-resistant Rock Pillars

Numerische Analyse von Karstwassereinbrüchen und ein Kriterium zur Bestimmung der Breite von Wassersicherheitspfeilern

Análisis numérico de la irrupción de agua karst y un criterio para establecer el espesor de los pilares de roca resistentes al agua

岩溶突水及防水煤岩柱尺寸标准数值分析

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Abstract

Water-bearing caves in the Maokou limestone have caused disastrous water inrushes in mines in southern China. A linkage analysis between the hydro-mechanical coupling and the strength reduction method was used to investigate the stability of water-resistant rock pillars. The factor of safety (FOS) of the pillar was established, and a criterion for establishing the required width of the pillar was proposed in engineering practice, i.e., the width of the pillar should be based on the blast hole depth and blast-disturbance depth, along with a FOS of 1.5. The permeability of the water-resistant pillar and the probability of water inrush both increase as the strength reduction factor increases because the effective width of the pillar narrows. A numerical analysis of the Qiyi coal mine “4·16” water inrush accident shows that the cause of the inrush was that the 3.0 m wide barrier left by roadway excavation was too narrow to withhold the karst water pressure of about 4.0 MPa.

Zusammenfassung

Die häufig vorhanden wassererfüllten Hohlräume im Maokou-Kalkstein können katastrophale Wassereinbrüche bei Bergbauaktivitäten in Südchina bewirken. Durch die Verwendung von Verküpfungsanalysen zwischen einen gekoppelten hydromechanischen Model (HM) und einer Festigkeits-Reduktions-Methode (SRM) wurde die Stabilität der Wassersicherheitspfeiler untersucht. Der Sicherheitsfaktor (factor of safety, FOS) der Pfeiler wurde festgelegt und als Kriterium für benötigte Breite der Pfeiler in Ingenieurpraxis vorgeschlagen. Beispielsweise wird die Pfeilerbreite auf Grundlage der Bohrlochtiefe und des -einflusses mit einem FOS-Wert von 1.5 festgelegt. Die Permeabilität der Wassersicherheitspfeiler und die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Wassereinbruchs steigen mit der Erhöhung festigkeitsmindernder Faktoren, ausgedrückt durch einen Festigkeits-Reduktions-Faktor, aufgrund des veränderten Wertes für die effektive Pfeilerschlankheit. Eine numerische Analyse des “4*16-Qiyi Kohlenbergbau-Unfalls” zeigt, dass die Ursache für den Wassereinbruch in einer für einen Karstwasserdruck von ungefähr 4.0 MPa mit 3.0 m zu schmal bemessenen Stecken-Barriere lag.

Resumen

Las cuevas que contienen agua están ampliamente distribuidas en la piedra caliza Maoko y han causado desastrosas irrupciones de agua en el sur de China. Se utilizó un análisis integrando el acoplamiento hidromecánico y el método de reducción de la resistencia para investigar la estabilidad de los pilares de roca resistentes al agua. Se investigó el factor de seguridad de los pilares (FOS) y se propuso un criterio para establecer el espesor requerido para los pilares, i.e., el espesor debería ser calculado en base a las profundidades del agujero de la explosión y de la perturbación provocada por ésta, junto con un FOS de 1.5. Tanto la permeabilidad del pilar resistente al agua como la probabilidad de irrupción de agua se incrementan cuando el factor de reducción de la resistencia se incrementa porque el ancho efectivo del pilar se estrecha. Un análisis numérico del accidente de irrupción de agua en la mina de carbón Qiyi “4*16” muestra que la causa de la irrupción fue que la barrera de 3.0 m de ancho sobre la izquierda de la excavación era demasiada delgada para contener la presión de agua karst de alrededor de 4.0 MPa.

摘要

茅口灰岩富水岩溶发育是众多中国 南方诸多煤矿突水的重要原因。基于渗流-应力耦合与强度折 减法分析了防水煤岩柱稳定性,建立防水煤岩柱安全因子(FOS)。在工程实践基础上提出防水煤岩柱宽度标准,防水煤岩柱宽度应考虑爆炸孔深度和爆炸影响深度,安全因子(FOS)达1.5。当强度折 减因子增大时,有效防水煤岩柱宽度减小,防水煤岩柱渗透性和突水性同时增加。湖南七一煤矿“4•16”突水事故模拟结果显示,大巷回采仅保留3m宽防水煤岩柱不足以抵抗4MPa水压是引发突水事故主要原因。

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51274097, 51434006, 51304057), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan province (2015JJ2067), and the Open Projects of State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, CUMT (SKLCRSM16KF12) for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Safe Mining Techniques of Coal Mines, Work Safety Key Lab on Prevention and Control of Gas and Roof Disasters for Southern Coal Mines, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan, 411201, China

    Yanlin Zhao, Shilin Luo, Weijun Wang & Wen Wan

  2. State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safety Mining, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221008, China

    Yanlin Zhao

  3. School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Yixian Wang

  4. Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Lianyang Zhang

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  1. Yanlin Zhao
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  2. Shilin Luo
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  3. Yixian Wang
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  4. Weijun Wang
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  5. Lianyang Zhang
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  6. Wen Wan
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yanlin Zhao or Yixian Wang.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Appendix 1. The flow chart for implementing HM-SRM linkage analysis (PDF 96 KB)

Appendix 2. Experimental determination of mechanical and hydraulic properties of the fractured limestone (PDF 197 KB)

10230_2017_438_MOESM3_ESM.docx

Fig.14 (a) Hydro-mechanical coupled test setup (TAW-2000), (b) Deformation sensor measurement system, and (c) Permeability coefficient – axial strain curve for specimen S05 in complete stress-strain process at confining stress of 10.0 MPa and pore fluid pressure of 4.0 MPa (DOCX 13 KB)

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Zhao, Y., Luo, S., Wang, Y. et al. Numerical Analysis of Karst Water Inrush and a Criterion for Establishing the Width of Water-resistant Rock Pillars. Mine Water Environ 36, 508–519 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-017-0438-4

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