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Creep and Control of the Deep Soft Rock Roadway (DSRR): Insights from Laboratory Testing and Practice in Pingdingshan Mining Area

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Abstract

Coal mines in Pingdingshan mining area, Henan province, China, are commonly mined at a great depth up to 1000 m, and inevitably reside in high temperature, high pressure, high permeability, strong mining disturbance, and strong time effect environment. Support structures of the mines in the area are vulnerable to failure and destruction while roadway stability has been a long-standing issue in the region. Based on the specimens collected from the roof of the return-air rise at Pingdingshan No.1 coal mine, here, we investigated the creep characteristics of sandy mudstone under triaxial conditions and developed a constitutive relationship to predict the creep behavior. Parameter identification and sensitivity analysis were performed to determine the influential factors of creep deformation. We showed that the creep deformation and steady-state creep rate at Pingdingshan coal region grow as axial stress is elevated while descend with increased confining pressure. However, the maximum creep deformation of sandy mudstone increases with a higher confining pressure. Thereby, stress difference, elastic modulus and coefficient of viscosity are the major parameters controlling creep deformation. Hence, it is important to enhance the support strength and mechanical properties of the surrounding rock, to better the roadway stability. In addition, numerical simulation was also conducted for simple excavation geometries to analyze different support structures. On this basis, the “cable bolts steel arch, deep and shallow reinjection, floor pressure relief and local reinforcement” scheme was proposed and field practice showed promising results. The findings in this study can be used to guide the support design for the deep soft rock roadway (DSRR).

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Abbreviations

DSRR:

Deep soft rock roadway

RSR:

Roadway surrounding rock

ISRM:

International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

MTS:

Material testing system

σ c :

Uniaxial compressive strength

σ t :

Tensile strength

E 1, E 2 :

Elastic moduli of the original elastomers

η 1, η 2, η 3 :

Viscosity coefficients of the three original viscous elements

σ s :

Yield stress

\(\mathop \varepsilon \limits^{\sim }\) :

Laplace transform of ε

s :

Complex variable of Laplace transform

t :

Creep time

\(t\left| {_{{\varepsilon = \varepsilon_{a} }} } \right.\) :

The time when rock enters the accelerating creep state

k、m :

Laboratory parameters that are dependent on material

P a :

Atmosphere pressure

σ 1 :

Axial stress

σ 3 :

Confining pressure

k 0、k 1、c 0、c 1 :

Laboratory parameters that are dependent on material

n :

Creep index

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Acknowledgements

We thank the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC0604705), Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX21_2362).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mines, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Chen Xuyang, Wang Xufeng, Zhang Dongsheng, Qin Dongdong, Wang Ya, Wang Jiyao & Chang Zechao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safety Mining, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Chen Xuyang, Wang Xufeng, Zhang Dongsheng, Qin Dongdong, Wang Ya, Wang Jiyao & Chang Zechao

  3. Jiangsu Mine Earthquake Monitoring Laboratory, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Wang Xufeng

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  1. Chen Xuyang
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Correspondence to Wang Xufeng.

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Xuyang, C., Xufeng, W., Dongsheng, Z. et al. Creep and Control of the Deep Soft Rock Roadway (DSRR): Insights from Laboratory Testing and Practice in Pingdingshan Mining Area. Rock Mech Rock Eng 55, 363–378 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-021-02670-1

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