A Proposed Method for Optimizing Coal Pillar Design using Coalfield Specific Uniaxial Compressive Strength
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/Abstract
The research described considers whether the variability in coal material strength as expressed through a series of UCS tests, could be used to indicate the variability in coal pillar strength. The aim of the research is to be able to use a distribution of UCS tests as an input into the coal pillar strength calculation. This will allow the pillar design to be expressed in terms of a probability of failure rather than as the commonly used safety factor. Using a regional coal material strength curve as a baseline, coalfields which are comparatively stronger than the regional mean allows for optimisation. This is based on the stronger coalfield achieving lower probabilities of failure at similar safety factors. The research has considered actual UCS data from multiple mines in the Mpumalanga coalfields, and has proved that the variability in material strength between coalfields could allow for some optimisation using the proposed approach. Further research will be required to validate the results of the study in an underground environment.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Franz Johannes Nicolas Bruwer, Thomas Stacey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
THE INSTITUTE, AS A BODY, IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STATEMENTS AND OPINIONS ADVANCED IN ANY OF ITS PUBLICATIONS.
Copyright© 1978 by The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. All rights reserved. Multiple copying of the contents of this publication or parts thereof without permission is in breach of copyright, but permission is hereby given for the copying of titles and abstracts of papers and names of authors. Permission to copy illustrations and short extracts from the text of individual contributions is usually given upon written application to the Institute, provided that the source (and where appropriate, the copyright) is acknowledged. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of review or criticism under The Copyright Act no. 98, 1978, Section 12, of the Republic of South Africa, a single copy of an article may be supplied by a library for the purposes of research or private study. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publishers. Multiple copying of the contents of the publication without permission is always illegal.
U.S. Copyright Law applicable to users In the U.S.A.
The appearance of the statement of copyright at the bottom of the first page of an article appearing in this journal indicates that the copyright holder consents to the making of copies of the article for personal or internal use. This consent is given on condition that the copier pays the stated fee for each copy of a paper beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. The fee is to be paid through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., Operations Center, P.O. Box 765, Schenectady, New York 12301, U.S.A. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale.
