Decreasing Mining Losses for the Room and Pillar Method by Replacing the Inter-Room Pillars by the Construction of Wooden Cribs Filled with Waste Rocks

Abstract

The article presents methods of securing mining excavations using wooden cribs. For the underground room and pillar method used to excavate zinc and lead ore body in the Olkusz-Pomorzany mine in Poland, model tests for the replacement of rock pillars by wooden cribs are presented. In the first stage of research, the results of laboratory strength tests carried out on models of four-point, six-point and eight-point cribs made of wooden beech beams at a 1:28 scale arranged horizontally were determined. For the first time, a concave round notch connection was used to connect the beams of the wooden cribs. The maximal capacity of cribs consisting only of beams and filled with waste rocks taken from underground mining excavations was determined. In addition, the vertical deformations of the cribs at maximal loading force and their specific deformations are presented. Additionally, on the basis of load-displacement characteristics, the range in variability of the stiffness of empty cribs and those filled with waste rocks was calculated as a function of their compressibility. In the second stage of research, the room and pillar method was designed in the Phase2 numerical program. The aim of the study was to determine the stresses in the inter-room pillars. Based on the results of laboratory and numerical tests, a factor of safety was determined, indicating that it is possible to reduce mining losses while maintaining the safe exploitation conditions of the ore body.