Finite Element Analysis of the State of Stresses on the Structures of Buildings Influenced by Underground Mining of Hard Coal Seams in the Jiu Valley Basin (Romania)

Abstract

The hard coal seams in the Jiu Valley mining basin have been mined with different mining methods and technologies, including with the complete caving of the surrounding rocks and with top coal caving. These mining systems have led to the degradation of the ground surface by producing subsidence of the land, ranging from a few meters up to tens of meters, in the areas with thick coal seams with high dips. When the limits of the main safety pillars are accidentally exceeded whilst mining, buildings situated either below the ground or on the surface are affected. In the future, the possibility exists of mining some of the very large reserves that are immobilized in the main safety pillars, where the gentle dip seams are stored. In consideration of the above, in order to study the behaviour of typical buildings that are under the influence of underground mining and to develop a model of the stress state in the structural elements of the structures, finite element modelling is used. As such, several modelled buildings with one, two, and three levels were generated, as well as buildings with two levels and with different lengths. These buildings were built of reinforced concrete panels or brick masonry and were subjected to the mining influence of a panel specific to the mines in the Jiu Valley basin, sequentially extracted with a longwall coal face method at different operating heights, with the use of roof control by caving of rocks and with top coal caving methods. Following the analysis of the major principal (tensile) stresses and minor principal (compressive) stresses, a series of conclusions regarding the behaviour of these buildings that are under the influence of the underground mining is revealed. In this context, it was concluded that the value and location of the stresses developed in the structure of the buildings depend mainly on the extension of the panel and the volume of the goaf, the relative position of the building in respect to the coal face line, and the length of the building.