Rock Mass and Pore Fluid Response in Deep Mining: A Field Monitoring Study at Inclined Longwalls

Abstract

The dynamics of stress, deformation and pore pressure in the surrounding strata of underground mines are of fundamental importance to groundwater and gas emission management. Compared to numerous studies on the overlying strata, there are significantly fewer investigations concerning the underlying strata, particularly involving large-scale field monitoring. This paper presents a comprehensive field monitoring study conducted at two longwall panels with a depth of around 800 m and an inclination angle of 21°. The monitoring program focused on the floor strata within 50 m below the mining operation, but also covered the roof strata close to the longwall roadway. The purpose was to characterise the favourable zone for gas extraction from the floor coal seams. A combination of stressmeters, extensometers and piezometers were deployed and installed underground. The monitored results demonstrated that the stress change exhibited a three-stage variation—increase, decrease and recovery—during which the strata deformed and the pore pressure changed correspondingly. Strata expansion in the floor occurred primarily in the region 0–35 m behind the longwall face and vertically to at least 42 m below. Some predictive methods of the depth of the failure zone used in shallow mines were analysed to determine if they were still applicable for mining at a depth of around 800 m.