Numerical simulation of land subsidence and verification of its character for an iron mine using sublevel caving

Combined with a digital bored photography system and in-situ statistics concerning the joints and fissures of both ore-body and surrounding rock, a 2D discrete model was constructed using UDEC. The stress field and displacement field changes of different sublevel stoping systems were also studied. Changes in the overlying rock strata settlement pattern has been analyzed and validated by in-situ monitoring data. The results show that: in the caving process, there exists an obvious delay and jump for the overlying rock strata displacement over time, and a stable arch can be formed in the process of caving, which leads to hidden goafs. Disturbed by the mining activity, a stress increase occurred in both the hanging wall and the foot wall, demonstrating a hump-shaped distribution pattern. From the comparison between simulation results and in-situ monitoring results, land subsidence shows a slow-development, sudden-failure, slow-development cycle pattern, which leads eventually to a stable state. This pattern validates the existence of balanced arch and hidden goafs.