Behaviour of shotcrete supported rock wedges subjected to blast-induced vibrations

The static state of stress at the brow in a sub-level caving mine is, due to stress re-distribution, almost uniaxial (major principal stress perpendicular to the cross cut). Since large amounts of explosives are detonated in each production round, the impact of stress waves on the brow can be significant. An extensive failure mapping programme in the Kiirunavaara mine showed that many of the failures close to the brow were structurally controlled. Furthermore, the area of damaged shotcrete was extensive when plain shotcrete was used. At brows supported by fibre reinforced shotcrete, damage in the roof was observed within a horizontal distance of about 3 m from the drawpoint. To study the behaviour of roof wedges supported by shotcrete and subjected to blast-induced vibrations a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model was developed. The model consists of a shotcrete layer and a rock wedge.Vibration measurements showed that maximum particle velocity was approximately 1.2 m/s. The acceleration record showing the largest magnitude was used as the load in the dynamic analyses.The analyses showed that a wedge can be ejected by a dynamic load even if the static safety factor was >10. Furthermore, the non-linear response of the wedges was in most of the cases greater when the wedge was supported both by the joints and the shotcrete layer compared to the case when the wedge was only supported by shotcrete. A conclusion from the analyses is that it is difficult to predict the dynamic response from static calculations.To provide a safe working environment close to the drawpoint, the rock support must sustain the impact of stress waves from production blasting. To support rock wedges subjected to dynamic load the support must be able to consume the energy imposed on the wedges from blasting. The non-linear numerical analyses showed that reinforced shotcrete has the necessary bearing capacity to support the wedges formed in the roof of the cross cut close to the brow. This was in fair agreement with the failure mapping.The single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model can be used to study the response of an arbitrarily shaped rock wedge supported by shotcrete as long as the movement of the wedge can be idealised by a pure translation and the dimensions of the wedge are small compared to the length of the incident wave. Analyses showed that 2D wedges can be used to judge whether symmetric or non-symmetric 3D wedges in a uniaxial stress field (which occurs close to the brow) are stable or not when they are subjected to waves induced by blasting.