Investigation of stability of a tunnel in a deep coal mine in China

Stability level of tunnels that exist in an underground mine has a great influence on the safety, production and economic performance of mines. Ensuring of stability for soft-rock tunnels is an important task for deep coal mines located in high in situ stress conditions. Using the available information on stratigraphy, geological structures, in situ stress measurements and geo-mechanical properties of intact rock and discontinuity interfaces, a three-dimensional numerical model was built by using 3DEC software to simulate the stress conditions around a tunnel located under high in situ stress conditions in a coal rock mass in China. Analyses were conducted for several tunnel shapes and rock support patterns. Results obtained for the distribution of failure zones, and stress and displacement fields around the tunnel were compared to select the best tunnel shape and support pattern to achieve the optimum stability conditions.