Evaluation of mine scale longwall top coal caving parameters using continuum analysis

A mine-scale analysis of Longwall Top Coal Caving (LTCC) is performed using a continuum mechanics finite element solver called COSFLOW. The uniqueness of COSFLOW is that it incorporates Cosserat continuum theory in its formulation for describing the load deformation of bedded rocks. It is shown that such a continuum based code is valuable for assessing the feasibility of introducing LTCC in any mine. Various LTCC parameters, for example chock convergences, top coal failure behavior, strata caving mechanism, abutment stresses and vertical stresses, were evaluated for a mine using COSFLOW.