Acoustic emission/microseismic source location analysis for a limestone mine exhibiting high horizontal stresses

A thin and rigid limestone roof and high horizontal stresses in an underground limestone mine have caused severe roof fall problems. To help the mine address these problems, an acoustic emission/microseismic system was installed at the mine. However, the efficiency of this system was hampered by high background noise and inadequate source locations. The focus of this research was therefore to resolve these problems. The most beneficial outcome of this research was to demonstrate that the source location calculation at the mine could be improved through a comprehensive source location approach, which includes digital filtering, an absolute value-based optimization method, an advanced simplex location algorithm, and reliability analysis.