Catastrophic Failures of Underground Evaporite Mines

Details

• Personal Author:
  Varley, Floyd D. ; Whyatt, Jeffrey K.
• Description:
  Deformation of underground salt, trona and potash mines is generally time dependent, providing for gradual adjustment of strata to mining induced stresses. Time dependence can allow for higher extraction ratios provided eventual failure can be tolerated. However, this eventual failure can be violent if creep deformation can shift stress and potential energy to strong, brittle geologic units. The mine failure case studies reviewed here illustrate this process. Yield pillars and defects in bridging strata figure prominently in these cases. Yield pillars provide local and temporary support to the roof, temporarily delaying the cave; and allowing extraction ratios and overburden spans to increase beyond the long term capacity of overlying strata. Defects (faults, voids, thinning) of strong overburden strata reduce the critical span, sometimes to less than panel width. Analyses of many of these cases have focused on a cascading pillar failure mechanism, but recent work and this review point to failure of strong overburden strata as the essential element. The suddenness of failure and attendant seismic events pose hazards to miners and, in some cases, to those on the surface. Characterizing these failures is a first step towards recognizing and managing the risk of catastrophic collapse in underground mines. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Engineering Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Control-technology Engineering-controls Ground-control Ground-stability Mine-disasters Mine-shafts Mining-industry Underground-mining Work-practices
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISBN:
  9780978938338
• Publisher:
  West Virginia University
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Washington ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  SRL - Spokane Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  113-122
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034347
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Ground Control in Mining, July 29-31, 2008, Morgantown, West Virginia. Peng SS, Mark C, Finfinger GL, Tadolini SC, Khair AW, Heasley KA, Luo Y, eds. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University, 2008 Jul; :113-122
• Editor(s):
  Peng SS; Mark C; Finfinger GL; Tadolini SC; Khair AW; Heasley KA; Luo Y
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Ground Control in Mining, July 29-31, 2008, Morgantown, West Virginia
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9c5e7807015cc91ae8ed9d4f98a284f912a05831878c487ff9b741eac6b39e5b7fbe0eb6b16dfd9c0b6f0f1e536d806d571903c85286dd9805a8fbdf16faecc5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227000/cdc_227000_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.23 MB ]