Physical Modeling of Complex Coal Rib Brow Failure and Its Applicability to Numerical Modeling

Details

• Personal Author:
  Mitchel, Cameron ; Guner, Dogukan ; Kirmaci, Alper ; Sherizadeh, Taghi
• Description:
  Brow hazards are a significant concern in coal mine ribs and form when weak coal sloughs out of a rib face and exposes an overhanging block of more competent rock or coal. Of 36 rib failure fatalities in the last two decades, 36% resulted from rib brow failures. This highlights the need to better understand the mechanisms driving brow formations and failures to mitigate this hazard and eliminate potential fatalities. The research team at Missouri S&T worked to enhance the current CPRR system and include the potential for these brow hazards. We employed physical modeling methods to build a scaled model from critical brow cases observed in the field. The dimensions and properties of the models were scaled down by 14.4 times from the field cases. The results of the physical modeling efforts were used to assist in calibrating distinct element numerical models vital to understanding brow formation and failure mechanisms. Subsequently, three physical models were created and tested to provide data on an otherwise impossible-to-capture event at the field scale. The results of these tests provided formed brow dimensions that agree well with those observed at the field scale. The brow dimensions were 1.25 inches deep into the rib, equivalent to 1.5 feet when scaled up. Similarly, the numerical modeling efforts provided good agreement by capturing a brow forming 1.55 inches deep into the rib. The physical model results further validate the applicability of physical modeling efforts for capturing otherwise difficult and dangerous phenomena in a controlled lab setting. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Coal
  • Coal Mining
  • Mining
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • Underground mines
  • Coal mines
  • Mining industry
  • Failure analysis
  • Geologic models
  • Geotechnical engineering
  • Ground control
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Kansas City Region OSHA ; Missouri
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  17 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071826
• Citation:
  MineXchange: 2026 SME Annual Conference & Expo, February 22-25, 2026, Salt Lake City, Utah, preprint 26-047. Englewood, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME), 2026 Feb; :1-15
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  Missouri University of Science and Technology
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  2021/09/01
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/260049/cdc_260049_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.66 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0d2a98d7d82e4ba3fdf2eb8bba3bf0ceac0fa9ce573110df8f72d813c597f99362d335ebf8ac339ded87381f19115ea985374737a055394dbedea376ff30d431