Correlation of subsidence parameters and damage assessment due to underground mining

摘要

The impacts of underground mining on thesurface are important environmental considerations in thepermission and planning of mining operations. As a result, thedevelopment of rigorous and well accepted damage criteria, forassessing mining impacts on surface structures and facilities, isan important issue in subsidence control. This task can beextremely complex due to the number and nature of theparameters affecting ground deformation induced byunderground mining, as well as the interaction of geotechnicaland structural factors determining the response of structures tosuch movements. In this paper, relationships are establishedbetween characteristic subsidence parameters, (i.e., angle ofdraw, angle of damage) and damage criteria, i.e., the thresholdtolerance values for realizing a particular damage levels. Theanalytical work is based on the Surface Deformation PredictionSystem (SDPS), which was developed in the eastern U.S.A.based on an influence function formulation. This method hasbeen extensively validated using actual subsidence andhorizontal strain measurements. The influence of both miningand geological factors, such as mining width, depth and heightand overburden lithology, on damage prediction and assessmentare also addressed. Finally, the notion of a "measurable"movement and its effect on assessing subsidence related damages is discussed.