Welded steel wire mesh is commonly used for ground control as a major component of the support scheme. Plates attached to rockbolts are the most common surface fixture and mesh is subjected to a wide range of loading conditions, yet the measurement of in situ load-displacement characteristics for surface support mesh are poorly defined. A campaign of in situ static testing at Independence Long nickel mine has collected force-displacement characteristics of two different mine mesh configurations. A standard test method is proposed using a machine designed and manufactured in house from readily available hardware.Testing is conducted in situ with a range of bolt spacing and relative loading locations similar to real-world application. Mesh sheet configurations with additional and thicker diameter wire strands to accommodate superior load transfer and seismic damage capacity have been developed and tested. These sheets were compared with standard mesh sheets with 100 mm aperture. Data shows standard mesh sheets can provide confinement to the rock mass at displacements that can be greater than 400 mm. Peak load values of up to 60 kN are generated using standard mesh. These values are even higher for high capacity 'seismic mesh', however, the loading response for all configurations is sensitive to a range of factors such as the location of installation in the drive profile, the bolt spacing, and interaction and overlap with other sheets.
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