With the current trend of exploiting mines at increasing depths comes the challenge of managing increasingly high stress conditions. One tool at the disposal of mine engineers and designers is the numerical simulation of the stresses and deformations likely to be encountered ahead of the mining fronts for various mining scenarios. Although the benefits of numerical modelling are by now well accepted throughout the industry, the applicability of the various types of numerical modelling approaches is not always well understood and still the subject of much debate. This paper endeavours to explain the basic differences between the elastic and inelastic approaches, as well as provide practical guidelines concerning which one to use for various sets of circumstances. Case studies of high stress situations are provided that show where the simpler elastic approach was adequate, and where implementing an inelastic approach was unavoidable. Some insight is also provided into the type of practical information that can be extracted from advanced failure analyses (the exclusive domain of inelastic techniques), such as determining the degree of failure of a rock mass by examining the stress state of its failed zones, which indicates their position along the strain-softening post-peak response typical of hard rock masses.
As mines progress to depths for which the induced stress levels exceed the intact strength of the host rock, significant challenges related to rock mass instability must be met. However, given complexity and the scale of orebodies in deep mines, it is increasingly more challenging to predict/pinpoint where and when stress levels will become problematic. Prediction of where and when large scale instabilities will occur continues to be the 'holy grail' of rock mechanics in deep mining. There is no perfect solution; however, there have been a number of technological advancements that greatly helped to develop our understanding of rock mass behaviour and the risks pertaining to deep hard rock mines. It is recognised that at the mine scale, geology and material properties are not fully known, however, using past experience and sound engineering judgment, it is possible to use innovative tools and methodologies to arrive at a reasonable approximation of how a rock mass will behave at depth. The main goal of this paper is to provide an overview of how some of these tools and methodologies have evolved and are actively being applied to the planning of deep mines. Vale Canada Ltd.'s Creighton Mine will be used as a case study to demonstrate how these new techniques have contributed to a better understanding, and hence a better mine planning approach for hard rock mines at depth. https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/p/1410_25_Cotesta/ Numerical modelling and scientific visualisationintegration of geomechanics into L Cotesta et al. modern mine designs
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