Part 2: Practical rock mechanics for the miner What can be learned from surface subsidence? oes, ming, goo! dack Phar, constant Rock mec Sunrace SUBSIDENCE may not be problem in 30 fhe maine operator just lets i come down. In other a toe a ob problem: the operator may have wo pay alot ay cnet for damages, or he may have to up a Lot of Gre RS prevent subsidence’ Under some conditions, such as slander the oxean or beaealh tailings pond, sobs Manette csoous, kv any case surface subsidence i Sn ewnly served and mevsured phenomenon or faformation on surface subsidence, the KWWIC often dozens references. Mostof them originate in Europe cers gaat doa of ork bas been done on subsidence fe wet Esminng coal seams. From the erature cn st fieiy seme byfesing that your eumstances aré Some seer crent No dou they ae. The hirature is important spread, revealing what sot of thing o look for, but Hai Sou need to get out and examine your owa mine 1 ‘Faas, for example, have an orsbody which extend be ae aieg APE of the ove a pillars. Cus of this insurance as fb $iomiinon. Yet you ead that coal mines in Europe min Nova aia ave caving the ground several miles out tae not flooding. and you then wonder i you can safely index Cat sour insurance premium. You have to decide what is simi far goout your situation and what is diferent, and learn how to predict subsidence behavior for your awn orebo ‘An example in pillar failure ‘Once again, an operating mine offers the best possible site forsuch stsiudy, Consider # case history ofa room-and-pila fine in song sedimentary rocks dipping, gently from 2,000 f. The original planning called for pi rocks forever, be- influx, oF depth w aroun fam big enough to supper ‘cause nothing was koowa about subsidence, wate how caves might spread. The best available pillar de aula was used All this original work was based theory However aller » few the overly of wal mine operation, one particular group of pillars started to deteriorate and even: th Pilly an area about 300 ft square did cave through to surfice ‘Apparenly the pias all filed at one time because they were BP EN taste side, and the overlying rock came down lke @ plug. Wide and deep cracks in the snow and surface clay ap anged almost diecly above the eave limits inthe mine, sug rat no sigmifant “angle of draw.” The su ee hopped about 40% of the seam thickness, indicating rare bollgag ofthe broken rock, but not much, Water leva ‘2refaver ponds above the cave dropped suddenly, and some voiner was observed running into the cracks. Then, afer a few BEM. the ponds were full again, and they stayed full How, wee inere kere special circumstances: it was midwinter and TRS SCao rain and very litle free surface water. IC it had teen summer or if the mine had heen under the ocean, with US intnite supply of water, then the cracks would have besa ao ad faster than the clay could heal them. The mine might have been flooded. X second pula faifure in the mine led to anciher cave to surface, Sinee there was adequate warning, and no major frublems, management decided that pillars could be robbed Pre the surface could be allowed to collapse, pillar recov ary program was started, This Was the fest payofT—cheap Te Because the mine operators now knew thatthe surfat ould be brought down saely, ‘This case history i an example ofan ideal siuation forthe rock mechanics specialist, There was n0 need 0 theorize ‘bout subsidence and. deformation it clastic, bedded rocks ings operation was the real thing, just waiting to be observed dnd measured. There was a wealth of information, because erated at diferent depths, at different rates, and in different dimensions, ae ‘with different geolog: Observations of failure mechanics Memurements wor ten over some of the caves, and all orhca ene nspecteds At fin, precise measareneas Gloac) were made of borzontl nd vera arase move bbe cor RTE | Locae Roor FAILURE DOES Nor APFecT SURFACE ment, but it was soon found thatthe precision was mislend ing sunface clays moved up, down, and sideways on slopes iecuse of seasonal changes in moisture content. Knowingly f EIMI—July 107 Aaid even: bsutace ‘wn like lay ap ine 0 The sue indicating inter level Mer a few full How. inter and earithad ‘can, ith have been ine might no major te robbed ilar reo yotl-cheap, tion forthe > theorize Aided tocks: be observed fn, because ferent rates, tes, and all ace ‘was mislead frags on slopes nent. Knowing ‘MJ—July 1973 this t was them satisfactory to measure wo 01. (The instru: ground, nents, ofcourse, could be borrowed from the surveyors) “The simplest case was the local root failure only tens of ‘As more and more inf mation came in, a patern emerged feet wide, where there was n0 sign of movement ai surface. athe mine, It began to look as if the mode Of surface subsi- Apparently the stata just arched or bridged scross the fall. In dence could be sontrolled by manipulating the cave unuler- fat, it became evident at this mine that unless a cave were A Mone EXTENSWWE | ALLEWS minor, SURFACE SuBsweNce ‘ore thar about 250 1 wide, there might be minor bending at Surface, but no caving and’no cracks in the soil. This sus gested thatthe rocks were able a urch or bridge over quite a age span, If the dimensions of a cave did exceed the critical width, and ifthe pillars al failed atone time, then a plug.tike failure ‘occurred. Although there was some swell in the lower layers, itscomed that the upper layers fell intut, and surface stb. A PLUG-UKE Faure , WITH MAKIMUM SUBSIDENCE AND OPEN cRackS em could be measured in feet, not inches. Unconsolidated even overhanging. At the edge of the cave underground there tediments atthe surface might move sideways alle into the as always an overhang, Aepresson, but the shears in the rock were nearly verlica, AS the Und round cave was extended by blasting pillars, exrRa Mig PRESSURE i ON Rear AND PRLARS. : dy (eced seenne | stbidence followed, and surface behavior depended mainly would again be bridging of the strata, and very lls surface ton he degree of pilar recovery and upon geolopel struc. muwverment. I's wide from was mined, and if very Ile rock the If pillas were recovered on a very narfow ffont, there was left in pars, caving followed closely. I pila recovery BIMI July 1923 71was not so goed, peshaps because of locally bed roof cond tions then several rows might be alacked before caving fol- lowed, and root and pillars not yet robbed were subjected 10 very high eanilever pressures. Ti underground caving progressed in small increments, the surface subsided a moderate amount, With few. if any, cracks in the soil, But if the eave “hing up” for several rows, then there would be another violent plogclike fll, with wide. deep cracks a the suface. ‘Geological streture is 4 major controlling factor n subst dence, Ifa well-defined fault plane in an underground mine fun almost parallel t the mining front, the eave will come flown quickly atthe fault, and failure a the surface will fol. low the trace ofthe ful, whether the faut is vertical or mod= rately incline. the predominant joints and faults are nearly perpendicu- larto the mining fron, caving will be inhibited and there will be an overhang, Thus the sarface expression of an under round cave istnluenced by structure as shown in the sketch, behaved quite differently. When the load was placed on the lauer by the failure of surrounding pillars, they did not fui Instead they punched into the root. If enough of these sturdy pillars were left behind, they acted as abutments for a mul rey a Getting back to our cave history: At greater depths, around 1.000 ft the pillars in the mine were Larger, and {twas not as easy to recover them, In some cases where local roof condi tions prevented any drilling, a few pillars were left intact, and caving became iregular Those pillars which had been reduced sufficienly would crash and crumble, but pillars which had not been tovched Loap sep onto A STURDY PILLAR, causes Local RooF FaWuees cetfect, ane surface subsidence was much re: ‘faced, If they were close enough together, they prevented Subsidence entity they were too far apart for bridging the punching action broke up the lower horizons, causing tiple bridg s tricat RooF FAILURES. MONEE THERE IS LESS SuBSIDENee, some swell, thus allowing less movement than the plog-like failure which occurred with small and equal pillars. ‘Ateven greater depths in the mine, there was stl the possi bility of plug falores and cracks opening at the surface. But fs the mine. went deeper, it became evident that the width that had to be opened up before caving occurred increased slightly with depth SuRrAce SUBSIDENCE RereRence POW. OLD RoorBoLT witH BLOB oF STAMLESS WELD, AND PUNCHMARK LEP ‘Making use of the observations. The primitive rock mechanics program at the mine was sow loaded with observations and measurements. The instr ‘mentation included nothing more sophisticated than eng neers evel and rod, a steel tape, and a camera. The reference points were old oofbolts witha blob of stainless weld on top, Ind a punchmark in the blob, The operators at the mine ha no theories and no formulas, but they dil have a great deal of ‘ery valuable information which could be applied with conf ence to future mine planning, Let’ take a look at some of the ideas sehich emerged. 1) Local, small roof Failures will not affect the surface, 9 donot spend much money trying to prevent them. E/MJ-Jaly 1979 :ald red nied gine ference Jon tp, tine had ttdeal of ith coat some of arlice, $0 Jy 1973 2) Workings of moderate width can be caved without caus ing much surface subsidence, provided they are separated by Atbstanial “abutment” pillars. It is interesting to note that European coul imines sometimes extract coal from beneath fits wing a""panel and pillar” layout. Maybe you should try itn the dear fist then tnder the lake. 4) Simultancous fuilare of many smal pillar can re a sudden, violent, plup-like cave all the way t0 surac pen cracks there ‘which could Jet mud and water into the ‘vine This is reminiscent of a major coal mine disaster. The initial cave in a pillar-recovery operation is a tcklish sivation. You krow it fs coming, but stil it can be a fright- hing afar, with much novse and vibration, airblast and dust freak sears some people out of mining. However, there are faye to control the caving in a mine. Design of shaft pillars The eave history has provided notes and photographs which tells for about pillar size and strength, It was observed that a thier pillar fal apart under very low load, as i it had 1 ore sgngth than a pile of rubble. On the other hand, some ice pillars never did collapse, even when under concen tated foad. They punched into the roof instead. 1s there any point in designing pillars bigger than those” rom experimenation and observation, ou begin to get an tea of how big a barricr pillar must be to stop & major ea This is important, because a lot of ore can be tied up in bar erpllan The siength ofthe pillar seems to be some func- fon af ils width, or maybe its height-to-width ratio—an im pertan point “The formation leads to «rethinking ofthe pillars needed! to protect shafts and sensitive surface stractures. Sofa, th indo hax gone along with “classical” ideas about angle eaw-that the shaft pillar should have a diameter c Goeth of the depth. There is reason to have second thooghts For example, if« shaft is 2,100 ft deep. as it might foe some coal. mines, roughly 385,000 sq ft of the seam Would be tied up in the shaft pillar as sketched. That’ lot of ner Tithe is a0 need to leave a shaft pillar 350 wide, it can bedivided into smaller But still substantial pillars by partial BiMI-July 1973 foo sare ZO OOOO‘ severe“ OOOORSOG stawwveve’ sven J) 0), extraction, as shown. The width of these pillars is enoveh t0 five the condition of “innit” pillar strength, as shown inthe sar recovery operations of the cise history. A lol of seamt Pia Ged up in the shaft pillar ean thus be claimed for production ‘The findings from the ease history allow a further step. ‘Since the influence of geologial structure is recognize min fh layout ean be arranged to accommodate it Caving can be ‘doe cote tthe shaft on onesie than onthe other inthe ees plead ite fulng and joining ate nearly vera cramps Scan be indeed inthe eaving rock, caving 48 Be Sane very lone (othe af. Certainly tis requires Kaowing done ing, bat the information collected inthe Hel TE the mine ge mach more eonfdence than any heory could give Tipe observations ang measurements can Help & aninpopeairo make orsive milion of dolar. Wouldetit Be eee it somebody could tout all the asive and inazive he he cunt) to asembl al he avaiable ts about inion avg surface subidence? I would be he mst ce ot tscarch ino surace subpdence eter teeted ‘nd i ou of such & mass of facts that prowess sro evolve Fete mportnt that your mining opertion setup & Rett Mechangs Depurtnoat as sh. ut Ws important for eg tsi real hat without ing rock mechani he irey Begun up a 11 of usta formation sbout surface Tabligenge and many other problems. Management should sects to collet ad feedback observation to be zr repau far improving mine operation, Coming next month: A discussion of convergence and lasure of roof, floor, or wall of amine openingPart 3: Practical rock mechanics for the miner How convergence measurements can save money Jk Parker, consultant, Rec rachanies, mining, gsology Wnte Pin, Neh. 49971 CONVERGENCE MEASUREMENT 5.8 PROVEN TOOL for rock me~ hanics The instruments and techniques are available for making accurate and meaningful measurements at low c Ast cise history, the wergence measurement made at one mine was extremely crude, yet it served a useful pur- pose. Altera large area of pillars in the mine had collapsed the wanted to know if the cave was going t0 extend and en- fulfan important travel road. We wanted to have some warn Ing i this was going to happen, to enable us to plan alternate routes, We first walked around the cave, mapping the shaky pillars, but still we couldn't tell if they were worse oF Ft. It vas then that we decided to set up our Very ist inst show in the sketch, When we came buck « week lat rule could not be inserted, and found was moving. That was when our rock {gram was born. We ist put together combi pulleys and dal gauges to indicate rock movement, but even {wally We bought or made special extensometers to do the jo. We stayed with mechanical gauges becuvse the underground environment was unfasoruble for most sensitive el Putting an extensometer to work eed-type tube extensometer is used lo measure the ctween stabons et in the roof and floor of an un erground opening, Its made of telescoping tubes of Tovar steel (10 minimize temperature effet), and the dial gauge reads to (001 in, Various models are made to work in ranges between 3 and 2S ft standard is available so that the in strument cin be checked daily for wear or accidental dam and adjusted if necessary. "The reference points are hemispherical capauts of stainless steel, attached 0 rock anchors which are seleted for local conditions <% The significant capability ofthis tool is that you can we today to measure between points 0 the nearest 0.001 in, take the instrument avy. then come back LomoroW, next Wetk Sr next year and ifthe ovement, you will exactly the same readin 110 high, you woul this be reading 1 110 Wher such a serie of measurements accomplishes show if rock is moving, how much it moves, and the rae of movement. Imayine iaspecting a tunnel 20 ft high an! 20 tride without such measurements, t try t0 determine i€ a ‘wel You would be lucky i you could detect an inch a moverment-and by that time i might be too Tate to do mut bout ic With the capability of measuring Yo 0.001 in, yom fandetect trends early, while there yet time to act. tenedt in a mine, and there is reason to Goubt that the inte fection is sable, Without instruments, there ate to option: failure: With instruments tis possible to set points ith sts stata graph, and find the 2) Sate severe ») decinnnes sae A) eae maminsing = Ifthe rate of mover sin serch (2, tin swaring tht someting is amiss-sonciing is moving hl ifahould not be moving. The nexstep so dcover he sabe tthe movement, which could be any combination of he foot coming daw pillar squeering of Roo heaving Anes) ay to check the foo 0 pound it wilh a han mento sce sound hollows or dif Hole and inspec foreach wih fel or wit a borescope, Since ro mie tment would generally be of mont concer, really lod a trouble there Sowa wa abr, inspect forme cracks toon fk, and fspeet empty Toft holes for separate inthe rock EMI August 197jitisal Ewhen: of the a ham spect it Fmover ook OF tacks oF Experience in a particular operation or in a particular rock ‘ype helps with the interpretation of measurements. With @ Mle rooF and a strong sandstone floor, for example, the odds fue that most of the movement isin the roof. Again, cote to a hining from, i to be expected that mining activity will Cause all new openings to close a litle, but as the mining front advances the openings should become sable. Installing points Sloe wo the face and checking them for several months should produce «graph like this Advances way ener When monitoring a larger area, most points should ap- proach stability, but others may not Behave as expected. Fe fHampls fault zones, extra-wide intersections, ofa blast-dam Agel ronf steadily getting worse are all indications to either inl supports or slay away from the area Se ee eek JODO DDD aE VA AMAT coca werranury Atcormal movement at a large number of points indicates fuss ge ares is unstable. The problem may be widespread fa Uierioration, but t might also be pillar failure. Pillar be- Fae can be checked by installing potnts close tothe pillars, Swillain the middle ofthe openings, and then plotting the Pifoicmovementson a man, Sich a map serves several purposes it shows how big an ‘ais unsable, how fast ts moving, iil is spreading. and in Mish direction. Ifthe mine operator decides to install sup psreve some large plas, sucha map can be used o sine How effective the remedial action really i= In addie EW August 1973, tion to the immediate, defensive benefits, such a procedure provides good expenence in roof and pillar design, Gathering measurements of how roof and pillars of various dimensions behave under real mining conditions can help to improve fu- ture desi ‘With a little ingenuity, the extensometer can be used for many special investigations. For example, to evaluate the ef feet of increasing the width of openings or changing bolt pat- tem, of using no support, sketched, Using a common point in the floor, readings would be taken on the short roofpin and on the head of the longer bol. Succeeding readings would indicate dilation ofthe roof lay cers. Bolts anchored at several different depths could be use [Note that while this kind of instrumentation would be very precise, it would not be affected by local moisture or tempera~ {ure changes not even by blasting because the points Would bbe counterunk. These tests would provide a measure of roof iy, and a large number of such measurements could be ‘obtained without much expense, Such data would be inf- pitely more meaningful han lab or computer invesigations ‘There seems tobe no end to the suber of use for conver gence measurements. They can be used to evaluate roof sta bility and pillar design; the actual behavior of pillar can be measured, over a period of years if need be. Convergence measurements can indicate when to stop mining toward a Shaft and when and where wo install supports or Backfil, Pri orties for support can be assigned. Convergence meabure- ments can be used to settle safety disputes, and once oper ations depend on measurements instead of emotions, we can ‘liminate safety disputes at the source. (See box for poss bilities in a dispute ofthis ype) 3‘When the height wo be measured is more than about 25 ft, or where horizontal or sloping measurements exceed about © ft, tube extensometer would bend too much, Then an Invar tape extensometer should he used instead. The principle is thesaine, and the pe s ead to 0.008 in.—which, im spans up 0.90 ft is still remarkably precise Such measurements are Used to take advantage of « wide margin of safety. I's like driving down the highway atm Tn the dark, you would be unsafe at 25 mph, but with hevd! lights you are reasonably safe at $0 mph und you get there twice as fst. Similarly, convergence measurements shed light ‘on thining problems and provide confidence in working closer to the safety factor of 1 There ic only cine way to prevent all accidents in a mine and that is to close the mine! To guarantee prevention of ill Butit you develop a system which warns sou where and whet © roo! will fall, then you have the control you need. You ‘ean push production in ihe safe areas, and take costly prec tiont only in unsafe atens, acconding to a logical plan fe ‘mine development Since the exteasometers mentioned so fur cost several hut ‘red dollars, it is necessary to he careful with them, The bel plan for a mine operator would probably be to tain teh Ricans to install points and take the measurements. AS makes his rounds, the technician will mediately notice ay change in end. He can make an inspection while he i ont spot and report the problem to the foreman in charge of be atea without delay. There s a0 need for a computer analy of notes such as these: DATE _[acaping [euanae | TovaL vials oe me wera | eons unin | noe asin | alain te mee canes (2) Tim cana auana ¢ - TAD Rectan Since you won't want to end up with a minet-o-technician ratio of TI, you should equip the miners themselves with simples, ess costly instruments You need to have the instru ments used at the mining face—where manpower is concen trated and where accidents are most likely to happen. Some coal mines install what they call “telltales.” as shown, in the next sketch IF anybody passing through an area secs fever than three bands of rellective tape showing on the end ‘of a holt he Knows thatthe root has stared coming down and hhe can prompt further investigation. Gadgets ike this can be installed routinely, perhaps at every intersection on a main roadway, as permanent warning de ‘Warning lights, a8 shown in the next sketch, can be pur chased or put together a very low cost~and they can be both lifesavers and moneymakers. In a pillar-ecovery ope for example, they can be st to light up when the rvof move a certain small distance, alering the miners instantly. Like wise, if drier is siting on a jumbo with two dil ham ‘mening away, a fan screaming, and 4 heading full of Top t Tight beside him will warn him instantly ifthe toot moves Better than the warning light, and only slightly more ex pensive, is the low-cost, homemade extensometer. Thit & Simply a dial gauge mounted on two pieces of telescoping conduit thing. The miner seis one up in his working place land glances at it once in a while. I ells him if the roo moving, and at what rate, and it gives him an idea of what to do next This brings up an important question; At what stage should the miner decide thatthe pround is unsafe and get out? When the root has eome down 0.008 in? Half an inch? Six inches! The answer to that question must be hased! on local cond tions and local experience, Consider, for example, a chunk of sranite the size ofa textbook atthe top of hardrock tune ‘whieh might be stable one minute and on the Noor a minute Tate. Such fall would be hard to predict. E/MI~August 197% As the tod of ¢ of two 4Asthe dimensions ofthe failure increase, however, the pe- _ able in inches fod of deterioration also increase two aft spans, movement = fr even months before final c ral fee, allowing roof and Moor 10 cont PM —Auguse 1973,CONVERGENCE BEFORE FAILURE OF A GROUP OF PILLARS ABOUT 12 FT HIGH ‘The telephone rings in the middle of the night (as sual): "Sorry to wake you up, Chali, but the men re- fse to go to work on the Tih level. Theres a lot of Iresh rock fallen on the travel road, and they say the reais’ safe.” ‘Charie says, “Okay, Tbe right there.” and maybe nthe ravelway, won: dering fits safe or not. He-gingerly taps the root with fa trimming bat, and it does sound drummy, but he Knows that it sounds drammy in most places, He ‘weighs the odds, accidents vs, production, and declares the area safe The foreman says, “Allright, men. let's get 10 work Dra they answer "Like hell we will Get the inspector ‘An hour and a half later the inspector arrives. Ever since his phone rang, he has been wondering Row (0 handle the one; either way, somebody bound to be ‘unhappy with his decision. He too taps the roof, looks Around, and then confers with both sides. Eventually. minimize the displeasure, he says to Charlie, “Why ‘don't you putin half a dozen sets to make sure the roof issater” [Neither side has lost too much face; the miners have had their point of view zecognized. and the foreman gets some work out of his crew-even though it isn't Productive, Rut the mine has lost production, has lost foney on labor and materials, and has gone through nother confrontation wih the union it's amazing that stality and safety are still consi ered to be a matter of opiion. A few simple measure fents ean prove thatthe roof is oF isnot stable, with techniques 50 diect that there is no room for argu: mment-something like a game warden stretching your fish against his stect tape Tite work stoppage above could have been handled quite differently. Lets play the scene over: Charlie ar fives at the mine and goes through the rool-tapping routine asthe basie questions go through his mind: Is Using convergence measurement to settle a safety dispute the roof going fall down? If s9, how soon? How big anares? How high? Charlie tells everybody to be quiet « minute, and they all listen. They may hear grunts and thumps and creaking and tearing noises which definitely tel them to stand back, or there may he occasional “ticks” and dribbles which caution them, or it may be very quiet— {elling them nothing, Charlie remembers that there i8 & gadget on the market which amplifies rock noises Simething ikea stethoseope, and he wishes that he had one but he doesnt However, Charlie did bring the home-made exten- someter—jus a dal gauge reading to 0.001 in. rigged to two telescoping pieces of conduit. Charlie sts it up in ‘what appeas toe the mos critical area. and the min- tm gather around to see what's happening Tt takes a Couple of minutes to adjust to local temperature; the there is no more movement. Charlie explains shat housandth of an inch looks like one tenth of a gnats tyebrow-—so that everybody understands ust how sen- sitive the instrument is. After watching for 10 min and fceing zero motion, the miners get restless and decide that they might as well go Lo work a decision based on fact, not opinion or argu: ut what if instead, thete is movement, and the rate B/MI~August 19738the movement muy goon for year, Obviously loa jag guge- He glances a the gauge and makes mental noes reat is important in evaluating such movement—and’eval- ee ‘ton should improve with experience tries ecksag ee sae Rate of convergence is a better indication of approaching Toe fulure—the more rapid. the acceleration, the quicker the Sam 0081 0001 OK. Inter must get aul, Semilog graph paper isthe hest for plot TOum 0091 0000 Nonwest ting and predicting, because it keeps things in proportion. Mam 0082 0002 OK. When rock movement lr start, x Q001-in, shift may be sig 120m 0.098 Watch it nifant and it wll show on the graph, but when gross move: pm 0.120 Sop lok lien uy, tment has oecurred—perhaps several inches—then an adaic 2pm 097 Time to 90. No pont in nal O01 in, isn't going to make much difference. The *tckingteund Whether semilog paper takes this into acount. ‘emes down in $a 0: ‘Another advantage of semilog paper is that it shows steady 3, my dling i go swccleation as straight. inclined line-like your ear gaining ee spesd after you have depressed the gas pedal Ifyou jam the This miner has saved his life and his equipment, because of Fedl tothe Noor your rate of acceleration will iacredse. anda warning he could not possibly have sensed so early without ths raph of movement will break away from the straight-line the gauge. On a grander scale, Jou can save whole sections or tread. Cas histories show that this break on a graph isa good whole mines~by gathering the fects end continuously revis: ideation of impending failure n'a mine, as shown in the ac- ing your thinking, always coming up with beter ideas to plug sempanying samples, ino Tuture planning. Thousands of observations, disciplined ‘While twill never be possible to completely eliminate the by thousands of measurements, nally provide the means 9 ubjective clement in a jadgment about mine convergence, srt designing logically. That's practical rock mechanics. such judgment can be improved by supplying facts. All the tadgely instruments, an graphs discusted here indicate that something is wrong, long before miners can see itor hear it. | Coming in October: The relationship between rock srue They area warning to stop look, and bisten then jude ‘van example, take a look at miner working wi accelerates 0001 in_in 8 min, next 0.001 in. in min? only one erack at 6 in., which tells you that there is only Then itis obvious that something has give soon. You that slab to worry about; oF perhaps there are lols of mist either make repairs quickly, or get people and cracks and offsets. Take out a 12-ft measuring tape and ‘auipment out ofthe area, poke it up the holes, snagging the cracks and noting Al this point you don't know to what height the roof how far up they are. The results may give you a differ= is breaking, but this is very important, so scout found emi icture-as shown here Some more. Find empty roofbolt holes, or take out a "With such measurements, there's nothing t0 argue loose bolt or two, and examine the holes. Maybe there's about. If you hada periscope, you could look at the 1 Fs oo! from the inside, bot the ape is easier and quicker and it tells you almost as much, So fur, you have determined that the rock is moving, aid how much i loose, but what about the time factor? How mush time do you have before the root falls down? This is where experience plays such a valuable 1 Ifyou have heen measuring roof movement for & Few years, you will be able o say: "Well at tis ate, ery we've got several days before it comes down,” ori 18 Onty a6" sia@ is LéOse "We've got less than a day to pull the rh ‘One action that can be taken if timing is critical is leaving the extensometer in place; either wath it or check it at intervals to eliminate the guesswork, I the rate decreases, relax alte; i it continues ata steady ate, say alert and if the rate aovelerates, prepare (0 Gelting back to the original problem: Charlie tin shes up by saying, “T tell you what we'll do, Well set upp warming light and you can keep an eye on it. Give ‘me a call if anything Rappens; otherwise we'll put in permanent converpence points tomorrow and’ keep, rack of whats going on inthis area “Okay. Goodnight, Charlie, and thanks” The dispute here is no longer a dispute, and safety has been engineered into the system, Rock mechanics becomes a habit, and management saves money. Fi ally and very signiticanily--with this approach, min rs realize that management is doing something more : = han just talking about safety. W-Auguss 1973