Land Subsidence (Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Land Subsidence,

The Hague, October 1995). IAHS Publ. no. 234, 1995. 207

Subsidence due to coal mining in India

R. P. SINGH & R. N. YADAV

Indian Institute of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering, Kanpur 208016,
India

Abstract In India, every year loss of life occurs due to subsidence of

land in coal mining areas. Subsidence is very prevalent in the Raniganj
coal field which is a major coal producing area. The occurrence of
thick coal seam at shallow depth is the main reason for the subsidence
and as a result collapses have occurred in many coal mines in recent
years. In the present paper, a review of coal mining subsidence in India
will be presented. The Indian scientists have made efforts to predict the
subsidence using empirical relations but it was not found to be
successful since the geology of the coal mining area is found to be quite
variable. We have made efforts to predict the subsidence occurring in
the Indian coal fields in general and in particular in the Raniganj coal
field using a visco-elastic model. Computed subsidence profiles of
Ratibati and Shivadanga coal mines of the Raniganj coal field have been
compared. The results show a reasonable match of the predicted and
observed subsidence in the case of the Ratibati coal mine. In the case
of the Shivadanga coal mine the predicted subsidence profile is found
to be larger than the observed profile. However, the bottom of the
observed troughs is found to match with the predicted troughs. Detailed
analyses have been carried out to investigate the effect of mine
parameters on the subsidence.

INTRODUCTION

Subsidence is an inevitable phenomenon of ground movement caused by various

manmade and natural activities. The economic prosperity by the exploitation of the
hidden resources in the earth is always accompanied by the adverse impacts of
subsidence. Subsidence due to underground coal mining has been reported from almost
all parts of the world and India being a major coal producer has been facing very
severe problems of subsidence in some of its coal fields.
In the present work, we have made efforts to predict subsidence using a
visco-elastic model. This model incorporates both continuous and discontinuous
profiles. Detailed analyses have been carried out to predict subsidence due to
underground coal mining. The validation of the model has been done by taking
parameters and observed values from Ratibati and Shivadanga coal mines of the
Raniganj coal field. The subsidence profiles for these coal mines have been predicted.
We have found a reasonably good match between the observed and predicted
subsidence profiles.
208 R. P. Singh & R. N. Yadav

COAL MINING IN INDIA

Coal mining in India has a history of over 200 years starting from Raniganj (West
Bengal) in 1774. Coal is a prime source of energy, indispensable input in steel and
chemical industries. About 60% of the national commercial power requirements are
fulfilled by coal. Coal production in India has rapidly increased in the last four decades.
The largest reserve of coal is found in Bihar state which covers about 33.53% of the
total coal reserve in India, and the second largest coal producing state Orissa covers
about 23.57% of the total coal reserves in India. About 90.3 % of coal is found in the
states of Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. The major coalfields in India
are: Raniganj, Jharia, East Bokaro and West Bokaro, Panch-Kanhan and Tawa valley,
Singrauli, Talcher, Chanda-Wardha, Godavari valley, and Karnpura (Fig. 1).

MAJOR COAL FIELDS IN INDIA

1. Ranigunj
2. J h a r i a
3. East Bokaro and West Bokaro
A. Perte h-Kan nan, Tawa Valley
5. Singrauli
fjAMMU % KASHMIR^ 6. Talcher
7. Chanda-Wardha
8. Godavari Valley
miMACHAL PRADESH
9. Karanpura
10. Others
PUNJAB}
Karanpura
HARYANA I Singrauli " 9
SDELHI "X

S
RAJASTHAN UTTAR
PRADESH 7ASSAK _
LBIHAR
3 > v,—J>

'GUJARAT r
MADHYA PRADESH*
" ' L
.0? -® Asansol

"«Calcutta
jR /Haldia W E S T C
]6 /Port BENGALV
Bombay^ MAHARASTRA^l ORISSA l ^ s * Dhanbad
Paradip p o r t
Kothagudem"^K g
Ranchi BAY OF
'vishakhapatnam BENGAL
/Hyderabad Port
* Bilaspur
' ANDHRA
\MYSORE| PRADESHf Others
10

* Nayveli
YSjlTAMIL NADU

Fig. 1 Location map showing coal reserves in India.

 Subsidence due to coal mining in India 209

SUBSIDENCE PROBLEM

Jharia (JCF) and Raniganj (RCF) coal fields are facing significant subsidence problem
due to underground coal mining. Extraction of thick seams at shallow depths has
damaged the ground surface in the form of subsidence and formation of cracks reaching
up to the surface, enhancing the chances of spontaneous heating of coal seams leading
to mine fires. The JCF has experienced over 70 mine fire spread over an area of
17.32 km2. In JCF, the coal mining started in the beginning of the twentieth century and
is still practised. The board and pillar method of underground mining is very common,
this method is used in more than 90% of Indian coal fields. In JCF, about 57% of the
area is affected by subsidence, fire areas, overburden dumps and abandoned quarries;
and subsidence affects 33% of the area. Mining activities in RCF have degraded a
sizable land area and have endangered about 42 localities (townships, villages and other
residential areas). The subsided area in the Raniganj coalfield covers about 43.43 km2
(CMRS, 1991).

SUBSIDENCE PREDICTION

Various efforts have been made by scientists from the UK, USA, China, Australia and
other countries to predict the subsidence of coal mines using numerous methods such as
the profile function methods (Kumar et al., 1983), the influence function methods (Ren
et al., 1989) and the void diffusion method (Hao & Ma, 1990). Apart from these
methods, many theoretical studies have been carried out using stochastic (Litwiniszyn,
1964), elastic (Salamon, 1977; and Berry, 1977), and visco-elastic (Zeng & Kou, 1992)
methods. Recent efforts include the use of finite element methods (Reddish, 1984; Jones
& Kohli, 1985; Siriwardne & Amanat, 1985, 1988) and distinct element method
(Calthard & Dutton, 1988) in the prediction of subsidence. In India, numerical
modelling for the prediction of subsidence caused by ground water withdrawal (Mishra
et al., 1993) has been carried out. Efforts have been made by the Indian scientists to use
the best known empirical method developed by the National Coal Board (NCB) in the
UK, however, it was not applicable in the Indian coal field areas, since the NCB method
are applicable for the longwall coal mines whereas in India most of the coal mines use
the board and pillar method. Generally, Indian scientists have made efforts to predict
subsidence based on empirical methods which are restricted only to continuous
subsidence profiles and are highly dependent on local conditions. In India, coal is found
at numerous places, the geology of these coal fields is highly variable from one field to
another. A theoretical model based on physical concepts and an understanding of the
mechanism of subsidence are needed in order to anticipate continuous as well as
discontinuous subsidence profiles in Indian coal fields.

SUBSIDENCE MODEL

The coal mine subsidence model considered is shown in Fig. 2(a), which is
representative of continuous as well as discontinuous subsidence profiles. In this model,
a coal mine is considered as a beam or plate (coal layer), resting on a visco-elastic
210 R. P. Singh & R. N. Yadav

Fig. 2 (a) Schematic diagram of visco-elastic model, (b) The distribution of forces
acting on shear layer element.

medium (the overburden and the rock strata underlying the coal seam) which deforms
only due to transverse shear due to the excavation of the coal. Thus, the layers of a coal
mine model are represented by a semi-infinite medium. Various components of the coal
mine (Fig. 3(a)) model are:
(a) dashpot — represents the time-dependent property of infilled material,
(b) shear layer — ensures inter-dependence of springs and dashpots,
(c) spring — represents the time-independent property of infilled material,
(d) overburden — depicts rock strata over excavated underground mine.
If we consider the displacement of the ground surface w due to a line load P (Fig. 2(b)),
fx is viscosity coefficient related to the shear deformation of infilled material, and rj is
an visco-compressibility coefficient of infilled material, the governing equation for
subsidence of the earth's surface is written as (Singh & Yadav, 1995):

— Ç7-\2)w = 0 (1)
ôt2
where X2 = rj//x. The vertical displacement of the ground surface is given by equation
(1).

FLEXIBLE OVERBURDEN

The subsidence outside (w0) the loaded region | x | > b and inside (w,) the loaded
region — b < x < b is given by the following equations (Singh & Yadav, 1995):
 Subsidence due to coal mining in India 211

Stratigraphie
Depth (m) Column
0
Soil: (Jc =8-10MPa ac = Uni. Comp. Strength
at =0. A-0.8 M Pa at = Braz. Tens. Strength
5.0 m-rrmnrrrj E = 1.2(MPa)x103 E = Young's Modulus
Silty soil/

10.0 Grey SS

a c = 32-32MPa

15.0 at =6.5-8.0 MPa

E=15.5(MPa)x10'

20.0

25.0

|a c =2A-26MPa
(at =2.5-3 MPa
30.0 a c =20-23MPa E=5.6(MPa)x10 3
at = 2 - 3 MPa ,
E = 3.9(MPa)x103
33.3
Fig. 3 Borehole strata with physical parameters from the Raniganj coal field.

wQ+Ptr]~l sinh(\&)e -Xl x > b (outside the loaded region) (2)

wi = Ptr]'1 [1 -e"X6cosh(Xx)] -b > x > b (inside the loaded region) (3)

RIGID OVERBURDEN

The subsidence outside the overburden x > bis, written as (Singh & Yadav, 1995):
w-(x,0 = w0e-X(x'b) x > b (4)
and the subsidence inside the overburden region —b < x < b is written as (Singh &
Yadav, 1995):
Pbt
w0(0 = X??-1. (5)
(Kb +1)
The ground surface will subside similar to a stepped subsidence profile.

MODEL PARAMETERS

The average value of the above parameters are easily available from the two coal mines
(Ratibati and Shivadanga) in the Raniganj coal field, however it was very difficult to get
 212 R. P. Singh & R. N. Yadav

actual parameters for the two coal mines. In the present work the above parameters used
for the prediction of subsidence profiles for two coal mines are taken from the literature
(Venkateshwarlu, 1986; andCMRS, 1991). Apart from these parameters, the calculation
of subsidence also requires the viscosity coefficient related to the shear deformation of
the infilled material (jî), and the visco-compressibility coefficient (rj) of infilled materials
which have been taken from Venkateshwarlu (1986). The borehole strata chart along
with the average parameters of the layers are shown in Fig. 3.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The actual observed subsidence profiles at Ratibati and Shivadanga coal mines are
shown by star (*) symbol, respectively in Figs 4 (a) and 4(b). The maximum subsidence
occurs at the centre of each mine, and the observed subsidence is found to be up to 1 m
at Ratibati and up to about 1.5 m at the Shivadanga coal mines. The effect of subsidence
on the surface is seen up to about 120 m in the case of Ratibati and up to about 240 m
in the case of Shivadanga. The nature of the observed subsidence profiles in the two
mines is very similar with little difference in the bottom of the subsidence troughs
(Figs 4(a) and (b)).
We have taken a generalized coal mine model representative of coal mines of the
Raniganj coal field and carried out numerical studies to predict the subsidence profiles
at the Ratibati and Shivadanga coal mines. The coal mine parameters used for the two
mines are given in Table 1. The average strength of the rock strata given in Fig. 3 is
taken for the two coal mines. From our detailed analyses, we have found a reasonably
close match between predicted and observed profiles in the case of subsidence with rigid
overburden for the Ratibati coal mine and the case of subsidence with flexible
overburden for the Shivadanga coal mine. However, the values of the elastic parameters
of the overburden in the two mines are taken as equal. We have shown the computed

(a) (b)

L±J -0.50 -0.50

U
Z
UJ
Q
i—i
CO
m 1 .00
Z)"
CO
COMPUTED COMPUTED
* « * * * OBSERVED <">»*» OBSERVED
(a) (b)
- 100 0 100 200 -200 200 600
D I S T A N C E ( m) D I S T A N C E ( m)
Fig. 4 Observed and predicted subsidence profile at (a) the Ratibati coal mine, and
(b) the Shivadanga coal mine.
 Subsidence due to coal mining in India 213

Table 1 Coal mine parameters used for the Ratibati coal mine and Shivadanga coal mine.

Parameters Ratibati coal mine Shivadanga coal mine

Extraction width (w) 122 m 214 m

Overburden thickness (H) 42.5 m 104 m
Extraction thickness 3.8 m 2.4 m
Extraction length 189 m 220 m

subsidence up to 200 m from the centre of the Ratibati coal mine with the solid line in
Fig. 4(a). The predicted (computed) subsidence profile is found to be stepped and quite
similar to the observed profile (Fig. 4(a)) for the Ratibati coal mine. The predicted
subsidence in the case of the Shivadanga coal mine is shown in Fig. 4(b) (solid curve)
which is found to be smooth in the case of Shivadanga (flexible overburden) coal mine,
the bottom of the computed and predicted subsidence troughs are similar, however the
nature of the subsidence profile is quite different (Fig. 4(b)). This may be attributed to
the difference between the parameters used for calculation and the real data. The value
of the physical parameters used are only average and do not account for any change with
time and other factors and also various inhomogeneities present in the overburden.
The strength of a rock mass changes with time, therefore the subsidence in a coal
mine is also time dependent. From Fig. 5(a), it is found that the subsidence increases
with time, however the subsidence attains a maximum value which remains almost
constant with the increase in time. It is clearly seen that the subsidence changes only at
the initial period of two years and afterwards it becomes stabilized (Fig. 5(a)). The
subsidence is found to increase with the decrease of overburden thickness for a particular
width of coal seam (Fig. 5(b)). For a particular overburden thickness of coal mine, the
subsidence is found to increase with the increase of extraction width (Fig. 5(b)).

a) (b)
0.0
- T=2 Yrs. H= 5 0 m
WIDTH = 150 m T=5 Yrs. H= 5 0 m
H = 50 T=2 Yrs. H=100 m
H = 150 T=5 Yrs. H=U
~-0.5 H = 300
1SIDENCE
is

: \
: \
:\ \
in

LU
Z)
00
-2.0

i (a) (b)
-2.5- 5 10 15 2 400 800 1200
TIME (YEARS) UIDTH ( m)
Fig. 5 (a) Variation of subsidence with time, (b) Effect of overburden thickness and
extraction width on subsidence.
214 R. P. Singh & R. N. Yadav

CONCLUSIONS

The present study was carried out to predict the subsidence profiles due to underground
coal mining in Indian coal fields. For the validation of the proposed visco-elastic model
for Indian coal mines, the subsidence has been investigated in the Ratibati and
Shivadanga coal mines. In both the mines, the nature of the predicted subsidence profiles
has been found quite similar to that observed in the field. The maximum computed
subsidence has also been found to be in good agreement with the observed data in both
areas. In the case of the Shivadanga coal mine, the overall nature of the subsidence is
similar, however, the predicted subsidence profile is spread over a larger area compared
to that observed. The present results also show the pronounced effect of the width of the
extraction and the overburden thickness on subsidence. The results discussed in the
present paper will be very useful for coal mining planning in India.

Acknowledgements The part of the work is supported through a research project

sponsored by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi.

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