6.

Support resistance
• Previous section illustrated the use of tributary area
calculations for bolt design
• Need to determine fallout thickness
– NB: Fallout thickness should be determined for each
mine/geotechnical area
• If fallout caused by prominent parting, problem well defined
– Be careful of undulating partings, however!
6.1 Fallout thickness determined by partings
Example of a persistent prominent parting found above the reef

Anorthosite

Weak shear zone

Thickness of beam to
be supported if only
Anorthosite chromitite seam is to
be mined

Chromitite seam
 6.2 Fallout thickness in other areas
What do we do if there is no ubiquitous dominant structure determining
fallout height?
 6.3 Fallout height from historic records
• Useful technique is to build a database of historic fallout thicknesses
– Every mine should have such a database to verify support designs
• Graph of cumulative number versus fall thickness gives useful insight
 6.4 Cumulative rockfall thicknesses
• Technique commonly used in South Africa to design support
• 95% cumulative fallout thicknesses used historically
• Recent accidents question the validity of this assumption
• As you had falls greater than the 95% fallout, should you
not design for those potential falls as well?
 6.5 Calculating support resistance
• Important design criteria
• Support resistance (SR) given by
SR  t g
• Units of N/m2 ,  is the density of the rock, g is gravitational
acceleration and t is the fallout thickness
Exercise 6.1: Testing support design against historic fallout records
Your mine recently experienced a large fall of ground, but luckily nobody was injured. The
manager is nevertheless very upset and he questions your support design. Your design
currently provides a support resistance of 30 kN/m2. You decide to verify your design and as
part of the process, you collect information about historic collapses at the mine. This is what you
were able to find: Fallout height Fallout height
Date (m) Date (m)
01/12/1990 1.4 23/03/2000 0.8
20/05/1991 0.4 29/09/2000 0.6
06/11/1991 1 07/04/2001 1.4
24/04/1992 1 14/10/2001 1
11/10/1992 2.2 22/04/2002 0.6
30/03/1993 1.2 29/10/2002 0.8
16/09/1993 0.6 07/05/2003 1.4
05/03/1994 0.8 13/11/2003 1
22/08/1994 1 21/05/2004 1
08/02/1995 1.2 27/11/2004 0.6
28/07/1995 0.8 05/06/2005 1.2
14/01/1996 1.2 12/12/2005 1
02/07/1996 0.6 20/06/2006 1.6
19/12/1996 1.2 27/12/2006 1
07/06/1997 1.6 05/07/2007 0.6
24/11/1997 1 11/01/2008 0.6
13/05/1998 1 19/07/2008 0.4
30/10/1998 0.6 25/01/2009 1
18/04/1999 1.4 03/08/2009 2
05/10/1999 1 13/09/2010 2.2
a) Draw a cumulative percentage / fallout thickness graph.
b) Test your current support resistance value. Assume a rock density of 2700 kg/m3.
Exercise 6.2: Support design
For the previous example, do an appropriate new bolt design based on the principles learnt
earlier. You can choose between any of the following bolts:

1. End-anchored bolts with a capacity of 8 tons

2. Friction anchors with a pull-out resistance of 50 kN/m
3. Inflatable tendons (water release) with a pullout resistance of 8 tons for a bond length of 800
mm and a pullout of 1.5 tons for a bond length of 300 mm (assume a linear pullout/bond
length relationship)
4. 10 ton inflatable tendons with a non-return valve and a critical bond length of 250 mm

Determine the following:

a) Spacing of the bolt
b) The length of the bolt
c) How does the support resistance of the new system compare to the requirements