Abstract:

Until now, the prediction techniques of mining collaps and subsidence, a common form of geohazards in underground mining, fall under two basic categories, empirical and phenomenological. The empirical theories are principally based on observations and experience from field collaps and subsidence studies. Some of the empirical or analytical models have proved sufficiently reliable for collaps and subsidence prediction, at least for a given region. Many of these have been successfully applied in a number of countries, especially in Europe. Phenomenological techniques are based on equivalent material modeling principles where the collapsing and subsiding strata are mathematically represented as idealized materials that obey the laws of continuum mechanics. But the equivalent material modeling method has not achieved much success to date, mainly due to the difficulty of representing complex geologic properties of the strata and also very costly and time-consuming. The paper presents some analytical or empirical models and some investigation results by using numerical tools. These results, obtained from the numerical models, shows obviously the advantages of numerical methods