Loads on barricades in hydraulically backfilled underground mine stopes

Authors: Widisinghe, SD; Sivakugan, N; Wang, VZ

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1404_08_Widisinghe

Cite As:
Widisinghe, SD, Sivakugan, N & Wang, VZ 2014, 'Loads on barricades in hydraulically backfilled underground mine stopes', in Y Potvin & T Grice (eds), Mine Fill 2014: Proceedings of the Eleventh International Symposium on Mining with Backfill, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 123-133, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1404_08_Widisinghe

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Abstract:
In the recent past, there has been significant growth in underground mining due to the ever increasing demand for resources and the advancement in technologies. The post-processed tailings are directed back into the mine stopes as backfill, with barricades in place to retain the backfills. Failure of the barricades can be catastrophic and several accidents have been reported in Australia and worldwide that have resulted in fatalities. Proper understanding of the loading on the barricades is necessary to design them with confidence, thus ensuring safe mining practices. The object of this paper is to discuss some laboratory model tests carried out at James Cook University laboratory to investigate the stresses within drives. A novel laboratory apparatus was developed where a cylindrical container with a horizontal drive, filled with dry hydraulic fill, was loaded by the MTS machine. The vertical stresses at the bottom of the stope, near the wall, and the horizontal stresses on the drive were measured using earth pressure cells. This was also simulated numerically using a finite difference code Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua for three dimensions (FLAC3D). Results are compared from three approaches and implications are discussed.

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