Rock Mass Stability Investigation Around Tunnels in an Underground Mine in USA

Stability and deformation of rock masses around tunnels in underground mines play significant roles on the safety and efficient exploitation of the ore body. Therefore, understanding of geomechanical behavior around underground excavations is important and necessary. In this study, a three-dimensional numerical model was built and stress analyses were performed by using 3DEC software for an underground mine in USA using the available information on stratigraphy, geological structures and mechanical properties of rock masses and discontinuities. Investigations were conducted to study the effect of the lateral stress ratio (K0), material constitutive models, boundary conditions and rock support system on the stability of rock masses around the tunnels. Results of the stress, displacement, failure zone, accumulated plastic shear strain and post-failure cohesion distributions were obtained for these cases. Finally, comparisons of the deformation were made between the field deformation measurements and numerical simulations. © 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.