A review of the role of underground measurements in the historical development of rock engineering in South Africa

dc.contributor.authorMalan, D.F. (Daniel Francois)
dc.contributor.authorNapier, J.A.L. (John)
dc.contributor.emailfrancois.malan@up.ac.zaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-16T10:17:21Z
dc.date.available2022-05-16T10:17:21Z
dc.date.issued2021-05
dc.description.abstractThis paper describes some important aspects associated with historical underground measurements in South African gold and coal mines. Deformation measurements were used to confirm the use of elastic theory to simulate the rock mass behaviour in the Witwatersrand gold mines in the 1960s. Although a prominent time-dependent component of stope closure was measured as early as the 1930s, it was ignored owing to the benefit of adopting elastic theory. Neglecting the time-dependent response of the rock for many decades resulted in important aspects such as the effect of mining rate, the effect of advance per blast, and the need for enhanced design criteria not being explored. Recent work is only now starting to address this gap in knowledge. In-situ measurements of large coal specimens in the 1960s and 1970s indicated that a linear formula may possibly be a better approximation of coal pillar strengths. This alternative formulation was never adopted, however, as the power law strength formula was already deeply entrenched in the industry at that stage. In spite of these apparent failures to continuously generate and adopt new knowledge, a key lesson learnt is that major advances in rock mechanics will not be possible without careful monitoring of the rock mass behaviour in experimental sites. Areas requiring further research, such as pillar strength formulae for the Bushveld Complex and enhanced design criteria for the gold mines, can only be developed using extensive underground monitoring programmes.en_US
dc.description.departmentMining Engineeringen_US
dc.description.librarianam2022en_US
dc.description.urihttp://www.saimm.co.za/journal-papersen_US
dc.identifier.citationMalan, D.F. and Napier, J.A.L. 2021 A review of the role of underground measurements in the historical development of rock engineering in South Africa. Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, vol. 121, no. 5, pp. 201–216. DOI ID: http://dx.DOI.org/10.17159/2411-9717/1443/2021.en_US
dc.identifier.issn0038-223X (print)
dc.identifier.issn2225-6253 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.17159/2411-9717/1443/2021
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85213
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherSouthern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgyen_US
dc.rights© The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2021en_US
dc.subjectRock engineeringen_US
dc.subjectUnderground monitoringen_US
dc.subjectElastic theoryen_US
dc.subjectTelastic theoryen_US
dc.subjectPillar strengthen_US
dc.subject.otherEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-04
dc.subject.otherSDG-04: Quality education
dc.subject.otherEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-08
dc.subject.otherSDG-08: Decent work and economic growth
dc.subject.otherEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-09
dc.subject.otherSDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
dc.subject.otherEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-15
dc.subject.otherSDG-15: Life on land
dc.subject.otherEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-12
dc.subject.otherSDG-12: Responsible consumption and production
dc.titleA review of the role of underground measurements in the historical development of rock engineering in South Africaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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