Geomechanical analysis of location and conditions for mining-induced tremors in LGOM copper mines

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the statistical analyses of rock mass seismicity associated with O/ZG Rudna exploitation and geomechanical analyses concerning the location and conditions of tremor occurrences in LGOM conditions, illustrated by the example of O/ZG Rudna. As part of the statistical analyses, the assessment of rock mass seismicity formation in O/ZG Rudna throughout the whole mine area in the years 2006–2015 is presented, the results of which were the basis for subsequent geo-mechanical analyses. Within the parameters of seismic activity, the analysis covered the number of recorded events, the total value of energy emission and the index of individual energy expenditure. The presented analyses also refer to the locations of tremor source epicentres in relation to the exploitation front, distinguished into low energy and high energy tremors located ahead of the exploitation front, in the area of opening-up works and gobs. These recent results were the starting point for research and calculations on geo-mechanical analyses. These numerical calculations using the finite element method (FEM) carried out the energy density distribution of elastic deformation in the vicinity of the exploitation front. FEM calculations were designed to establish the factors and conditions that determine the location of tremor sources and the mechanism of rock destruction. Both of these factors are directly related to the magnitude of the energy emitted during the tremor. Appropriate energy measurements of elastic deformation have been adopted to determine rock mass areas which are potentially threatened by tremor occurrences of varying energy. Measures of the energy density of shear and volumetric strain enable the determination of the nature of rock mass destruction in the vicinity of mine workings, which in turn gives the basis for linking these measurements with tremor energy and location relative to the exploitation front. The results of numerical computations were compared with the results of statistical analyses on the locations of tremor sources with different energies in relation to the exploitation front in O/ZG Rudna.