PRESSURE ARCH THEORY (LONGWALL)

Prepared by
P. VINAY CHARY
INTRODUCTION
THE MINING ENVIRONMENT

IN-SITU STRESSES
 Ground Control
 No excavation No Problem

 All rock in the ground subjected to

compressive stresses and if excavation is made
the rock left standing has to take more load
because the original support provided by the
rock within the excavation has been removed.
Insitu and Induced stresses and their
representation
 STRESS BENEATH SURFACE

Natural stresses which exist prior to excavation. The natural stress field
can be composed of gravitational stress, tectonic stresses and residual
stresses.
Induced stresses are man-made stress component due to removal or
addition of material.
Insitu and Induced stresses and their
representation
Vertical and horizontal stresses
Longwall retreating panel
Cutaway view of a typical longwall panel and gate roads
during retreating longwall coal mining
Pressure arch theory
 Pressure arch theory
 An excavation is made in the strata, the pre mining system
of forces is disturbed, and the latent energy which existed in
the strata is released and the pressure redistributes itself.
 The bending of roof beds will cause the beds to sag away
from each other and thus become distressed.
 The deflected vertical compressive fore P will skirt the
distressed region along the line of contact of beds A, B, C,
D.
 Pressure arch theory
The line of increased pressure is known as ‘Pressure arch’ or
‘Pressure dome’ or ‘Pressure ellipse’, the shape of which will
largely be determined by the thickness and strengths of the
beds.
Similar distribution of the compressive forces P-1 and P-2, and
the shearing force S, will develop in the floor and these will
tend to force the floor bed into the roadway and cause floor lift.
As the face advance the roof beds converge in the working
Abutment pressure in and around a
panel(isometric view)
Front and back Abutment pressure
Front and back Abutment pressure
 Abutment pressure
 When an opening is created in a coal seam, the
stress that was present before the opening was
created is re-distributed to the adjacent coal pillars
that are left.
 The areas within the remaining coal where the
vertical stress is greater than the average are called
abutments and hence the stresses in those areas are
called abutment pressures.
 Front abutment Pressure
The beds which become detached from the beds above are
relieved of the weight of the higher strata and the load which
was originally acting vertically over the excavated area then
deflects and bridges over the working area and transmits its
weight forward to some region ahead of the coal face known
as front abutment pressure.
Depending on the local condition, the front abutment
pressure can first be detected at a distance of one half to one
times the overburden depth out by the face.
 Front abutment Pressure
When the face approaches to within 30m, it begins to increase
rapidly. It reaches the maximum value, ranging from 0.5 to 6.0
times the overburden pressure, when the face is 1-6m in bye.
After that the pressure drops drastically and vanishes at the face
line.
Front abutment loads, 1.8-8.0 times the overburden pressure have
been observed over a 10-30 m wide strip, parallel to the extraction
front.
This overpressure may manifest itself up to even 60 m from the
extraction front.
 Side Abutment Pressure
The growth of side abutment pressure resembles that of the front
abutment pressure.
The maximum side abutment pressure, ranging from 0.4 to 3.5 times
the overburden weight, occurs in the first pillar near the goaf edge.
 It decrease exponentially away from the goaf edge. The width of the
side abutment pressure zone can be approximated by

Ws = 9.3 √h

Where h is seam depth.

Convergence is generally less than 50-75 mm before the face moves in.
 Rear or Back Abutment Pressure
 The beds which become detached from the beds above are
relieved of the weight of the higher strata and the load which was
originally acting vertically over the excavated area then deflects
and bridges over the working area and transmits its weight
forward to some region backward behind the coal face at a region
where the again make contact by subsidence of the higher beds
known as back abutment pressure.
 It is located in the goaf area bridging between the main gate tail
gate road. In this abutment pressure the maximum pressure
which is felt is the overburden pressure.
 Conclusion
 For the analysis of stability of underground openings, the
knowledge of stresses, strength and failure mechanism are
important.
  The idea of the stress concentrations and their effects on the
surroundings of the openings helps the design engineers to plan
a suitable method of support system.
  However the knowledge of rock mass properties are still to be
acquired and rock mass classification systems is an attempt
towards the purpose. And also knowing of creep phenomena
or time dependent behavior of the rocks.
THANK YOU