STUDY OF BEHAVIOR MECHANICALLY STABILIZED EARTH WALL (MSE-WALL) WITH SAND ON THE MODEL TEST IN THE LABORATORY

Different types of field conditions coupled with rapid technological developments gave birth to innovations in the construction of retaining walls. One type of landslide deterrence construction that began to be developed in Indonesia is the Mechanically Stabilized Earth Wall or often called the MSE wall. The main components of the MSE wall are backfill material, lateral reinforcement and facing panel. In this final project, research will be conducted to observe the behavior of MSE wall systems on a laboratory scale.The study was conducted by planning the innovation of the facing panel form and the variation in the number of reinforcement layers. The variations of reinforcement are 1 layer, 2 layers, 3 layers, 4 layers and without reinforcement. The reinforcement used is sack as a substitute for geotextile woven with selected pile material is sand. In testing the prototype of the MSE wall, a dial gauge is used to find out the deformation, while for loading it uses a jack-push tool.From these tests, the data obtained in the form of shifts, lateral stresses, and the maximum load of the results of the study showed that the application of reinforcement can affect the amount of lateral stress, shifting, and load. The minimum lateral stress is 0.023 kg/cm2 and the maximum load that can be held by the MSE wall is 75 kg.

GAN inversion method of an initial in situ stress field based on the lateral stress coefficient

The initial in situ stress field influences underground engineering design and construction. Since the limited measured data, it is necessary to obtain an optimized stress field. Although the present stress field can be obtained by valley evolution simulation, the accuracy of the ancient stress field has a remarkable influence. This paper proposed a method using the generative adversarial network (GAN) to obtain optimized lateral stress coefficients of the ancient stress field. A numerical model with flat ancient terrain surfaces is established. Utilizing the nonlinear relationship between measured stress components and present burial depth, lateral stress coefficients of ancient times are estimated to obtain the approximate ancient stress field. Uniform designed numerical tests are carried out to simulate the valley evolution by excavation. Coordinates, present burial depth, present lateral stress coefficients and ancient regression factors of lateral stress coefficients are input to GAN as real samples for training, and optimized ancient regression factors can be predicted. The present stress field is obtained by excavating strata layers. Numerical results show the magnitude and distribution law of the present stress field match well with measured points, thus the proposed method for the stress field inversion is effective.

The Effect of Curing under Applied Stress on the Mechanical Performance of Cement Paste Backfill

After placing the Cement Paste Backfill (CPB) slurry in mined cavities underground, during the setting and hardening processes, the weight and hydrostatic pressure of the upper-layer CPB slurry applies an axial load over the bottom-layer CPB materials, which is called the self-consolidation of CPB slurry. Due to this phenomenon, the mechanical properties of in situ CPB could be considerably different from laboratory results. Hence, it is crucial to understand the effect of self-consolidation behaviour on the mechanical properties of backfill material. This paper presents an experimental study on the impact of axial applied stress (As) during curing, which represents the various self-consolidation conditions and curing times on the mechanical properties of CPB material prepared using the tailings of a copper mine in South Australia and a newly released commercially manufactured cement called Minecem (MC). A curing under pressure apparatus (CPA) is designed to cure CPB samples under axial applied stress. The equipment can apply and measure axial load during curing and measure the passive lateral stress due to axial load which represents the horizontal stresses at a certain depth of CPB stope on the retaining structure. The prepared samples with axially applied pressure during curing were tested under uniaxial and triaxial compressive loading conditions. Microstructural tests by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were also used to study the fabric evolution in response to various applied stresses during curing. Overall, the increase in As during curing leads to higher resultant CPB peak strength and stiffness under uniaxial and triaxial compression tests. For instance, a sample cured under 3.6 MPa axial load for 28 days demonstrates a uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) value of five times more than a sample cured under atmospheric curing conditions. Passive lateral stress was measured during the curing period and was representative of underground barricade stress. Furthermore, during curing, the axial applied stress changed the initial CPB pore structure after placement. With the increase in applied stress, the stress compressed CPB samples at the macroscale, leading to much smaller pores or cracks prior to the hydration process. At an early stage, the increase in UCS due to axial applied stress mainly arises from a dense microstructure caused by the compression of tailings and cement particles. With the increase in curing time, the observation also shows that a CPB matrix with fewer pore spaces may improve the hydration progress; hence, the influence of axial applied stress becomes more pronounced in long-term UCS.

The Deformation Characteristics and Lateral Stress of Roadside Crushed Rocks with Different Particles in Non-Pillar Coal Mining

Gob-side entry retaining formed by roof fracturing (GERRF) is a popular non-pillar mining method. The method uses crushed rocks in gob side to support and control the movements of the gob roof. These crushed rocks will deform under roof pressure and generate desirable lateral stress on support structures of gangue rib. In this study, the deformation behavior of crushed mudstones with different particle sizes under incremental loading was investigated with an innovative experimental device that simulated boundary conditions of the GERRF method. Influence of particle size of the crushed mudstones to the generation of lateral stress applied on support structures were concurrently observed and analyzed. Research outputs from the tests showed that: (1) The particle size exerted a significant influence on the accumulated axial deformation, period axial deformation, and lateral stress applied on support structure of crushed rocks. (2) Under the same axial stress, the larger the particle size, the smaller the accumulated axial deformation of the crushed rock; A skeletal loading-bearing effect was apparent in the rock samples with larger particles (S-2, S-3). The compressive deformation process of samples S-2, S-3 divided into structural adjustment, skeletal load-bearing and crushing cum filling phases. At skeletal loading-bearing phase, the crushed rocks showed better deformation resistance and stability than other phases; (3) Two types of periodic stress-strain curves were observed for crushed mudstones in the tests. The “down-concave” type implied the deformation for the crushed mudstones was primarily a consequence of the compression in the void spaces. While the “upper-convex” type curve was resulted in particle crushing cum filling again; (4) The lateral pressure generated by large-size samples was smaller than that of small-size samples. Additionally, a poor regularity of lateral stress was observed in compression test of large-size sample (S-3). The relationship between the axial stress and lateral stress generated on the support structure was found to be approximately linear relationship under the condition that lateral pressure shows good regularity.

Optimization of a cable support strategy for roadways in coal mines by using the PSO algorithm

Cables are commonly used for roadway support in coal mines. Traditionally, support schemes show characteristics of excessive strength and resource waste; therefore, determining how to scientifically and economically arrange the distribution of cables is important for engineering practice. To obtain the best distribution of cables, in this paper, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and FLAC3D numerical simulation were combined to conduct numerical simulations. Finally, the best cable distribution considering safety and economy was determined. By analyzing the numerical simulation results, it can be concluded that the PSO algorithm can be applied to determine the optimal cable distribution for roadway support and can be applied to engineering practice. In addition, the best cable arrangement of a roadway under different lateral stress coefficients was obtained, and it can be concluded that the cable arrangement should be adjusted according to specific circumstances.

In Situ Stress Distribution and Its Control on the Coalbed Methane Reservoir Permeability in Liulin Area, Eastern Ordos Basin, China

Permeability is one of the important factors that affect the production efficiency of coalbed methane, and it is mainly controlled by in situ stress. Therefore, it is very essential to study the in situ stress and permeability for the extraction of coalbed methane. Based on the injection/falloff well test and in situ stress measurement of 35 coalbed methane wells in the Liulin area in the east of the Ordos basin, the correlations between initial reservoir pressure, in situ stress, lateral stress coefficient, permeability, and burial depth were determined. Finally, the distribution characteristics of in situ stress and its influence on permeability were analyzed systematically. The results show that with the increase of burial depth, the initial reservoir pressure and in situ stress both increase, while the lateral stress coefficient decreases. The permeability variation is related to the type of stress field in different burial depths, and its essence is the deformation and destruction of coal pore structures caused by stress. The distribution characteristics of in situ stress at different depths and its effect on permeability are as follows: at depths < 800 m , the horizontal principal stress is dominant ( σ H ≥ σ v > σ h ) and the permeability is a simple decreasing process with the increase of the depth; at depths > 800 m , the vertical stress is dominant ( σ v ≥ σ H > σ h ). The permeability of most coal is very small due to the large in situ stresses in this depth zone. However, because of the stress release at the syncline axis, coal with high permeability is still possible at this depth zone. Due to the existence of high permeability data points at burial depth (>800 m) and the fitting relationship between permeability and vertical stress, the maximum and minimum horizontal principal stress is poor. However, the coal permeability and lateral stress coefficient show a good negative exponential relationship. This indicates that the lateral stress coefficient can be used to predict permeability better.

Mechanical properties and progressive failure characteristics of sandstone containing elliptical and square openings subjected to biaxial stress

Two kinds of common tunnel shapes, i.e. elliptical opening and square opening were selected for biaxial compression tests, and the influences of two kinds of opening shapes on the mechanical properties, failure characteristics and failure modes of sandstone were compared and analyzed. The complex variable theory and mapping functions were used to obtain the analytical stress solution around elliptical and square openings. The results show that the stability of the specimen containing an elliptical opening was better than that of the specimen containing a square opening under the same lateral stress. Compared with the elliptical opening, the local damage was formed earlier in the square opening which might be caused by a higher stress concentration around the square opening. The stress distributions around openings were influenced by the opening shape and lateral stress coefficient. The top and bottom of square opening were more prone to tensile fracture, and the distribution range of tensile was larger than that of elliptical opening. When the opening failed, the intensity of square opening failure was weaker than that of elliptical opening. On the basis of the average frequency value and the rise angle value, the failure mode of specimen containing elliptical or square opening was distinguished. It was found that the mixed tension and shear failure dominated the failure of specimens with different opening shapes, and the number of shear cracks in the specimen containing a square opening was greater than that in the specimen containing an elliptical opening. The above method of judging failure mode by acoustic emission signals was well verified by the CT images of damaged specimens.