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Mining
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Application of Empirical, Analytical, and Numerical Approaches in Mining Geomechanics,...
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Application of Empirical, Analytical, and Numerical Approaches in Mining Geomechanics, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Mining (ISSN 2673-6489).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 4005

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mohammad H.B. (Farzine) Nasseri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A4, Canada
Interests: experimental rock mechanics; rock fracture mechanics; rock mass characterization; transport properties in rocks; THM properties of rocks; true triaxial testing of rock samples; triggered and induced seismicity; hydrofracking under triaxial and true triaxial stress regimes
Prof. Dr. Bibhu Mohanty

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A4, Canada
Interests: rock dynamics and fragmentation; modelling of dynamic fracture process and blasting; detonation physics and performance of explosives impact; strain-rate sensitivity; strength and fracture of rock; explosion hazards and blast resistant structures
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During the past few decades, mining activities and operations have benefited from the application of geomechanical and geotechnical approaches in mine planning/design and ground control management to minimize unsafe working conditions and avoid catastrophic mine failures. Appropriate mine planning and design and its subsequent modifications for any mine site requires a detailed level of ground condition investigation by an experienced geomechanical expert with sound judgment. In addition, a ground control management strategy at any mining site should oversee the geotechnical uncertainty at the design execution phase in order to avoid and mitigate the magnitudes of unfavourable results to a tolerable level.

Improved knowledge of rock mass behaviour, the development of empirical, analytical, and numerical approaches for geomechanical mine design, and proper evaluation of material characteristics under different loading conditions have contributed toward the safer execution of mining activities and the management of geotechnical risks. Continuous geotechnical data collection and its optimization using smarter ground support instrumentation and the application of advanced data analysis techniques have proved to be essential tools in providing proactive measures to enhance mine production efficiency and limit the potential risk of geomechanical failures.

This Special Issue will comprise a selection of papers addressing state-of-the-art approaches that are applied in mining geomechanics within the scope of the following topics:

  • Geological structures;
  • Drilling and blasting;
  • Pit slope failures;
  • Instrumentation and monitoring;
  • Rock bursts and other seismic events;
  • Geotechnical/geomechanical data collection and analysis;
  • Underground stope and pillar dimensioning;
  • Sequencing stope extraction and filling;
  • Opening size and geometry;
  • Ground support/timing and reinforcement;
  • Hydrological considerations;
  • Explosion hazards and blasting vibrations.

Dr. Mohammad H.B. (Farzine) Nasseri
Prof. Dr. Bibhu Mohanty
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Mining is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 7401 KiB  
Article
A Field-Scale Framework for Assessing the Influence of Measure-While-Drilling Variables on Geotechnical Characterization Using a Boruta-SHAP Approach
by Daniel Goldstein, Chris Aldrich, Quanxi Shao and Louisa O’Connor
Mining 2025, 5(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/mining5010020 - 20 Mar 2025
Viewed by 195
Abstract
This study presents an application of Boruta-SHapley Additive ExPlanations (Boruta-SHAP) for geotechnical characterization using Measure-While-Drilling (MWD) data, enabling a more interpretable and statistically rigorous assessment of feature importance. Measure-While-Drilling data collected at the scale of an open-pit mine was [...] Read more.
This study presents an application of Boruta-SHapley Additive ExPlanations (Boruta-SHAP) for geotechnical characterization using Measure-While-Drilling (MWD) data, enabling a more interpretable and statistically rigorous assessment of feature importance. Measure-While-Drilling data collected at the scale of an open-pit mine was used to characterize geotechnical properties using regression-based machine learning models. In contrast to previous studies using MWD data to recognize rock type using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which only identifies the directions of maximum variance, the Boruta-SHAP method quantifies the individual contribution of each Measure-While-Drilling variable. This method ensures interpretable and reliable geotechnical characterization as well as robust feature selection by comparing predictors against randomized ‘shadow’ features. The Boruta-SHAP analysis revealed that bit air pressure and torque-to-penetration ratio were the most significant predictors of rock strength, contradicting previous assumptions that rate of penetration was the dominant factor. Moreover, feature importance was conducted for fracture frequency and Geological Strength Index (GSI), a rock mass classification system. A comparative analysis of prediction performance was also performed using a range of different machine learning algorithms that resulted in strong coefficient of determinations of actual field or laboratory results versus predicted values. The results are plausible, confirming that MWD data could provide a high-resolution description of geotechnical conditions prior to mining, leading to a more confident prediction of subsurface geotechnical properties. Therefore, the fragmentation from blasting as well as downstream operational phases, such as digging, hauling, and crushing, could be improved effectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Empirical, Analytical, and Numerical Approaches in Mining Geomechanics, 2nd Edition)
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21 pages, 11068 KiB  
Article
A Methodology for Assessing the Impact of In Situ Fractures on the Intensity of Blast-Induced Damage
by Omid Karimi, Marie-Helene Fillion and Philip Dirige
Mining 2025, 5(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/mining5010007 - 7 Jan 2025
Viewed by 868
Abstract
Drilling and blasting is the conventional method used for rock fragmentation in open pit mining. Blast-induced damage can reduce the level of stability of benches and pit slopes. To develop an optimal blast design, an adequate knowledge of the rock properties and in [...] Read more.
Drilling and blasting is the conventional method used for rock fragmentation in open pit mining. Blast-induced damage can reduce the level of stability of benches and pit slopes. To develop an optimal blast design, an adequate knowledge of the rock properties and in situ fractures is needed. Fractures are generally the paths of least resistance for explosive energy and can affect the intensity of blast-induced damage. Discrete Fracture Networks (DFNs) are 3D representations of joint systems used for estimating the distribution of in situ fractures in a rock mass. The combined finite/discrete element method (FDEM) can be used to simulate the complex rock breakage process during a blast. The objective of this paper is to develop a methodology for assessing the influence of in situ joints on post-blast fracturing and the associated wall damage in 2D bench blast scenarios. First, a simple one-blasthole scenario is analyzed with the FDEM software Irazu 2D and calibrated based on a laboratory-scale blasting experiment available from previous literature. Secondly, more complex scenarios consisting of one-blasthole models at the bench scale were simulated. A bench blast without DFN (base case) and one with DFN were numerically simulated. The model with DFN demonstrated that the growth path and intensity of blast-induced fractures were governed by pre-existing fractures, which led to a smaller wall damage area. The damage intensity for the base case scenario is about 82% higher than for the blast model with DFN included, which highlights the significance of in situ fractures in the resulting blast damage intensity. The methodology for developing the DFN-included blasting simulation provides a more realistic modeling process for blast-induced wall damage assessment. This results in a better characterization of the blast damage zone and can lead to improved slope stability analyses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Empirical, Analytical, and Numerical Approaches in Mining Geomechanics, 2nd Edition)
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17 pages, 18471 KiB  
Article
Finite-Difference Analysis of Influence of Borehole Diameter and Spacing on Reduction in Rockburst Potential of Burst-Prone Coal Seams
by Mikhail O. Eremin, Artyom O. Chirkov, Albert Pazhin, Sergey A. Laptev and Dmitriy V. Chanov
Mining 2024, 4(4), 1058-1074; https://doi.org/10.3390/mining4040058 - 2 Dec 2024
Viewed by 726
Abstract
Decreasing the rockburst potential in longwall mining of burst-prone coal seams has been a longstanding challenge for geotechnical engineering worldwide. One of the effective approaches is drilling of relief boreholes in front of the coal seam face from the airways. This work presents [...] Read more.
Decreasing the rockburst potential in longwall mining of burst-prone coal seams has been a longstanding challenge for geotechnical engineering worldwide. One of the effective approaches is drilling of relief boreholes in front of the coal seam face from the airways. This work presents a novel approach based on the integral rockburst factor (KIrb) taking account of the length of the dynamic abutment stress influence zone and the ratio of the vertical stress to the remote field virgin stress. The geotechnical conditions of seam 3 of the Alardinskaya mine (Kuznetsky basin, Russia) are taken as a study site. An approach of the finite-difference continuum damage mechanics is employed to describe the processes of deformation and fracture of coal and host rocks using an in-house software. The results indicate that the abutment stress maximum shifts deep into the seam after drilling and that the stress distribution along the coal seam horizon is a superposition of the solutions similar to those of the elastoplastic Kirsch problem. The results also indicate that the curves of KIrb dependence on spacing between the boreholes and their diameter are nonlinear and non-monotonic functions, which allows for optimizing of the drilling technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Empirical, Analytical, and Numerical Approaches in Mining Geomechanics, 2nd Edition)
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23 pages, 13906 KiB  
Article
FLAC3D Simulation of Caving Mechanism and Strata Fracture Response in Underground Mining
by Mahdi Saadat, Mattin Khishvand and Andrew Seccombe
Mining 2024, 4(4), 818-840; https://doi.org/10.3390/mining4040046 - 16 Oct 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1611
Abstract
This paper presents an innovative numerical approach to simulating the progressive caving of rock mass in the overburden and floor during longwall mining. A modified caving algorithm is incorporated into FLAC3D 9.0, augmented with the IMASS constitutive model, to accurately replicate the fracturing [...] Read more.
This paper presents an innovative numerical approach to simulating the progressive caving of rock mass in the overburden and floor during longwall mining. A modified caving algorithm is incorporated into FLAC3D 9.0, augmented with the IMASS constitutive model, to accurately replicate the fracturing response of various strata. This study aimed to analyze the longwall caving performance, overburden fracturing response, and shield support characteristics to optimize the mining process and enhance safety. The numerical analysis revealed a progressive stress release at the longwall face, attributed to damage in the form of spalling, which was accompanied by a high level of displacement. The fracture process zone above the shield canopy was not significant, indicating the effective performance of the shield in controlling the roof. However, the floor heave highlights the need for the implementation of effective risk and safety measures. Goaf is predicted to form with a longwall advance rate of 25.0–30.0 m, resulting from progressive macroscopic fracturing caused by the development of cracks initiated by bedding plane and rock mass failures. Above the caved zone, an active fracture zone is observed to evolve due to the continuous longwall mining and caving process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Empirical, Analytical, and Numerical Approaches in Mining Geomechanics, 2nd Edition)
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