MINERAL RESOURCES EXPLOITATION
Rock burst represents a very dangerous phenomenon in deep underground mining, as well as for underground structures in unfavourable conditions (great depth, high horizontal stress, proximity of major tectonic structures, etc.). The rock burst problem relates to the natural and mining conditions of the rock mass. The evaluation of rock burst is becoming increasingly important as mining activities reach greater depths. In the literature, rock burst assessment challenge was tackled by many researchers using various methods. However, no study providing review and comparison of different rock burst assessment methods is available. In this paper, rock burst classification is briefly summarized. This includes a classification based on rock burst type, and another classification based on rock burst severity. As an important method for rock burst prevention, some novel energy-absorbing bolts were developed. These bolts demonstrate constant resistance under both static and shock loads and large elongation ability enabling them to withstand large deformations of rock masses under rock burst-prone conditions. Among the novel energy absorbing bolts, Modified Cone Bolt (MCB) and Constant Resistance at Large Deformation (CRLD) Bolt are selected to be presented in this paper.
BENEFICIATION AND PROCESSING OF NATURAL AND TECHNOGENIC RAW MATERIALS
SAFETY IN MINING AND PROCESSING INDUSTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
The findings of review of promising methods and techniques providing increasing effectiveness of degassing of coal seams containing methane in the process of their underground mining are presented. Based on the review findings, traditional methods and techniques of degassing were identified, the effectiveness of which is 12–25 %, as well as unconventional methods providing methane degassing of up to 40%. As a classification feature of the unconventional methods and techniques of gaseous methane liberation, a condition of decreasing pressure and increasing temperature of coal matrix containing solid gas hydrate has been adopted. The conditions for methane transition from gas hydrate to free gas taking into account actual mining and technogenic conditions of the mines have been identified. Given the difficulty of supplying additional thermal energy into a coal seam, as the main way to reduce pressure in the seam, unloading of the rock mass relative to the initial stress state, and disruption of coal and rocks in the course of transition from their elastic deformation to elastic-plastic and out-of-limit deformation are accepted.
MINING MACHINERY, TRANSPORT, AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Intensification of coal mining from mine seams of 0.55–1.20 m thick requires increasing efficiency of loose coal loading that may be achieved by selecting the optimal parameters of auger operating device of a shearer. The most reliable way to determine effect of the auger parameters on the energy parameters of the shearer operation is experimental research in actual operating conditions. As the subjects of the research, we selected up-to-date UKD400 and UKD200-500 shearers, operating in representative conditions of the Krasny Partizan mine of SE SVERDLOVANTRATSIT and Ternovskaya mine of DTEK PAVLOGRADUGOL PJSC. An adaptive method for specific mining operating conditions is proposed for determining the specific energy consumption of the shearers on material disruption and loading for thin seams in actual operating conditions based on fixing the values of currents of the cutting drive motors. Based on processing of the experimental data, an indicative dependence of the power for rock mass loading on the feed rate and the effective width of the operating device is determined. Increasing the auger effective width results in increasing the loading power and specific energy consumption. At the same time, the higher the shearer feed rate, the greater the growth of the loading power and specific energy consumption. This is due to the beginning of the process of loose rock mass circulation, and the larger the auger effective width, the more intensive the circulation process, and at the lower feed rate of the shearer the process starts. A method is proposed for selecting the auger optimum effective width based on the criteria of minimum specific energy consumption and maximum commercial productivity.
Conveyor transport at a modern coal mine is the main link that determines the overall performance of the enterprise. For safe operation of belt conveyors, it is important to ensure that shift output per face doesn’t produce average and maximum minute material flows, which exceed strength margin of the belt, power margin of the drive, and receiving capacity. Such situation, as a rule, may arise due to the strive of workers to compensate for underproduction caused by long downtimes of a face for any reason. In the paper, a method is proposed that enables determining the maximum shift output per face. According to the technique described in the “Basic Provisions for Designing Underground Transport of New and Existing Coal Mines,” the average minute material flow, which determines the operational load on a belt conveyor, depends on the material feed time factor. Accepting the assumption that a coal shearer works the entire shift in a face, the limiting value of the material feed time factor is equal to 1. To determine the actual value of this factor, it is proposed to determine the face operating (production) time using actual planogram. The shift time is spent for preparatory and finishing operations, the face equipment and conveyor line troubleshooting and failure recovery, auxiliary service operations and, finally, operational and organizational downtimes. On the actual planogram, these time intervals are displayed by straight-line portions. Thus, the shift time minus downtime for any reason, represents the face production time. The ratio of these values represents the operation factor. Applying the operation factor allows to determine the maximum limiting face production, not only taking into account the volume of coal mined per cycle, but also based on coal cuttability and technical specifications of the face equipment. This enables us to determine the face production load that ensures safe operation of the belt conveyor.