International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

International Journal of
Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrmms

Determination of the minimum thickness of crown pillar for safe exploitation

of a subsea gold mine based on numerical modelling
Xibing Li n, Diyuan Li, Zhixiang Liu, Guoyan Zhao, Weihua Wang
School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 11 October 2011
Received in revised form
8 June 2012
Accepted 17 August 2012
Available online 23 October 2012

Sanshandao gold mine, located at the east coastline of Bohai Sea in the Shandong Province, is the rst
subsea metal mine in China. Since the mining activities are carried out under sea, it is of vital
importance to maintain the stability of the crown pillar and to keep the sea water out from the
excavations. In this paper, the minimum required thickness of crown pillar is determined based on 3D
numerical modelling and analysis. A realistic geometric subsea gold mine is modelled by integrating
the usage of SURPAC and FLAC3D. The numerical analysis is carried out by FLAC3D, in which the
inuences of sea water pressure as well as mining sequences have been considered. The distributions of
the principal stresses, displacements, plastic zones and pore pressures in the crown pillar are obtained
by simulating the cut-and-ll stoping method at different excavation levels (above level  115 m). The
eld displacement observation shows that the vertical deformation rate of crown pillar is smaller than
0.023%. It reveals that the reserved safety factor is about 1.43 when using cut-and-ll stoping method
from level  165 m to  115 m in the subsea gold mine. The mining activities may extend to level
 95 m according to the numerical analysis results. A four-year-eld practice shows that the numerical
analysis is helpful to determine the minimum crown pillar thickness in the challenging subsea
gold mine.
& 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Subsea gold mine
Numerical modelling
Crown pillar
Cut-and-ll stoping method
Safe exploitation

1. Introduction
With the depletion of mineral resources in near surface
ground, mining exploitation in challenging environments such
as at great depth and under sea water has become an inevitable
trend all over the world. There are plenty of mineral resources
along and around the coastlines in China, where the total length
of coastline is over 32,000 km. Therefore, it is imperative to carry
out studies on rock mechanics-related problems with regard to
the safe exploitation of subsea minerals. A key question for subsea
mining is to determine the minimum required thickness of crown
pillar and to keep the sea water out from mining excavations. The
research in this eld is relatively scarce except the Norwegian
experience on subsea tunnels in the Nordic countries and recently
in China [17]. Nilsen [8], Dahlo and Nilsen [9], Li et al. [4,5] have
discussed the stability problem and the minimum thickness of the
rock cover in subsea tunnels. However, the Norwegian experience
in subsea tunnels cannot be directly applied to subsea mines
because subsea mining is technically more complicated than
subsea tunnel construction. The size of mining stope is usually

Corresponding author. Tel.: 86 731 88879612.

E-mail addresses: xbli@mail.csu.edu.cn (X. Li),
lidiyuan123@hotmail.com (D. Li).
1365-1609/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmms.2012.08.005

larger than that of tunnels and the blasting induced disturbance

in subsea mine is more severe than that in subsea tunnel.
Nevertheless, the researches on the stability assessment of crown
pillars for underground mines have been extensively reported and
discussed [1016]. Hutchinson et al. [13] pointed out that three
types of methods were used to assess the stability of the crown
pillar, which included empirical analysis methods, mechanistic
analysis methods and numerical analysis methods. For example,
the scaled span method, one of the empirical analysis methods
suggested by Carter [10], has been used to determine the stability
of surface crown pillars in both active and abandoned mines for
more than a decade. However, for stress distribution and rigorous
failure mode analysis of crown pillars, numerical analysis method
is a better choice. In addition, the authors have conducted case
studies on the determination of safe crown pillar thickness
between underground stope and open-pit mine by using different
analysis methods [17]. The experience can guide us to handle the
relevant technical problem. However, the inuence of sea water
constitutes a new challenge.
Numerical modelling is an efcient technique to enhance the
understanding of the mechanical response of crown pillars
associated with subsea mining. The Itasca software FLAC3D is
widely used in geotechnical and mining engineering. The model
construction part in FLAC3D is however not easy for complex
mining conditions [18]. Therefore, we resort to other commercial

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

software for constructing numerical models, which are then input

into FLAC3D for further analysis. The mining software SURPAC can
realize a 3D vision of mines conveniently [19]. However, SURPAC
cannot handle complex stability analysis. One approach to tackle
that problem is to integrate SURPAC and FLAC3D. Some successful
underground mining model construction examples in China were
introduced by Lin et al. [20], Liu et al. [21], and Luo et al. [22]
through integrating SURPAC and FLAC3D. More recently, Grenon
and Hadjigeorgiou integrated a probabilistic limit equilibrium
approach into Gemcom SURPAC for an open pit design and slope
stability analysis [23]. Grenon and Laamme carried out slope
orientation assessment for open-pit mines based on the digital
elevation model and GIS algorithms [24]. In this study, a 3D block
model for a subsea gold mine is built in SURPAC, which is
exported to FLAC3D by a MATLAB program. The crown pillar
stability is then numerically assessed by FLAC3D, in which the
mining sequences and sea water pressure are taken into consideration. The in situ rock deformation observation and a fouryear-eld practice [25] prove that the numerical modelling based
on integrating SURPAC and FLAC3D is helpful to determine the
minimum thickness of the crown pillar for the subsea gold mine.

2. Engineering background
Sanshandao gold mine is located at the Sanshandao special
industrial zone in Laizhou city, Shandong Province, China. It is on
the east coastline of the Bohai Sea. The mining area is about
29 km north of Laizhou city and 45 km west of Zhaoyuan city. Via
the Provincial Road S304, the mine is connected with the G206
National Road at about 16 km to the east, and it is also connected

43

to the G18 Expressway at a distance of about 26 km to the east.

The railway from Huangye to Yantai is under construction and it
will pass through the mining area only at a distance of about 8 km
to the east.
The Sanshandao gold mine is a medium size underground mine
(the production capacity of Sanshandao gold mine is 8000 t/day)
facing challenging mining environments. Take the Xinli Zone of
Sanshandao gold mine as an example, the geological prole along
the 31# exploration line is shown in Fig. 1. The main rock types
surrounding the gold mine include metagabbro, monzogranite, and
cataclastic rocks. The gold orebody extends from about level  40 m
to below level 700 m under sea level. The orebody has a strike of
NE 60701, and a dip angle of 401to 501 towards southeast.
Different mining methods are commonly used in underground
mines, including the room-and-pillar method, the cut-and-ll stoping
method and sublevel caving, etc. [26]. In the Xinli Zone of the
Sanshandao gold mine, a cut-and-ll stoping method has been
adopted. A typical cut-and-ll stoping method is shown in Fig. 2,
which is used from level  400 m to 165 m. The height of one
mining stope is 40 m. The distance between two barrier pillars is
100 m. The square panel pillar is of a 5 m  5 m cross section. The
spacing between adjacent panel pillars is 15 m in each direction.
Sanshandao gold mine is the rst subsea metal mine along the
coastline of China. Besides this gold mine, Longkou Coal Mine is
another subsea mine in China [27]. About 10m depth of sea water and
a 35m thick of sea mud (silty clay) and Quaternary weathering layer
exist above the orebody of the Xinli Zone at the Sanshandao gold mine.
How to handle the sea water above the mine is a critical issue
for subsea mining. It would be disastrous if the sea water cannot
be properly kept out from the mine excavation when mining
under the sea. For example, a sea water inrush in a subsea coal

Fig. 1. The geological prole of Xinli Zone at Sanshandao gold mine along the 31# exploration line.

44

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

Fig. 2. Cut-and-ll stoping method adopted between level  400 m and  165 m (unit: m). Notation: (1) laneway; (2) stope-connection laneway; (3) barrier pillar;
(4) reinforced concrete oor pillar; (5) tailing lling; (6) ventilation shaft; (7) draining well; (8) steel rod; (9) rock bolt; (10) panel pillar.

mine in Japan occurred in 1916 led to 237 human casualties [28].

It is lucky that the seabed rock of the Xinli Zone at the Sanshaodao
gold mine is overlain by about a 23 m thick gray silt soil and
yellow silty clay layer. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM)
studies on the microstructure of the subsea clay revealed that
the pores connectivity in the clay is quite poor. The permeability
of the clay is as low as 5.13  10  8 cm/s [25]. This 23 m thick
clay layer serves as a nearly impermeable layer to inhibit the sea
water from inltrating the seabed rock masses. However, the
cohesion strength of the clay is only 4.89 kPa and it can hardly
bear any tension stress. Therefore, a certain thickness of crown
pillar is necessarily required to ensure the stability and safety of
the subsea mine, especially when the mining activity goes up to
level  165 m. In this paper, a numerical method, which takes the

realistic geometric orebody and mining sequences into consideration, is used to determine the minimum crown pillar thickness at
the Xinli Zone of the Sanshandao Subsea gold mine. The inuence
of the sea water pressure above the mine has also been considered in the numerical model. The main controlling factor is
attributed to the tensile failure zone in the crown pillar, which
may lead to instability of mining infrastructures and then inrush
of sea water into the mining excavations.

3. Preliminary study
Some representative rock samples were selected from the
mine dumps in the subsea gold mine, which included: (1) Phyllitic

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

45

Fig. 3. Some prepared rock specimens: (a) natural dry specimens for shear test; (b) water saturated specimens for shear test; (c) natural dry and water saturated
specimens for compressive test and Brazilian test and (d) shear angle in a rock shear test.

cataclastic granite (SgJ) from hanging wall; (2) Pyritic phyllitic

cataclastic granite (SgJH) from orebody; and (3) Monzogranite
(Zg) from footwall.
In total, 132 standard specimens have been prepared (Fig. 3ac)
from the rock samples60 for shear tests (specimen size:
50 mm  50 mm  50 mm), 36 for uniaxial compressive tests
(j50 mm  100 mm and j60 mm  120 mm) and 36 for Brazilian
splitting tests (j50 mm  50 mm and j60 mm  60 mm). The rock
specimens were tested under either natural dry or wet (48 h water
saturation) conditions at room temperature. Shear tests and compressive tests were carried out on the INSTRON 1346 hydraulic
servo-controlling pressure machine, while Brazilian tests were
conducted on the INSTRON 1342 pressure machine according to
the ISRM suggested methods. The shear angle a is the angle between
the applied shear direction and the horizontal direction (Fig. 3d).
Three shear angles (a) were used, including 451, 601 and 701 in shear
tests. The normal stress (s) and the shear stress (t) along the shear
surface can be calculated by

s NS PS cos a f sin a
t QS PS sin af cos a

)
1

where N is the total normal force; Q is the total shear force; S is the
shear surface area, which is equal to the cross-section area of the
cubic specimen; P is the maximum load when the specimen fails
under shear test; f is the friction coefcient between the cylindrical

roller and the upper and lower platen, which can be assumed to be
zero in the roller-support system.
According to Eq. (1), a series of values of shear stress t and
normal stress s can be obtained under different shear angles.
Based on the MohrCoulomb criterion (t c stan f) and linear
regression method, the cohesion (c) and internal friction angle (j)
of the tested rocks can be obtained consequently.
The testing results of the strength and deformability of the
three representative rock formations are listed in Table 1. The
testing results in Table 1 are obtained from four different tests.
The density (r) is measured from cubic rock specimens prepared
for shear test. The uniaxial compressive strength (sc), Youngs
modulus (E), and Poissons ratio (n) are obtained from uniaxial
compressive tests on long cylindrical rock specimens. The tensile
strength (st) is measured from the Brazilian test on short
cylindrical specimens. The shear strength associated with cohesion (c) and internal friction angle (j) are obtained from shear
test by using the best linear curve tting method according to the
MohrCoulomb criterion. The number of samples used, the
standard variation, and the determination coefcient for each
test type are also listed in Table 1.
Visual observation shows that the SgJ rock specimens contain
more visible cracks than the SgJH rock specimens do, while few
visible cracks can be observed in the Zg rock specimens. The
testing results reveal that the hanging wall rock (SgJ) has the least
uniaxial compressive strength, the least stiffness and the
least shear strength, while the orebody rock (SgJH) has the least

46

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

Table 1
Mechanical properties of intact rock from the three representative rock formations.
Location

Hanging wall

Rock formation

SgJ

Rock condition

Dry
Saturated

Orebody

SgJH

Dry
Saturated

Footwall

Zg

Dry
Saturated

a
b
c

Density [6]a

Uniaxial compressive test [6]

r (kg/m3)

sc (MPa)

E* (GPa)

2706
(76)b
2677
(28)
2709
(14)
2711
(33)
2635
(20)
2628
(7)

71.26
(18.36)
41.27
(14.94)
80.87
(14.60)
62.08
(16.41)
126.95
(27.56)
79.53
(21.19)

13.44
(3.90)
9.22
(2.87)
14.73
(1.87)
11.63
(1.73)
17.10
(3.55)
15.73
(2.67)

Brazilian test [6]

Shear test [10]

st (MPa)

c (MPa)

j (1)

0.20
(0.04)

0.21
(0.02)

0.24
(0.05)

6.24
(2.19)
8.22
(2.36)
4.91
(0.27)
3.70
(0.88)
8.54
(2.85)
10.09
(0.61)

11.44
{R2 0.839}c
7.18
{R2 0.919}
21.45
{R2 0.946}
17.11
{R2 0.991}
42.77
{R2 0.922}
39.29
{R2 0.885}

30.6
33.9
32.6
33.7
36.9
36.8

E denotes the secant Youngs modulus at 50% strength point.

The number in the brackets represents the number of specimens used in each test condition.
The number in the parentheses represents the standard variation of each test condition.
The equation in the braces represents the determination coefcient of the linear regression by MohrCoulomb criterion from shear test.

Table 2
Data structure of the four tables in the data sheets.
Table name

Main data structure and date information

Drilling table
Measurement table
Geological table
Mineral grade table

Drill
Drill
Drill
Drill

hole
hole
hole
hole

number;
number;
number;
number;

splitting tensile strength. The three tested rock types belong to

hard rock (Rc Z60 MPa) and middle hard rock (30 MPar
Rc o60 MPa) according to the Chinese Standard for engineering
classication of rock masses [29], where Rc denotes the uniaxial
compressive strength of saturated rock specimen. The softening
coefcients of water effect on the uniaxial compressive strength
are 0.58, 077 and 0.63 for the three rocks SgJ, SgJH and Zg,
respectively. Generally speaking, water has a reduction effect on
the strength and stiffness of all the three rock types, more
remarkably on the hanging wall rock mass (SgJ), which is the
most critical part of the crown pillar stability at the subsea gold
mine. Therefore, for the sake of safety, the water-saturated
mechanical properties of surrounding rock masses should be used
in the numerical analysis of the crown pillar stability at the
subsea gold mine.
The mining history in the Sanshandao subsea gold mine
showed that the crown pillar was stable and no active sea water
inow was observed for mining activity below sea level 165 m,
i.e., the crown pillar thickness was about 120 m. What will
happen if the mining activity goes up to level 115 m and even
more (the crown pillar thickness will be less than 70 m)? To
answer this question, a 3D numerical modelling is used to analyze
the stability problem and to determine the minimum thickness of
the crown pillar at the subsea gold mine.

4. Numerical model construction

In order to establish a more realistic 3D model, the geological
database and engineering information of drill holes from the Xinli
Zone are rst compiled in the mining software SURPAC. According
to the data structure requirements of the drill holes in SURPAC,
the data is reconstructed and organized into four data tables:
drilling table, measurement table, geological table and mineral
grade table. The data structure of the four tables is shown in
Table 2. These data sheets can serve as the geological database

X, Y, Z coordinates; the maximum depth of drill holes

depth, dip angle, dip direction of the measurement point
initial point and ending point of ore samples; rock types
initial point and ending point of ore samples; mineral grade

sources, which are the basis of the deposits in the 3D modelling

process.
After establishing the geological database in SURPAC, 3D space
locations and shapes of the drill holes can be conveniently shown
in SURPAC, which also include the mineral grade information of
ore samples. A vertical section view of drill holes, mineral grade
information of ore samples and surrounding rock types from two
typical drill holes are shown in Fig. 4. Based on the geological
database, the orebody of this gold mine is modeled in SURPAC and
shown in a 3D view and projected to the XY base plane, as shown
in Fig. 5.
The orebody model helps visualize the geometric shape of the
mine, but it does not show the grade distribution and it cannot be
used directly to calculate the volume of the mine. Therefore, a
detailed 3D block model was constructed on the basis of the
orebody model. It contains a large number of discrete cubic block
elements, which include the spatial locations of ore properties
and constraint characteristics of the blocks.
The numerical model constructed in SURPAC is exported to
FLAC3D by a data conversion in MATLAB. There are 12 primitive
mesh shapes in FLAC3D, in which the brick mesh shape and the
tetrahedron mesh shape can be connected with the block zone in
SURPAC. Here the brick mesh shape was taken as an example to
show the data conversion process. A link program named STOF.m
is compiled in MATLAB to achieve an automatic data conversion
and model construction. The program can read the data le from
the 3D block model in SURPAC and then convert the text format
to a series of acceptable commands by FLAC3D. Finally, the
commands are imported into FLAC3D and a meshed numerical
model is generated. The implementation of the program is
illustrated as a ow chart in Fig. 6.
Based on the geological data from drill holes, the entire
numerical model of Xinli Zone at Sanshandao gold mine is built
by integrating SURPAC and FLAC3D with the following coordinates: bottom left corner (X93760 m, Y 40150 m, Z  450 m)
and top right corner (X95530 m, Y 41000 m, Z  10 m). It is a

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

47

Fig. 4. Visualization of drill holes in SURPAC (a) XOZ cross-section representation of drill holes and (b) Au grade of ore samples and the corresponding rock type in two
typical drill holes.

very large model and contains 345,983 zones. Since the present
study is concentrated on the mining activity carried out above
level  165 m, the size of the numerical model is then reduced to
a bottom left corner (X94384 m, Y 40469 m, Z  205 m) and
top right corner (X95052 m, Y40863 m, Z  10 m). The
reduced numerical model, which is 668 m in X direction, 394 m
in Y direction and 195 m in Z direction, contains 199,047 zones.
The entire numerical model and the geometry of mining infrastructure of stopes and pillars are shown in Fig. 7. According to
the design above level  165 m, the mining stope is 100 m in
length, 10 m in height and 36 m in width. The panel pillars are of
4 m  4 m cross section with 12 m  12 m spacing. The 5 m thick
barrier pillar is separated at a distance of 100 m.

5. Numerical modelling and analysis

5.1. Initial stresses and boundary conditions
According to in-situ stress measurement results by the stress
release method, the maximum horizontal stress, the minimum
horizontal stress and the vertical stress vary almost linearly with
the depth in the mining area. The in-situ stresses can be described
by the following equations [25]:
8
>
< shmax 0:0539H 0:11
shmin 0:0181H 0:13
2
>
: s 0:0315H 0:08
z

48

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

Fig. 5. 3D visualization of the orebody at the Xinli Zone at Sanshandao gold mine in SURPAC (a) 3D view and (b) Projection of the XY base plane.

Read the data file of 3D block model from SURPAC

Determine the group of the zones according to the zone attribution

Calculate the X,Y, Z positions of the gridpoints for each zone

Judge the reiteration of gridpoints number and write gridpoints into the model file by
the command: G n Xn Yn Zn, where n is the number of gridpoints

Inquire gridpoints of each zone and write zone information into the model file by the command:
Z B8 m P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8, where m is the number zones

Write the group information for the zones by command: GROUP name range id il iu, where
name is the group name; il and iu are the lower and upper limits of zone number respectively

Import the file into FLAC3D by the command: import grid and generate the numerical model in
FLAC3D
Fig. 6. Flow chart illustrating the compilation of the linkage program STOF.m between SURPAC and FLAC3D.

where shmax , shmin and sz are the maximum horizontal stress, the
minimum horizontal stress and the vertical stress (MPa), respectively;
H is the depth of the measurement point in meter. The initial stresses
in the model are given by Eq. (2). The in-situ stress measurements

reveal that the maximum principal stress (s1 shmax) trends about
3251 with an almost zero plunge, while the minimum principal stress
(s3 shmin) trends about 1451 with an almost zero plunge. The
middle principal stress (s2 sz) is in an almost vertical direction.

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

49

Fig. 7. Numerical model of the Xinli Zone and surrounding rock masses in FLAC3D (a) Entire model: 1770 m in X direction, 850 m in Y direction and 440 m in Z direction
and (b) the mining infrastructure (stopes and pillars).

The displacement boundary conditions of the model include:

(1) xed X-direction displacement at the left and right boundaries; (2) xed Y-direction displacement at the front and back
boundaries; (3) xed all the X, Y, Z direction displacements at the
bottom boundary; (4) free boundary at the top of the model.
Since the sea water pressure acting on the top of the model has
been considered, the uid-mechanical interaction function available
in FLAC3D is used in the numerical analysis [30], which can model the
uid ow through permeable mediums and provide the distribution
of pore pressure after underground excavation [31]. For the uid-ow
boundary conditions, impermeable boundaries are set by default in
FLAC3D. All gridpoints are initially free, i.e., the pore pressure at such
gridpoints is free to vary according to the net inow and outow from
neighboring zones. Fixed-pressure gridpoints can act as a source or a
sink to be a permeable boundary. In addition, chemical analysis on
the ground water from the subsea mine shows that that the ground
water has almost the same or even higher salinity than the sea water.
It indicates that the ground water belongs to sea water or ancient
seawater. Therefore, to model the 10m depth of sea water pressure, a
constant xed pore pressure of 0.1MPa is applied on the top
boundary of the model. The excavation boundary is modelled by a
free water seepage boundary where the adjacent underground water
will inltrate into the opening.

On the one hand, the mechanical parameters of intact rocks

obtained by laboratory tests should be converted to those of rock
masses in the numerical modelling. The empirical relationships of
strength and modulus between rock masses and intact rocks have
been carefully studied by using the geological strength index
(GSI) and the rock mass rating (RMR) system [3235]. On the
other hand, Rocscience Inc. has put forward commercial software
RocData to realize the transformation based on the Generalized
HoekBrown strength criterion [36],

a
s0
s10 s30 sci mb 3 s
3

sci

5.2. Calculation parameters and failure criterion

where s01 and s03 are the maximum and minimum effective
principal stresses at failure; mb is the value of the HoekBrown
constant m for the rock mass; s and a are constants which depend
upon the rock mass characteristics, and sci is the uniaxial
compressive strength of the intact rock pieces. The values of
these constants should be determined by statistical analysis of the
results of a set of triaxial tests on carefully prepared core samples.
The inuence of blast damage on the near surface rock mass
properties has been taken into account in the 2002 version of the
Hoek-Brown criterion as follows [37]:


GSI100
mb mi exp
4
2814D

Calculation parameters include mechanical parameters and

permeability coefcients of rock masses and llings in the model.



GSI100
s exp
93D

50

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

1 1  GSI=15 20=3 

e
e
2 6

where mi is a HoekBrown constant for intact rock; D is a factor

which depends upon the degree of disturbance due to blast
damage and stress relaxation. It varies from 0 for undisturbed
in situ rock masses to 1 for very disturbed rock masses. Since the
cut-and-ll stoping method is used in the subsea mine, the
blasting disturbance is not so heavy to the surrounding rock
mass. The D value is assigned with 0.2.
According to the shear testing results, equivalent triaxial
testing data can be obtained by using the MohrCoulomb
strength criterion on intact rock. By inputting the equivalent
triaxial testing data into the software of RocData (version 3.0), the
best-tting mechanical parameters of rock mass can be obtained
if the GSI, D, and mi values are given. These parameters include
the global uniaxial compressive strength (scm), the tensile
strength (stm), the Youngs modulus (Em), the cohesion (cm) and
the internal friction angle (jm) of rock mass. The Poissons ratio
(n) and the density (r) of rock mass are assumed to be equal to
the values of intact rock. The similar data processing method has
been used by Justo et al. [38].
Before this numerical study, a number of site surveys have
been carried out to investigate the distribution of rock joints and
fractures in the subsea gold mine. It shows that the joint
conditions belong to fairly good to good status, which indicates
that the GSI value of the rock mass is about 50 based on the Hoek
and Browns experience [39]. Consequently, three typical GSI
values (40, 50, and 60) in such joint conditions are considered
for the surrounding rock mass. In addition, the selected level of s3
has an inuence on the values of the MohrCoulomb parameters
(cm and jm) in this analysis. Specically, the present mining
activities will be conducted from level  115 m to level  65 m.
According to the in-situ stress calculation Eq. (2), the value of s3
varies between 1.3 MPa and 2.2 MPa. In average, three stress
levels of 1.4 MPa, 1.8 MPa, and 2.2 MPa are used for the hanging
wall, orebody and foot wall, respectively, to obtain the corresponding MohrCoulomb tting parameters in the present study.
The mechanical parameters of the surrounding rock masses are
listed in Table 3, including both natural dry and water saturated
conditions. Moreover, the mechanical properties of backll are
also listed in Table 3, since the cut-and-ll stoping method is used
in the numerical analysis.

It can be found that the GSI values have great inuence on the
mechanical parameters of the rock mass, which also proves that
the in-site joint surveys are very important for the numerical
modelling analysis. In the present study, the calculation parameters from a typical GSI value of 50 are used. It should be
pointed out that if the in-site joint conditions become worse
which lead to a GSI value less than 50, the calculation parameters
of the modelling should be adjusted and the modelling results
may be different. In order to take into consideration of the
inuence of groundwater, the mechanical parameters based on
the water saturated condition are conservatively used since these
values are less than those under natural dry condition.
The MohrCoulomb failure criterion with a tension cut-off is
adopted for the rock mass and backll in the numerical modelling, which is
s
1 sinjm
1 sinjm
f s s01 s03
7
2cm
1sinjm
1sinjm
f t s03 stm

Based on these two equations, the safety factor under shear

failure or tension failure can be obtained with the form of


  0
s0 s03
s s03
sinjm = 1
9
F s cm cosjm 1
2
2
F t stm =s03

10

where Fs and Ft are the safety factors under shear failure and
tension failure, respectively. If Fs o1 or Ft o1, then shear failure
or tension failure occurs in the corresponding rock zone of
the model.
The permeability coefcient (k) of the rock mass was determined by the steady-state water ow method on eight cylindrical
rock specimens containing natural cracks under a triaxial compressive machine. The permeability coefcients of the three
representative rock types are also listed in Table 3. The maximum
values of the permeability coefcients, which are 13.5  10  7 m/s,
10.3  10  7 m/s and 3.3  10  7 m/s for hanging wall, orebody
and footwall rock masses, respectively, are used in the numerical
analysis in FLAC3D. It should be pointed out that since the sea mud
layer has a very low permeability coefcient (k5.13  10  10 m/s),
a 3 m thick layer of low permeability coefcient in the hanging wall
was used to represent this layer below the sea water in the model.

Table 3
Calculation parameters of rock masses from RocData 3.0 and backll in the numerical analysis.
Material

s3 (MPa)

GSI

scm (MPa)

stm (MPa)

Em (GPa)

cm (MPa)

jm (1)

r (kg/m3)

k (10  7m/s)

Hanging wall (dry)

1.4

0.2

1.210.3

0.2

0.24

2635

0.33.3

Hanging wall (saturated)

1.4

0.2

0.20

2677

7.4

Orebody (saturated)

1.8

0.2

0.21

2710

5.8

Footwall (saturated)

2.2

0.2

0.24

2628

1.8

Filling

34.1
37.3
39.8
38.3
41.4
43.5
45.0
47.8
49.5
32.1
35.5
38.4
37.4
40.6
43.0
44.3
47.1
48.9
38.7

2709

2.2

0.37
0.52
0.81
0.60
0.88
1.42
1.02
1.56
2.67
0.32
0.42
0.60
0.54
0.77
1.19
0.97
1.47
2.48
0.19

0.21

Footwall (dry)

3.20
5.70
10.13
4.48
7.97
14.17
5.06
9.00
16.00
2.62
4.66
8.29
4.05
7.17
12.80
5.06
9.00
16.00
0.23

1.413.5

0.2

0.08
0.17
0.38
0.14
0.31
0.68
0.24
0.53
1.17
0.05
0.10
0.22
0.11
0.23
0.52
0.22
0.49
1.08
0.20

2706

1.8

3.28
4.27
5.65
6.73
8.72
11.47
16.54
21.28
27.63
2.35
3.04
3.99
5.69
7.36
9.64
15.12
19.46
25.28
2.1

0.20

Orebody (dry)

40
50
60
40
50
60
40
50
60
40
50
60
40
50
60
40
50
60

0.17

2100

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

51

Sanshandao gold mine, the crown pillar is stable when mining

activities are carried out below level 165 m. In the numerical
model, it is considered that the stopes below level 165 m are all
backlled and the orebody will be excavated above level  165 m.
The numerical analysis is carried out to assess the stability of the
crown pillar when excavation takes place above level 165 m at
the subsea gold mine, for example, from level  115 m to level

5.3. Mining sequences and modelling stages

The excavation and lling steps are taken into consideration in
the numerical analysis. The distributions of principal stresses,
displacements and pore pressures in the crown pillar and surrounding rock masses are obtained by simulating the different
excavation and lling stages. According to the mining history in

Table 4
Excavation and backll stage in each mining sequence and corresponding variation indexes in the numerical model.
Mining stage

Mining sequence

Z elevation (m)

Stage height (m)

Subsidence (mm)

d (%)

kf (%)

Note

First stage

Excavate
Fill 1
Excavate
Fill 2
Excavate
Fill 3
Excavate
Fill 4
Excavate
Fill 5

 115 to  105
 115 to  105
 105 to  95
 105 to  95
 95 to  85
 95 to  85
 85 to  75
 85 to  75
 75 to  65
 75 to  65

10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10

8.6
8.9
10.1
10.4
12.0
12.2
14.5
14.8
17.0
17.2

0.009

0.11

0.012

0.15

Mining stopes: 100 m in length and 10 m in height.

Panel pillars: square pillars of 4 m  4 m cross section
with 12 m  12 m spacing;
Barrier pillars: 5 m thick separated at a distance of 100 m

0.016

0.22

0.023

1.03

0.033

1.25

Second stage
Third stage
Fourth stage

2
3
4
5

-10 m

Fifth stage

-0.3

-0.3

-0.6
-0.9

-0.6
-0.9
-1.2

-1.2
0

Z direction

-1.5

-1.5
-1.8

-1.8
-2.1

-2.1
-2.4
-2.7

-205 m

-3.0
-3.3
-3.6
40863 m

Y direction

-10 m

40469 m

-2.0

-2.0
-3.0

-3.0
Z direction

-4.0

-4.0

-5.0

-5.0

-6.0

-6.0
-7.0
-8.0

-205 m

-9.0
-10.0
40469 m

Y direction

40863 m

Fig. 8. Contour diagrams of the principal stresses at the cross section of X 94,784 m after excavating and lling of all the ve stages from level  115 m to  65 m. (a) The
maximum principal stress (s1, unit: MPa) and (b) the minimum principal stress (s3, unit: MPa).

52

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

activity reaches the level from  75 m to 65 m, the maximum

tensile stress is about 0.10.2 MPa in the sea bed, which is
generally larger than the maximum tensile strength of the
hanging wall rock (0.10 MPa). Meanwhile, it can be found in
Fig. 8b that the contour density of the minimum principal stress
near the excavation and lling zone is very high, which indicates a
signicant stress concentration around the stope. The maximum
compressive stress near the stopes reaches about 8.010.0 MPa in
Fig. 8b, which also approaches the uniaxial compressive strength
of the hanging wall and footwall rock masses. Therefore, it can be
concluded that the mining activity should be limited below level
 75 m from the consideration of principal stress distribution.
From the viewpoint of the vertical displacement in the numerical
model, seabed subsidence has occurred because of the excavation of
the subsea gold mine. Contour diagrams of the vertical displacement
at the cross section X94784 m for the fourth and fth mining stages
are shown in Fig. 9. It can be seen that the vertical displacement of
the crown pillar increases as excavation proceeds. When the mining
level increases from level  75 m to 65 m, the vertical displacement
of the crown pillar at the seabed reaches about 18 mm after backlling. The maximum subsidence of the crown pillar is relatively
small, because the mining stopes are fully lled after excavation at
the subsea gold mine in the numerical model. The relative deformation rate (d) of the crown pillar after the fth mining stage is

65 m. Therefore, the initial model is based on the lling

condition of level  165 m. The model then simulates the subsequent excavation stages and stope lling stages. Each incremental stage is 10 m high, spanning from level 115 m to level
65 m. The excavation and lling stages of the orebody mining
sequences are listed in Table 4. Meanwhile, the sizes of the
mining infrastructures and the maximum seabed subsidence in
each mining sequence obtained from the numerical analysis are
also provided in Table 4.

5.4. Modelling results

-10 m

The numerical results are represented by the distributions of

principal stresses, displacements, pore pressures, and plastic zone
development associated with the excavation steps. Since the prevalence of tensile stresses in surrounding rock masses can easily lead
to crack opening, the tensile stresses are particularly monitored in the
numerical models. With the rising of mining level, the stress conditions become more severe in the subsea mine. For instance, after
excavation and lling all the ve stages (totally 50 m high excavation), the distributions of the maximum and minimum principal
stresses at the cross section of X94784 m are shown in Fig. 8.
It can be seen in Fig. 8a that the maximum principal stress is
larger than zero (which means tensile stress in FLAC3D) near the
mining stopes, and it also occurs at the seabed. When mining

-12 .5
.0

-1 0
- 7 .5

-15.0

-12 .5
-1 0

d 18=55  1000  0:033% o 0:1%

.0
- 7 .5

.5

-205 m

-2

-5 .0

-2

Z direction

- 5 .0

11

.5

40863 m

Y direction

-10 m

40469 m

-1 0.0 -15 .0
-12 .5
5
-7 .

- 5 .0

-1 2 .5
-15 .0
- 1 0 .0
- 7 .5

-2. 5

Z direction

-5 .0
-2. 5

-205 m

40469 m

Y direction

40863 m

Fig. 9. Contour diagrams of vertical displacement at the cross section of X 94,784 m after backlling of the stopes. (a) Excavating and lling the 4th step from level
 85 m to  75 m and (b) excavating and lling the 5th step from level  75 m to  65 m (displacement unit: mm).

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

53

Tension zones
(failure past)

Elastic zones

Tension zones
(failure past)
Tension zones
(failure now and past)
Elastic zones

Fig. 10. Development of plastic zones on the seabed surface of crown pillar in the numerical analysis: (a) excavating the 3rd step from level  95 m to  85 m and
(b) excavating the 4th step from level  85 m to  75 m.

The value is as small as 0.033%, which can be considered as

located in a safety range. The relative deformation rates of the
crown pillar after each excavation stage are listed in Table 4. The
numerical model thus indicates that the cut-and-ll stoping
mining method is effective to decrease the seabed subsidence
and hence is favorable to the safe exploitation of Sanshandao
subsea gold mine. Tesarik et al. [40] reported a similar mining
method (backlled room-and-pillar method), which can help
keeping the long-term stability of the underground mining sections at the Buick Mine, Missouri, USA.
The distribution of plastic zones (including shear failure zones
and tension failure zones) at the seabed rock of the crown pillar is
shown in Fig. 10, associated with different excavation levels
obtained from the numerical analysis. It can be seen in Fig. 10a
that a few tension plastic zones are developing at the seabed,
which have not coalesced together when excavating the third
step from level  95 m to level 85 m. As in Fig. 10b, more
tension failure zones are developing than that in Fig. 10a, which
have coalesced together when excavating the fourth step from
level  85 m to  5 m. It indicates that the crown pillar may
become unstable and tension failure zones may form macro
fractures when the mining excavation reaches level  75 m. These
tension failure zones may lead to sea water inrush into the mining
excavations. According to Eqs. (9) and (10), the ratio (kf) between
the volume of the zones with Fs o1 (or Ft o1) and the entire
volume of the model is monitored during the numerical modelling process. The results are listed in Table 4. It can be found that
only a few zones have safety factor less than 1 in the surrounding
rock mass, while most of zones have safety factor larger than 1.
However, it nds that the ratio kf increases quickly when the
mining activity moves from level  85 m to 75 m, which means
a potential crown pillar failure may occur at this excavation stage.
Based on this numerical result, the maximum excavation

elevation of the Xinli Zone at the Sanshandao gold mine should

be limited below level  85 m.
Another important factor is the inuence of sea water pressure for
the subsea gold mine. Fluid ow will occur when the mining
excavation is conducted. In the present numerical analysis, pore
pressure distributions of surrounding rock masses in some typical
level are plotted in Fig. 11, after the corresponding excavation stages.
It can be seen that with the rise of mining levels, the pore pressure
around the mining excavations increases too, hence increasing the
risk of the sea water inow and inrush into the mine. A signicant
increase of pore pressure is particularly observed as one proceeds
from level  85 m to level 75 m. Therefore, for the mining excavation up to level  85 m, the pore pressure change should be
cautiously monitored. It should be pointed out that in the present
numerical modeling, a constant water pressure of 0.1 MPa is assumed
to act on the top of the model and water can ow freely to the
openings when excavation takes place. This is the worst condition for
the subsea gold mine. In reality, the pore pressure should be less than
the numerical analysis result due to the more restrained water ow.
Nonetheless, the variation trend of pore pressure with excavation
stages denitely shows the inuence of sea water on the stability of
the crown pillar of the subsea gold mine. Therefore, from the
viewpoint of pore pressure distribution, the excavation elevation of
the subsea gold mine should be limited below level  95 m. In other
words, in the presence of a 10 m depth of sea water, and a 35 m thick
sea mud (silty clay) and Quaternary deposit in the seabed, the
thickness of crown pillar should be at least 50 m.

6. Field deformation observation

During the past four years, the underground mining activities
have been carried out from level 165 m to  115 m. To monitor

54

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

40800
40800

40700
40700
40600
40600
40500
40500
94400

94500

94600

94700

94800

94900

95000

94400

40800

40800

40700

40700

40600

40600

40500

40500

94400

94500

94600

94700

94800

94900

95000

94400

40800

40800

40700

40700

40600

40600

40500
94400

94500

94600

94700

94800

94900

95000

94500

94600

94700

94800

94900

95000

40500
94500

94600

94700

94800

94900

95000

94400

94500

94600

94700

94800

94900

95000

Fig. 11. Contour diagrams of pore pressure distribution after each corresponding excavation stage reaching (a) level  115 m; (b) level  105 m; (c) level  95 m; (d) level
 85 m; (e) level  75 m and (f) level  65 m. (Pore pressure unit: MPa.)

the deformation of the crown pillar, four 3-point borehole

extensometers were used (located at boreholes A, B, C and D)
along the exploration lines of 55#, 63# and 71#, about 20 m to
30 m away from the mining chamber at level 165 m of the Xinli
Zone (Fig. 12a). The borehole had a diameter of 40 mm and a
length of 30 m. The 3-point extensometer was monitored at every
10 m length along each observation borehole. For example, A10,
A20 and A30 stood for the three measurement points above 10 m,
20 m and 30 m of the laneway along the observation borehole A.
The convergence signals of the borehole extensometers were
collected by the data reader and then transmitted to a personal
computer. The in-situ displacements of the surrounding rock
masses recorded in the four boreholes from April 11, 2008 to
December 8, 2008 are plotted in Fig. 12b.
It can be seen that the vertical displacement of the crown pillar
increases with time and nally it becomes stabilized, when mining
activities are conducted from level  165 m to  115 m. The maximum displacement of the crown pillar is about 2.9 mm occurred in
B30 extensometer point. Taking the largest deformation extensometer point B30 and the largest deformation rate extensometer
point C10 as examples, the corresponding deformation rates are

dB30 2:9=30  1000  0:01%

12

dC10 2:3=10  1000 0:023%

13

Both of them are less than the numerical calculation result

(0.033%) for the crown pillar when the mining activity goes up to
level  65 m. Based on the relative deformation rate of the crown
pillar, it shows that the present numerical calculation parameters
based on a GSI value of 50 are conservative. In other words, the
reserved safety factor of crown pillar in the present numerical
modelling is about 0.033/0.0231.43.
The results from eld deformation observation and numerical
modelling can encourage further mining excavations above level
 115 m. The mining activities have been conducted from level
 165 m to level 115 m since 2007, which can possibly be risen
to level  95 m in the future with necessary ground treatment
and groundwater pressure monitoring. A four-year-eld practice
showed that the numerical modelling by integrating SURPAC and
FLAC3D was helpful to determine the minimum thickness of the
crown pillar in the subsea gold mine. Plenty of gold orebody can
be safely mined out from the subsea gold mine.

7. Conclusions
A cut-and-ll stoping method is successfully used in the rst
subsea gold mine (Sanshaodao gold mine) in China. By integrating
SURPAC and FLAC3D, a realistic geometric numerical model has
been built based on the geological information of drill holes. The

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

55

Fig. 12. Field deformation observation: (a) plane-view layout of the observation boreholes in laneways at level  165 m and (b) vertical displacement curves of crown
pillar obtained at the four boreholes A, B, C and D by 3-point borehole extensometers.

numerical model includes different groups to represent the

mining infrastructure such as stopes, panel pillars and barrier
pillars. The excavation and backll sequences, the mechanical
properties of surrounding rock masses in a water-saturated
condition, and the inuence of sea water pressure have been
considered in the numerical analysis. The minimum required
thickness of the crown pillar is found to be at least 50 m at the
Xinli Zone of the Sanshandao gold mine, in the presence of a 10 m
depth of sea water, and 35 m thick sea mud (silty clay) and
Quaternary deposit in the seabed. Field displacement observation
shows that the vertical deformation rate of the crown pillar is
smaller than 0.023%, which is also less than that of the numerical
result (0.033%). It reveals that the reserved safety factor is about
1.43 when using the cut-and-ll stoping method from level
165 m to 115 m in the subsea gold mine. The mining
activities may extend to level 95 m based on the present
numerical analysis. A four-year-eld practice shows that the
numerical modelling by integrating SURPAC and FLAC3D is helpful
to determine the minimum thickness of the crown pillar in the
subsea gold mine.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the nancial supports
from the 973 Program (no. 2010CB732004), the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (no. 50934006 and 11102239), and

Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (no.

09JJ7003). The contribution of the Shandong Gold Group Co.,
Ltd. at Xinli Zone of Sanshandao gold mine is gratefully acknowledged. Finally, the authors would like to thank Assistant Professor
Louis Ngai Yuen Wong at the Nanyang Technological University to
improve the English of the manuscript and the two anonymous
reviewers to provide constructive suggestions.

References
[1] Blindheim OT, Grv E, Nilsen B. Nordic sub sea tunnel projects. Tunnelling
Underground Space Technol 2005;20(6):57080.
[2] Lu M, Grv E, Nilsen B. Norwegian experience in subsea tunnelling. Chin J
Rock Mech Eng 2005;24(23):421925.
[3] Grv E, Nilsen B. Subsea tunnel projects in hard rock environment in
Scandinavia. Chin J Rock Mech Eng 2007;26(11):217692.
[4] Li S, Li T, Chen W, Qiu X. Application of 3D elastoplastic fracture damage
model to determination of minimum roof thickness of Xiamen subsea tunnel.
Chin J Rock Mech Eng 2004;23(18):313843 in Chinese.
[5] Li S, Li S, Xu B, Wang H, Ding W. Study on determination method for minimum
rock cover of subsea tunnel. Chin J Rock Mech Eng 2007;26(11):228995 in
Chinese.
[6] Zhang D, Li B, Fang Q, Wu J. Method for determining longitudinal section of
subsea tunnel based on risk coefcient. Chin J Rock Mech Eng 2009;28(1):919
in Chinese.
[7] Li P, Zhang D, Li B, Fang Q, Sun F. Coupled uid-solid analysis of the
surrounding rock stability of the subsea tunnel during construction process.
Chin Railway Sci 2010;31(3):3541 in Chinese.
[8] Nilsen B. The optimum rock cover for subsea tunnels. Rock Mechanics Contributions and Challenges: In: Proceeding of the 31st US symposium on rock
mechanics. Golden, A A Balkema, Rotterdam; 1820 June 1990. p. 10051012.

56

X. Li et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 57 (2013) 4256

[9] Dahlo TS, Nilsen B. Stability and rock cover of hard rock subsea tunnels.
Tunnelling Underground Space Technol 1994;9(2):1518.
[10] Carter TG A new approach to surface crown pillar design. In: 16th Canadian
rock mechanics symposium. Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada; 1992.
p. 7584.
[11] Carter TG, Miller RI. Crown-pillar risk assessmentplanning aid for cost-effective
mine closure remediation. Trans Inst Min Metall, Sect A 1995;104:A4157.
[12] Szwedzicki T. Pre- and post-failure ground behaviour: case studies of surface
crown pillar collapse. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 1999;36(3):3519.
[13] Hutchinson DJ, Phillips C, Cascante G. Risk considerations for crown pillar
stability assessment for mine closure planning. Geotech Geol Eng
2002;20(1):4163.
[14] Choudhury PB, Raina AK, Ramulu M, Chakraborty AK, Bandopadhyay C.
Crown pillar stability assessment in an underground copper mine using
acoustic emission. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 2004;41(suppl. 1) 1B 07 16.
[15] Reddy KRG, Loui JP, Rao DG, Sinha A. Design of crown pillars using numerical
simulation techniquea case study. J Min Met Fuels 2005;56:959.
[16] Tawadrous AS, Katsabanis PD. Prediction of surface crown pillar stability
using articial neural networks. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech
2007;31(7):91731.
[17] Li DY, Li XB, Zhao GY. Roof security thickness determination of underground
goaf under open-pit mine. Opencast Min Technol 2005;5:1720 in Chinese.
[18] Itasca Consulting Group, IncFLAC3Dfast lagrangian analysis of Continua in
3 Dimensions, Version 3.0 Users Guide. Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; 2005.
[19] Gemcom Gemcom SurpacGeology and Mine Planning. 2011 [cited March
2011]; Available from: /http://www.gemcomsoftware.com/products/surpacS.
[20] Lin H, Cao P, Li JT, Jiang XL, He ZM. Automatic generation of FLAC3D model
based on SURPAC. Zhongguo Kuangye Daxue Xuebao/J China Univ Min
Technol 2008;37(3):33942 in Chinese.
[21] Liu K, Li X, Gong F, Liu X, Wang W. Stability analysis of complicated cavity
based on CALS and coupled Surpac-FLAC3D technology. Chin J Rock Mech Eng
2008;27(9):192431 in Chinese.
[22] Luo ZQ, Wu YB, Liu XM, Liu WP, Yang B. FLAC3D modeling for complex
geologic body based on SURPAC. Rock Soil Mech 2008;29(5):13348 in
Chinese.
[23] Grenon M, Hadjigeorgiou J. Integrated structural stability analysis for preliminary open pit design. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 2010;47(3):45060.
[24] Grenon M, Laamme A-J. Slope orientation assessment for open-pit mines,
using GIS-based algorithms. Comput Geosci 2011;37(9):141324.
[25] Li X, Liu Z, Peng K, Zhao G, Peng S. Theory and practice of rock mechanics
ralated to exploitation of undersea metal mine. Chin J Rock Mech Eng
2010;29(10):194653 in Chinese.

[26] Brady BHG, Brown ET. Rock mechanics for underground mining. Dordrecht:
Kluwer; 2004.
[27] Song ZA, Chang Y. Key technology of full-mechanized caving mining under
sea in Longkou. Coal Min Technol 2009;14(1):4851 in Chinese.
[28] Guo W, Chai H. Excavation damage and protection in coal mine. Beijing:
China: Coal Industry Publishing House; 2008 in Chinese.
[29] The Ministry of Water Resources of the Peoples Republic of China. GB 5021894 Standard for engineering classication of rock masses. Beijing, China:
China Planning Press; 1994 in Chinese.
[30] Itasca Consulting Group, Inc FLAC3DFast lagrangian analysis of Continua in
3 dimensions, Version 3.0 Fluid-Mechanical Interaction. Minneapolis; 2005.
[31] Li DY, Li XB, Li CC, Huang BR, Gong FQ, Zhang W. Case studies of groundwater
ow into tunnels and an innovative water-gathering system for water
drainage. Tunnelling Underground Space Technol 2009;24(3):2608.
[32] Singh M, Seshagiri Rao K. Empirical methods to estimate the strength of
jointed rock masses. Eng Geol 2005;77(1-2):12737.
[33] Hoek E, Diederichs MS. Empirical estimation of rock mass modulus. Int J Rock
Mech Min Sci 2006;43(2):20315.
[34] Sonmez H, Gokceoglu C, Nefeslioglu HA, Kayabasi A. Estimation of rock
modulus: for intact rocks with an articial neural network and for rock
masses with a new empirical equation. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci
2006;43(2):22435.
[35] Dinc OS, Sonmez H, Tunusluoglu C, Kasapoglu KE. A new general empirical
approach for the prediction of rock mass strengths of soft to hard rock
masses. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 2011;48(4):65065.
[36] Rocscience Inc RocData Version 3.0 Users Guide of RocData: Strength
analysis of rock and soil masses using the generalized HoekBrown, Mohr
Coulomb, BartonBandis and power curve failure critera. Toronto, Ontario,
Canada; 2004.
[37] Hoek E, Carranza-Torres CT, Corkum B HoekBrown failure criterion2002
edition. In: Proceedings of the 5th North American rock mechanics symposium, Toronto, Canada, 2002: 1. p. 267273.
on JM, Durand P, Morales A. The use of rock mass
[38] Justo JL, Justo E, Azan
classication systems to estimate the modulus and strength of jointed rock.
Rock Mech Rock Eng 2010;43(3):287304.
[39] Hoek E, Brown E. Practical estimates of rock mass strength. Int J Rock Mech
Min Sci 1997;34:116586.
[40] Tesarik DR, Seymour JB, Yanske TR. Long-term stability of a backlled roomand-pillar test section at the Buick Mine, Missouri, USA. Int J Rock Mech Min
Sci 2009;46(7):118296.