Prediction of Rockburst Potential under High Geo-stress: Experimental study

초록

Rockburst phenomenon has become a major problem in mining and underground construction industry. Therefore, the evaluation of rockburst potential prior to the construction operation is crucial to avoid further rockburst disasters. In this study, the prediction of rockburst potential is investigated by looking at the strain energy storage capacity of samples made of dental plaster. Two separate experiments were carried out. One experiment was a non-destructive elastic wave test which primarily uses sound wave propagation to determine the sample’s modulus of elasticity which was made by different water/plaster composition ratio. Then, uniaxial compression test was carried out by using a servo-controlled compression machine specially designed to detect the post peak failure point of brittle materials and thus can plot a post peak stress-strain curve. The study also demonstrates the differences between the hard and soft machine failure mechanism of the material. The information in the complete stress-strain curve was used for the calculation of strain energy accumulation and the prediction of rockburst proneness was made based on the criteria suggested by previous researchers. The result shows, through the relation between failures mechanism and strength of the tested samples, the stronger the material, the higher strain energy it can accumulate which in turn results in a more violent failure mechanism.