Validation of RMR-based support design using roof bolts by numerical modeling for underground coal mine of Monnet Ispat, Raigarh, India-a case study

In underground coal mines, a lot of major fatalities have occurred due to roof fall in the newly developed faces or galleries of coal mines during the development or production of coal. There are around 500 underground coalmines in India, and continuous production or development or exploitation of coal depends upon the stability of the gateways developed in the form of galleries, which are supported in such a manner so that they can last up to that period, unless it has been finally extracted out with an operation called depillaring. A system of support design with roof bolting, resin bolting, and cable bolting for the aforesaid galleries is presently being decided on the basis of rock mass rating (RMR). The same support design has been attempted with the use of 3D numerical modeling technique-a tool nowadays very extensively used in geotechnical engineering to predict the stability of structures to be built or for the structures which are built against nature, i.e., underground mines. In this study, the support design system on the basis of RMR has also been validated with a numerical modeling technique for three locations of Monnet Ispat underground coalmine. After the study, it has been found that the numerical modeling technique can give better design of support system in underground coal mines in comparison with RMR-based support design system, and it will also play a major role in reducing the total cost incurred in coal exploitation from the underground coal mines.