Case Study of Roadway Deformation Failure Mechanisms: Field Investigation and Numerical Simulation

The safety of underground roadways is a major issue in mining engineering, with economic impacts and potential threats to the lives of workers. Elucidating the deformation failure mechanisms is necessary to solve these problems. The deformation failure modes and characteristics of roadways buried at various depths were investigated using a detailed field survey in the Jinchuan nickel mine. At greater depths, roadway deformation was more serious, the creep phenomena were more prominent, and support structures were more prone to failure. Numerical simulations were performed on the roadways under various geo-stresses and rock mass structures, which indicated that the roadway deformation mode was mainly controlled by a rock mass structure in a lower stress environment and the control effect was weakened with the gradual increase of ground stress. Six deformation failure types were proposed to examine roadway deformation failure mechanisms. Field representation of each failure type was characterized under natural or induced conditions. The findings provide a reference for stability evaluation and support the design of roadway engineering under similar geological conditions.