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PART-A

1. A) Rock Quality Designation was introduced by D.U. Deere in 1964 as an index of

assessing rock quality quantitatively. It is a more sensitive index of the core quality than
the core recovery.
The RQD is a modified percent core recovery which incorporates only sound pieces of
core that are 100mm or greater in length along the core axis.
For RQD determination, the ISRM recommends a core size at least NX (54.7mm) drilled
with double tube core barrel using a diamond bit.
A slow rate of drilling will give better RQD.
Generally RQD is used for characterizing degree of jointing in borehole cores.
The relationship between RQD and the engineering quality of the rock mass is

sum of core pieces ≥10cm

RQD = × 100
total drill run

Correlation between RQD and Rock Mass Quality

S.No RQD % Rock Quality

1 <25 Very Poor
2 25-50 Poor
3 50-75 Fair
4 75-90 Good
5 90-100 Excellent

B) Underground openings have a wide variety of applications like tunnels built for highways
and railroads, water supply and sewage tunnels, underground power stations, storage caverns
etc.
With such a vast range of underground applications, it is necessary to understand the various
aspects of underground openings and their stress and deformation characteristics.
 The major conditions around an opening can be classified as in-situ stresses– due to the
overburden rock, induced stresses– due to the excavation for the opening and traffic loads–
not significant in the case of deep tunnels
To obtain the concept of the effect of the size and shape of a single mine opening upon
the stresses existing initially (before the opening was introduced) within the surrounding
rock.
To determine the effect of a group of mine openings upon the stresses existing initially
within the rock as their size, shape, number, and relative positions are varied.
It is important to understand the stress distributions around a single opening (viz.,
circular, elliptical, rectangular) and around multiple openings.
C) FLAC, Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua, is numerical modeling software for
advanced geotechnical analysis of soil, rock, groundwater, and ground support.
FLAC is used for analysis, testing, and design by geotechnical, civil, and mining
engineers. It is designed to accommodate any kind of geotechnical engineering project
that requires continuum analysis.
FLAC utilizes an explicit finite difference formulation that can model complex behaviors,
such as problems that consist of several stages, large displacements and strains, non-
linear material behavior, or unstable systems.
It works based on explicit finite difference techniques for solution of the governing
equations for a problem domain, taking account into initial and boundary conditions.
D) A stress field is the distribution of internal forces in a body that balance a given set of
external forces.
Two types of stresses exist in the field 1. Insitu stresses (pre-mining stresses) 2. Induced
stresses.
In situ stresses released during excavation for underground structures can cause rock
bursting, spilling, buckling or other ground control problems.
Knowledge of the state of in situ stress is of critical importance to the design and
construction of engineering structures in a rock mass.
Factors affecting the magnitude and orientations of in situ stress include the weight of
overlying materials, geologic structures (on local and regional scales), and tectonic forces
within the earth’s crust, residual stress and thermal stress.
 Stress cannot be measured directly and therefore rock stress determination techniques
rely on the measurement of some response (viz; displacement, strain, deformation etc) i.e.
induced by a disturbance of the rock mass.
E) Mining depth is increasing day by day, since the deposits near the surface are mined out.
Going deep in the mine creates different conditions in comparison with the near surface
mining due to the increased stress.
As a result, stress-induced rock fracturing is inevitable and when stored energy is
suddenly released, rocks fail violently, leading to seismic events and coal bumps.
A rock burst/coal bump is defined as damage to an excavation that occurs in a sudden or
violent manner and is associated with a seismic event. Rockbursts are the most serious
and least understood problem facing deep mining operations
With the advance of the mining depth in higher stress environments, coal bumps is
becoming an increasing problem world-wide.
There are three types of rock bursts 1. Strain burst 2. Pillar burst 3. Fault-slip burst.
PART B
2. A) i) Protodyaknov Index
The Protodyaknov index is a simple rock characteristic which has immense possibility of
practical application, particularly in predicting rock drillability in percussive drilling.
Protodyaknov index is determined by a standard procedure with an apparatus fabricated
in the laboratory. However, the degree of packing of -500 microns fines in the
volumometer was standardized by tapping it 10 times from a height of 5 cm in all cases.
Prepare five samples from a block of coal. Weigh 50 gm. from each sample which
consists of coal pieces of size greater than 19.56 mm (+ ¾”) and less than 25.4 mm (-1”).
Put the sample into the cylinder and allow a drop weight (2.4 Kg.) to fall five times from
a fixed height of 640 mm.
Now, remove the crushed coal and keep aside, put next sample into the cylinder and
repeat the process for remaining samples.
When all the samples get crushed in this manner, put the broken coal material of each test
on a 0.5 mm (0.02”) sieve and get it seived. Pour the seived fines into the tube of
volumometer of 23 mm diameter.
 Record the height (l) of the coal dust in the volumometer in each case after tapping it
lightly 10 times on the table. Calculate the strength coefficient ( Pi ).
The strength coefficient (Pi) is calculated from the equation
20𝑛
Pi = 𝑙

Pi = Strength Coefficient
n = no of impacts of load
l = Height of coal dust in volumometer.

ii) Rock Mass Rating

The geomechanical classification or the rock mass rating system was initially developed
at the CSIR by Z.T. Bieniawski on the basis of his experiences in shallow tunnels in
sedimentary rocks.

To apply RMR, the given site should be divided into a number of geological structural
units in such a way that each type of rock mass is represented by a separate geological
structural unit. The following six parameters are determined for each structural unit.

I) Uniaxial Compressive Strength of intact rock material

II) RQD
III) Joint or discontinuity spacing
IV) Joint condition
V) Ground water condition
VI) Joint orientation

B) Barton proposed the Q-system of rock mass classification on the basis of about 200 case
histories of tunnels and caverns. They have defined as

Q = [RQD/Jn]. [Jr/Ja]. [Jw/SRF]

Where,

RQD = Deere’s Rock Quality Designation ≥ 10

 Jn = Joint set number

Jr = Joint roughness number

Ja = Joint alternation number

Jw = Joint water reduction factor and

SRF = Stress reduction factor

3. A) Major principal stress σ1 = 11.0 Mpa

Minor principal stress σ3 = 3.96 Mpa

Principal angle θp = 22.5 deg

B) Griffith postulated that fracture initiate in material due to tensile stress concentrations at the
tips of minute, thin cracks (now referred to as Griffith cracks) distributed throughout an isotropic
and elastic material. There are two concepts to explain:

1. Energy Instability Approach

σ ≥ ( 2Eα/πc)1/2

2. Stress Approach

(1 - 2)2 - 8t (1 + 2) = 0.

4. A) 1. Seam Thickness

2. Inclination of the seam

3. Width and depth of opening/seam

4. Time/Time Elapse

5. Type of supports

6. Geological Discontinuities

7. Degree of Extraction
 8. Method of Working- Board and Pillar, longwall

B) Mine subsidence is defined as movement of ground surface as a result of readjustments of

the overburden due to collapse or failure of underground mine workings.

Or

Mine subsidence means lateral or vertical ground movement caused by failure initiated at the
mine level, of man-made underground mines.

There are three types of mine subsidences

 Critical subsidence: Subsidence reaches the maximum

 Sub critical subsidence: No point on the surface shows maximum subsidence
 Super critical subsidence: The width and length of the opening increases continuously
even after occurring critical subsidence.

5. A) Load cell

 The load cell is a transducer to detect the load which is directly applied to the load cell
itself. Therefore, the load cell itself has to be treated as part of the structure.
 A structure where a load cell is installed must sufficiently withstand loading. The base
must be deformation or deflection free due to loading.
 The load cell should be installed so that the load can be applied vertically to the load cell.
The top of load cell is so spherical that bending moment or distortion is not applied to the
load cell. The use of a spherical cap is recommended.
 All load cells are self-temperature-compensated, but a sharp temperature variation makes
the output instable.

Strain Gauge

 A Strain gauge (sometimes referred to as a Strain gauge) is a sensor whose resistance

varies with applied force; It converts force, pressure, tension, weight, etc., into a change
 in electrical resistance which can then be measured. ... Thus, strain gauges can be used to
pick up expansion as well as contraction.
 The strain gauge is one of the most important sensor of the electrical measurement
technique applied to the measurement of mechanical quantities.
 When force is applied to any metallic wire its length increases due to the strain. The more
is the applied force, more is the strain and more is the increase in length of the wire. If
L1 is the initial length of the wire and L2 is the final length after application of the force,
the strain is given as
ε = (L2-L1)/L1
Convergence Loader
 An appliance for measuring changes in vertical height, usually at the coalface. It consists
of a telescopic strut between the roof and floor and carries a pen that records the
movement on a clockwork-driven chart.
 A convergence recorder consists basically of a clock wise driver, a chart paper drum and
a spring loaded scriber arm mounted on telescopic tubes.
 The tubes are coupled with two pins located on roof and floor.
 As the roof and floor converge the tubes telescope into each other causing the scriber arm
to trace a varying path over the chart paper mounted on a slowly rotating drum.

B) Angle of Internal Friction (φ) = 48.6 deg

Cohesion = 672.8 kpa

Compressive strength = 3561.02 Mpa

Tensile strength = 508.5 Mpa

6 A) Going deep in the mine create different conditions in comparison with the near surface
mining due to the increased stress.
As a result, stress-induced rock fracturing is inevitable and when stored energy is
suddenly released, rocks fail violently, leading to seismic events and rock bursts.
 A rock burst is defined as damage to an excavation that occurs in a sudden or violent
manner and is associated with a seismic event.
Rock bursts are the most serious and least understood problem facing deep mining
operations.
Three types of rock burst occur in mines
 Pillar burst
 Strain burst
 Fault - slip burst

Controlling Techniques
Reducing mine induced seismicity

Mine Support

Rate of extraction

Mine induced stresses

Shape of opening

High density mine fill

Remanant pillars

Seismic networks etc are few of them

C) A slope failure is a phenomenon that a slope collapses abruptly due to weakened self-
retainability of the earth under the influence of a rainfall or an earthquake or any other mining
activities (viz., blasting, vibrations, improper handling of materials, improper mining).

There are four types of slope failures

 Planar Failure
 Wedge Failure
 Circular Failure
 Toppling Failure
D) Factors influencing slope stability

 Strength
 Geological Discontinuities in rock mass
 Presence of water
 Blasting and dynamic forces
 Geometry of slope
 Time/Creep properties
 Insitu stresses