Rankine, K.J., Rankine, K.S., and Sivakugan, N. (2003) Quantitative validation of scaled modelling of hydraulic mine drainage using numerical modelling. In: Proceedings of the MODSIM 2003 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. pp. 2054-2059. From: MODSIM 2003 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, 14-17 July 2003, Townsville, QLD, Australia .

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Abstract

The recent spate of catastrophic fill barricade failures around Australia and numerous mines worldwide have identified a need for an increased understanding into the factors which lead to failure of the fill in underground mining operations. Several case studies have suggested that the majority of these failures result from poor drainage and subsequent build-up of pore water pressures behind the porous brick barricades constructed across the drives to contain the fill. This paper focuses on the fundamental aspects of permeability and drainage characteristics of hydraulic fill mines. A 1: 1 00 laboratory scaled model, mimicking a typical underground stope was constructed at James Cook University. The filling process of the mine was mechanically simulated through the use of the scale model and the discharge measured for various drain arrangements and barricade positions. The findings were verified using a three-dimensional numerical model developed in the software FLAC3D, a finite difference package, specifically designed to accurately model complex geotechnical problems. The scale model has been validated against an existing and currently used two·dimensional mine drainage simulation program. The numerical model was used to study the effects of various mine drainage parameters on the discharge quantity. These include drain location on the stope, distance of the drain within the drive, and the number of drains. It is. shown through this research, that the numerical model developed is an effective tool for carrying out such parametric studies in the prototype mine stopes of any geometry. The scale model has been quantitatively validated through the numerical modelling exercise.

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