As mining and civil tunneling progresses to depth, excavation-induced seismicity and rockburst problems increase and cannot be prevented. As an important line of defense, ground control measures and burst-resistant rock support are used to prevent or minimize damage to excavations and thus to enhance workplace safety. Rock support in burst-prone ground differs from conventional rock support where controlling gravity-induced rockfalls and managing shallow zones of loose rock is the main target. Rock support in burst-prone ground needs to resist dynamic loads and large rock dilation due to violent rock failure. After reviewing the rockburst phenomenon, types of rockbursts, damage mechanisms, and rockburst support design acceptability criteria, this paper introduces an interactive design tool for conducting rockburst support design in underground mines.
As the depth of mining and underground construction increases, stress-induced rock fracturing is inevitable and in some cases rocks can fail violently, leading to seismic events and rockbursts. A rockburst is defined as damage to an excavation that occurs in a sudden or violent manner and is associated with a seismic event [1, 2]. Many hard rock mines in Canada, China, Chile, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, and other countries, and some deep civil tunnels in Switzerland, China, and Peru have experienced rockbursts to various degrees. Considerable research effort, at an international scale (e.g., Australia, Canada, South Africa), has been devoted to the understanding of the rockburst phenomenon. Various microseismic monitoring systems are in operation at many mines and tunnel construction sites around the world. From the waveforms recorded, the time, location, radiated energy, seismic moment and other source parameters of a seismic event can be estimated. Monitoring of seismic events in mines is a very useful tool for outlining potentially hazardous ground conditions and assisting mine management in effective re-entry decision-making.