Snowmelt water breakthrough into coal mine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51301/ejsu.2025.i6.06Keywords:
underground mining, ground surface, sinkhole, floodwater, technogenic rock stresses, natural hydrofracture, filtration, wa-ter inrushAbstract
The paper addresses the mechanism of flood water inrush from a technogenic ground sinkhole into underground excavation. Basing on computer simulation it was demonstrated that an area of tensile stresses is formed in the zone affected by underground mining. A natural hydrofracture of rocks may develop from the sinkhole into the mine opening under the effect of tensile stresses and water hydrostatic pressure. Hazardous water inflow into underground mine opening may be associated both with direct hydrofracture crack egress into the opening and with preliminary intense filtration water inflow from the crack into the opening if the crack development slows down. On approaching the mine opening the fracture may stop growing due to local rock compression near the opening. The modeling has demonstrated that the actual picture of the catastrophic water inflow into the ventilation gallery cannot be explained by filtration mechanism only. The catastrophic water breakthrough may be caused by development of a major water-conducting crack growing from natural frost crack in the bottom of the sinkhole towards the mine opening.
References
The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disas-ters. (2000). Guidelines for the Organization and Carrying out of the Actions Directed on Reduction of Consequences of Spring Floods and Freshets. Moscow
The Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federa-tion. (2011). The Building Codes and Regulations «SNiP 2.01.09-91. Buildings and structures on the undermined territo-ries and subsidence soil». Moscow
Mironenko, V., & Strelsky, F. (1993). Hydrogeomechanical problems in mining. Mine Water and the Environment, 112, 35-40
Luckner, L., & Shestakov, V. (1991). Migration Processes in the Soil and Groundwater Zone. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Iophis, M.A. (2002). The nature and mechanism of formation of water-conducting fractures in the rock mass. Mining Informa-tional and Analytical Bulletin, 4, 33-34
Xing, M., Li, W., Wang, Q., & Yang, D. (2015). Risk Predic-tion of Roof Bed-Separation Water Inrush in Coal Mine, China. Electronic Journal of Geothechnical Engineering, 20(1), 301-312
Liu, Y., Liu, Q., Jin, Z., Cai, L., & Cui, X. (2014). A simulation study of support break-off and water inrush during mining un-der high confined and thick unconsolidated aquifer. Open Jour-nal of Geology, 4(12), 5990611. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojg.2014.412044
Odintsev, V.N., & Miletenko, N.A. (2015). Water inrush in mines as a consequence of spontaneous hydrofracture. Journal of Mining Science, 51(3), 423-434
Grechishchev, S.E., Chistotinov, L.V. & Shur, Y.L. (1984) Fundamentals of modeling of cryogenic physical-geological processes. Nauka
Gorbachevskij, A.Y. (2007). Development of residual reserves of the Yunyaginsky deposit by the open method in the Arctic. Mining Informational and Analytical Bulletin, 1, 258-265
Kostarev, A.P., & Mitishova, N.A. (2000). Improving the effec-tiveness of measures to prevent water breakouts in coal mines. Occupational Safety in Industry, 1, 35-38
Miletenko, N.A. (2007). On the issue of water breakthroughs in underground mining. Mining Informational and Analytical Bul-letin, 6, 107-111
Odintsev, V.N., & Miletenko, N.A. (2015). Water inrush in mines as a consequence of spontaneous hydrofracture. Journal of Mining Science, 51(3), 423-434, https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062739115030011
Stavrogin, A.N., & Protosenya, A.G. (1985). Rock Strength and Stability of Mine Openings at Great Depths. Nedra, Moscow
Iophis, М.А. (2006). On the issue of forecasting and preventing the consequences of the collapse of tunnels. Tunnel Association of Russia. Moscow
Iophis, M.A., Odintsev, V.N., Blokhin, D.I. & Sheinin, V.I. (2007). Experimental investigation of spatial periodicity induced deformation in a rock mass. Journal of Mining Science, 43(2), 21-27
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Engineering Journal of Satbayev University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
<div class="pkpfooter-son">
<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png"></a><br>This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
</div>
