Investigations of groundwater bursting into coal mine seam floors from fault zones

This paper presents a case study of investigations into retarded groundwater bursting along the fault zones in the seam floors in coal mines. In addition to in situ measurements of ground stresses, a number of rock samples from the fault zones at the site of the case study were taken, and laboratory tests were performed for conventional and special rheological rock mechanics properties. The effects of different parameters on deformation and failure of the fault zone materials were analyzed, and the mechanism of retarded groundwater bursting along fault zones was further revealed. In the case study, different scenarios accounting for the different development phases of the fault weakness zone and groundwater bursting as well as different groundwater pressures were considered, and each of them was simulated using the 3D visual elastic-plastic numerical mechanics model FLAC(3D) (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions). Through the case study, the applicability of rock mechanics modeling software for studying retarded groundwater bursting along a fault zone was examined. Several issues are discussed regarding the investigations of retarded groundwater bursting and a general structured approach to investigate and control this geological hazardous event is presented. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.