Deformation Analysis and Stability Evaluation of the Main Shaft at Jinchuan Mine No.3

Unexpected, serious deformation failures have occurred during construction of a main shaft. A study of construction parameters of the main shaft is required. First, the stability of the shaft and wall-rock is investigated by numerical methods. The modeling results are as follows: The convergence of shaft liner is greater than 60 mm at a depth of 650 m; the maximum principal stress in the liner approaches 190 MPa, which exceeds the strength of the liner, so it is inevitable that the liner deform locally. Second, stability analysis of shafts with different liner thicknesses has been completed. The results have the following features: If the depth where the liner thickness is increases from 400 mm to 500 mm is 650 meters, the convergence deformation of the liner is reduced by 3.4 mm while the maximum principal stress is reduced by 5 MPa. At a depth of 250 m if the liner thickness is increased from 400 mm to 500 mm the convergence of the liner is reduced by 1.5 mm while the maximum principal stress is reduced by 10 MPa. Therefore, increasing the liner thickness has little effect on liner convergence but can reduce the maximum principal stress in the liner. The thickness of the liner can be increased to reduce the maximum principal stress and increase the capacity for shear deformation. Finally, construction techniques employing releasing-displacements have been numerically simulated. The conclusions are that as the releasing displacement is increased the convergence of the surrounding rock increases linearly while the convergence of the lining decreases linearly. The plastic zone in the surrounding rock mass at first increases linearly but then, at a release-displacement of 95 mm, expands rapidly. These conclusions show that use of suitable releasing displacement can increase the self-supporting capacity of the surrounding rock. But when the releasing displacement exceeds 95 mm the plastic zone rapidly enlarges and stability rapidly decreases. The maximum principal stress of the lining also decreases as the release-displacement increases. There is a definite inflection point in the relationships involving releasing displacement. When the releasing displacement passes this point the effect on principal stress decreases. In conclusion, a reasonable releasing displacement value when lining the shaft is 95 mm.