Assessment of the Stress-Strain State of the Foliated Cutoff Mass

Abstract

As deepening increases and the new levels appear during the open-pit mining, the accumulation of fatigue stresses occurs. These stresses lead to deformations of slopes in a form of slough, collapses, balmstones, and, in some cases, landslides. Open-pit walls and benches are complex engineering constructions, the state of which determines the safety of mining. During open-pit mining, there is always a need to provide stability of pit walls, i.e. it is necessary to provide such stress-strain state of cutoff mass, which ensures that external forces affecting the rock mass do not exceed the internal forces of rock mass resistance and cannot lead to its destruction. Thus, the assessment of the stress-strain state is a crucial task at hand. This paper presents the results of the research on assessment of the stress-strain state of the foliated cutoff mass allowing for water influence, the results of the numerical modeling, the dependency of stress distribution on various distances; it outlines the areas of influence of the pit with 450m depth and 39.8˚ angle of slip on the stress-strain state of cutoff mass, and the influence of ground waters on the nature of pit wall deformation.