Physical Simulation Experiment on the Failure Evolution Process and Failure Mode of Soft Surrounding Rock in a Deep Roadway

• Published in: Journal of testing and evaluation 2022-09, Vol.50 (5), p.2652-2675
• Main Authors: Guo, Peng, Fan, Jun-qi, Shi, Xiao-yan, Wu, Qing-xiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0090-3973; 1945-7553
• DOI: 10.1520/JTE20220012

Large deformation of surrounding rock is one of the major disasters that cannot be prevented in deep underground engineering. Several arch changes or even landslides may occur if the management is ineffective. In this study, an indoor model experiment is conducted using a similar geotechnical multifunction load simulation device and a surrounding rock strain and displacement monitoring system. The failure evolution process of surrounding rocks and the variation law of displacement and stress of a deep underground roadway under different burial depths are studied. The critical components for preventing large deformations in underground engineering have been identified. Model test results show that the designed deep roadway model loading system can meet the requirements of uniform loading in simulating different deep roadway loads and can satisfactorily realize cascade loading of various surrounding rocks in a deep roadway. The stress and displacement in the surrounding rock can also be efficiently measured with by the designed measuring device. The similarity test of physical simulation indicates that the instability risk of a deep roadway, especially the collapse disaster in the sidewall, is greater with the increase in depth when no support exists. The collapsed area of the surrounding rock gradually increases with the increase in the burial depth of the roadway. In the model test, no evident convergence deformation is observed in the surrounding rock of the roadway when the simulated depth is less than 800 m. The deformation of the sidewall and the arch waist increases with the increase in burial depth.