Spent Fuel Test-Climax mineby revisited

Technical Report · Sun Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:59858

Butkovich, T R

As part of the Spent Fuel Test-Climax an experiment known as the mineby was conducted to measure the displacements and stress changes from mining a central drift between two parallel drifts. Extensometers and stress gauges were emplaced from the side drifts into the pillars to be formed upon mining of the center drift. The results showed a general stress decrease and apparent narrowing of the pillar. This is in contrast with a number of calculations of this process that were made by a number of different investigators. Since all the calculations show a broadening of the pillar during the mineby, a hypothesis to explain this apparent discrepancy was tested. This hypothesis is that the explosives used to break the rock in the mining of the central drift, in the process of expanding, caused the gauges to move away from the wall, giving the measurement which made it appear that the pillar got narrower. Although the results from the demonstration of the hypothesis is not definitive, it does show that explosives can have a significant effect on the measurements, and raises a red flag with respect to future use of this type of instrumentation for measuring effects of mining on the rock mass. 18 refs., 14 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 59858
• Report Number(s): UCID--20673; ON: DE86008103
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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