Investigation results of the stress-strain state of geomedia for the purposes of geomechanics, geotectonics, mining engineering

The article summarises new results, including unpublished data, obtained by the Applied Geomechanics Group of the Department of Mining and Construction Geotechnics at the Mining Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences while performing a series of works in the fields of geomechanics, geotectonics, and mining engineering. The discrete nature and serious deformations of geomaterials – participants of the studied processes – were unifying factors for the tasks these disciplines have to solve. With this in mind, the concepts of loose media mechanics and the modified method of discrete elements were used to study these issues. On the basis of this method, a computer program is developed, the efficiency of which is confirmed by the solving results of test activities. Numerically and on physical models, we have substantiated and confirmed by independent instrumental measurements the dependence between absolute values and orientation of elevated tectonic stresses in the area of mineral deposits and the tectonics of the surrounding endocircular structures. The work shows the relevance of this section of geotectonics from the point of the development of mineral reserves of the World Ocean bed. The following tasks are solved: increase of bearing capacity of ground anchors with flexible traction; decrease of peak loads on plate feeders of crushed ore of concentrating factories; increase of accuracy of volumetric dosers of continuous action for hard-to-flow materials; anti-erosion protection of pneumatic transport pipe bend; about the influence of cross-sectional shape and rotation speed of horizontal pipeline on the efficiency of pneumatic transport. The previously developed computer program for numerical simulation of the flow of broken ore during mining with sub-level caving and release under caved rocks has been improved and given to the mining organization. On the basis of the international cooperation results, the optimisation criterion of polydisperse media packing has been proposed.