Disaster Chain Evolution and Risk Mitigation in Non-Coal Underground Mines with Fault Zones: A Complex Network Approach

The prevention and control of disasters in underground mines is a key task to ensure sustainable mining production and the development of society. The disaster chain brings cascading and clustering characteristics to disasters and leads to the expansion of their impacts and losses. It brings great difficulties to disaster prevention and control. This paper focuses on the disaster chain of a non-coal underground mine. It analyzes disaster events triggered by artificial mining activities based on a literature review, expert investigation, and field research. Subsequently, it constructs a complex network model of disaster chains containing 44 disaster nodes and 136 connecting edges. Then it performed a quantitative analysis of the complex network model, and studied complex network model parameters including degree, number of subnets, intermediate centrality, node importance, average path length, edge betweenness, connectivity, and edge vulnerability. On that basis, this paper reveals that the top five key nodes of the disaster chain are surface subsidence (H4), industrial site destruction (H7), well flooding (H21), equipment damage (H8), and living area damage (H11). It also reveals that the top five key edges of the disaster chain are mine water inrush (H6)→well flooding (H21), surface subsidence (H4)→industrial site destruction (H7), underground space failure (H3)→industrial site destruction (H7), gob collapse (H2)→surface subsidence (H4), and gob collapse (H2)→landslide (H5). Finally, this paper proposes specific chain-breaking disaster mitigation measures. Implementing these actions can play a pivotal role in mitigating the impact of mine disasters, preserving lives, and sustaining regional prosperity.