Incorporating rock joint behavior into a geomechanical-hydrogeological model to more realistically represent caving propagation

In cave mining environments, where the rock mass behaves as a continuous medium and the broken material as a discontinuous medium, groundwater flow modelling and management are inherently complex. This complexity is further influenced by the presence of joints, which interrupt rock mass continuity and thereby affect its geomechanical and hydrogeological behavior. Then, joints must be considered in these types of models. In this work, we applied a previously developed geomechanical-hydrogeological methodology to simulate groundwater flow during the propagation stage of caving, incorporating the rock joints behavior. The IMASS constitutive model was used to represent the rock mass, while the UBIQUITOUS model was incorporated to simulate the joints. The results indicate that joint orientation significantly influences caving propagation, which tends to follow structurally controlled paths. Additionally, the results show the behavior of groundwater inflow from the rock mass into the cave generated during caving. The incorporation of joints in the geomechanical simulations also generates an effect on groundwater flow orientation. What emerges from this work is a methodology that can graph preliminary estimates of the drainage required for the initial engineering stages of a block/panel caving project.