Mine Roof Condition and the Occurrence of Roof Falls in Coal Mines

Mine roof fall characteristics of 250 falls in 5 different room-and-pillar coal mines, located in Pike, Martin, and Floyd counties, Kentucky, were investigated to determine the relationship of selected parameters associated with roof failure and the assumed condition of the mine roof before failure. The selected parameters used in the study included: presence of cracks and water before the occurrence of fall, sloughing of coal ribs, floor heave condition, type of roof support (resin or mechanical anchor bolts), distance to coal face, and time of occurrence of fall after initial coal extraction. In addition, 8 research hypotheses, utilizing multiple linear regression techniques, were generated to test the relationship among the selected parameters and mine roof condition. The results indicated that the vast majority of falls portrayed some presence of water before the actual fall, occurred in less than 30 weeks after initial coal excavation, located usually greater than 30 m from nearest coal face, gave evidence of cracks in mine roof before occurrence of fall, generally portrayed a good roof condition before the fall, showed presence of sloughing of coal ribs, and gave no occurrence of floor heave before occurrence of fall. In terms of the characteristics of the original support systems in the mine roof falls studied, most roofs were either supported by mechanical-anchor bolts or resin or full-column bolts; very rarely did the roof appear to fail if supported by posts or cribs. A detailed inspection of the hypothesis and model comparison results gave supporting evidence that the condition of the roof is not dependent on the usual indicators of potential failure, such as presence of cracks and moisture. In fact, in most cases of mine roof failure, the immediate roof condition was rated as good or better, which gives little or no indication of pending failure and collapse. Hence, a combination of factors that are not easily accessible to measurement, are the dominant factors in the determination of roof fall-potential areas. Copyright © 1984 Ohio Acad. Sci. MINE ROOF CONDITION AND THE OCCURRENCE OF ROOF FALLS IN COAL MINES ALAN D. SMITH, Coal Mining Administration, College of Business, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475