Design of steel arch supports for gate roadways

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 79, No. 891, 1986

PIERRE CHOQUET, Assistant Professor of Rock Mechanics, Department of Mining and Metallurgy, Universite Laval, Ste-Foy, Quebec

The whole work carried out both in situ and in laboratory by a research group of the West German collieries is presented. This work has led to a design method of steel arch supports for gate roadways that gives full satisfaction in this particular coalfield. The method accounts for mining depth, the mining system (advancing or retreating), thickness of the coal seam and other parameters. Full statistics are then given on gate roadway supports of the ECCS (European Community for Coal and Steel) coalfields. They were collected by the author in order to show that the West German method can be applied to other coalfields as the longwall systems which are generally being used are very similar. Design calculations are conducted for each coalfield's case. They show that the method would have been able to predict in most cases the support actually used. Utilization of the design method is recommended to the Cape Breton Development Corporation's mine operators because mining conditions, even though different from European ones, present a number of similarities which make it possible to apply the design method to their particular case.

Mots Clés: Steel, Steel arch, Supports, Coal mining, Design, Experimental results, Field measurements, Strata control.