Experimental and numerical simulation on the sliding process of roof rock blocks triggered by dynamic disturbance

With the excavation of underground opening, the roof rock block may fall under external dynamic disturbance. In this paper, the roof rock mass was simplified as a rock block system composed of trapezoidal rock blocks. A series of experiments and numerical simulations were performed to study the sliding process of the key block under the horizontal static clamping load and vertical impact disturbance. The propagation of stress wave in the block system were captured and analyzed by using high-speed camera and digital image correlation technique. The results reveal that a pendulum-type wave was generated due to the propagation and superposition of stress waves in the block system. Therefore, the governing mechanism of the sliding displacement of the key block was clarified based on the propagation of incident stress waves or pendulum-type waves. Meanwhile, it is found that the sliding distance of the key block decreases in a power function with the increasing friction coefficient, or decreases in a parabolic function with the increasing trapezoid internal angle. Finally, a case study on the roof block sliding of the roadway at a gold mine was conducted, and it is concluded that the sliding of the key block resulted from the coupled effects of “shear driving” and “low friction” driven by stress wave propagation, regardless of a single or multi-layer rock block system. These results may provide technical guideline for preventing rock-falling accidents caused by blasting disturbances in underground mining.