Support design using unwedge software for mines of nornickel’s polar division

The method of support design using Unwedge software is proposed and substantiated for mines of Nornickel’s Polar Division. The software allows rapid and qualitative stability analysis for roofs and sidewalls in underground excavations, as well as enables competent failure envelope plotting for an excavation or its area with regard to varying geological and geotechnical conditions, which improves safety and efficiency of mining. The article discusses two case-studies. The first event is roof fall along the system of joints in a development drive in the Kholbin Mine. In that case, the quantitative assessment of rock mass quality was never undertaken, thus, the systems of joints, sizes of wedges, contact conditions of joints, etc. were neglected. The second case describes the support design using Unwedge software for an excavation driven in rock mass of ramp RSH1/6-2 in the Oktyabrsky Mine. The excavation was supported as per the Unwedge design. The calculated safety factors for each rock wedge are higher than 2, which complies with Russian regulatory documents. The excavation stability is predicted for the operational period at the minimum risk of rock falls. © 2019, Publishing house Mining book. All rights reserved.