Mechanism analysis and preventive methods for rock bursts in deep mining conditions

With the decrease of shallow mine resources, developing deep underground resources has become an inescapable reality in mining industries all over the world. However, deep underground mining is faced with many problems. The most distinct difficulty in deep underground mining is mining disturbance and " three high;" that is, high stress, high temperature and high pore water pressure. In addition, rock mechanics characteristics are very challenging and frequently cause increase of hazards, such as rock bursts, water invasion, and instability of goaf, all of which have high incidence rates and complex hazard mechanisms. This paper analyzes the rock burst mechanism theories, including strength theory, outburst proneness theory, energy theory, and instability theory. Main discriminations of rock burst include stress discrimination, energy discrimination, and lithology discrimination, among others. Rock burst is related with rock physical parameters (e.g., strain, stress, temperature, acoustic emission), so we can improve the forecast of rock bursts by researching changes of these parameters. With the goal of reducing the occurrence of rock bursts, this paper offers some preventive and control measures which are of greatest theoretical and practical significance to avoid rock-burst-related occurrences in the development of deep underground mining, to reduce the cost of mining under deep cover, and to improve overall economic efficiency.