Experience of block geomechanical modeling of coal fields using Russian Mining and Geological Information System tNavigator

The article presents the block geomechanical modeling procedure, involving the data on the physical and mechanical properties and faulting of rock mass for the conditions of coal fields, using Russian software tNavigator. tNavigator supports high-comprehensive modeling without involvement of high-duty computation clusters. A block geomechanical model was created using the model of the lithology and structure of rock mass and the skeletons of coal seams. For the discussed conditions of coal seams, laboratory tests of dry and wet rocks were carried out. The analysis of the strength characteristics determined the degree of decrease in the characteristics of wet rocks. After the data processing and analysis using the tools of tNavigator, rock mass was divided into structural domains. A structural domain is understood as a rock mass volume often bounded by large faults divided into sectors based on the analogous characteristics of jointing, in particular ,orientation, density and shearing strength of joints. The other characteristics of jointing being important, the structural domains are commonly constructed with regard to the orientation and / or density of joints, since these characteristics are directly related with the geotechnical behavior of rock mass. Thus, an integrated prototype, with lithological discontinuities and structural domains is created, which enables interpolation with regard to a wide range of factors. The case-study of an interpolation scenario determines that the best implementation is a partial case including both geological and structural features of rock mass.