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Deep Horseshoe Mine Drift Excavation under In-Situ Overburden Gravity (H = 350 m)
Magmatic granite rock massif hosting a classic horseshoe mine tunnel (span B = 0.6 m, Ht = 0.55 m) under 35.6 MN overburden load.
Quantify rock mass convergence, verify the extent of the destressed zone above the tunnel crown, and calculate stress concentration factors in the sidewalls to design primary rock bolting and shotcrete tunnel support systems.
1. Geometry & FEA Mesh
- •3D solid rock block (2400 × 1600 × 1200 mm) with a longitudinal horseshoe tunnel (span B = 600 mm, height Ht = 550 mm, arch radius R = 300 mm)
- •Material: Massive Magmatic Granite/Gneiss (E = 38.0 GPa, ν = 0.24, density 2700 kg/m³)
- •Mesh: 45,125 linear tetrahedral elements (TET4) with 9,730 nodes (29,190 DOFs)
- •Conformal boundary mapping: semicircular arch roof, vertical sidewalls, flat invert floor, top overburden, foundation base, and confinement boundaries
2. Loads & Boundary Conditions
- •Overburden lithostatic compressive force Fz = -35.60 MN applied to the top face (depth H = 350 m)
- •Bottom foundation face roller-supported (Uz = 0); lateral boundaries constrained against normal expansion (Ux = 0, Uy = 0)
- •Excavated tunnel vault, walls, and invert are traction-free boundaries
3. Simulation Results & Findings
- ✓Maximum rock displacement |u| = 0.511 mm located at the sidewalls and invert floor
- ✓Peak von Mises stress σ_vm = 23.20 MPa concentrated in the vertical sidewalls and arch springlines
- ✓Near-zero vertical stress in the crown confirms classic Protodyakonov protective arch formation; reaction balance error is 0.00%
Enables mining and tunneling engineers to model underground drifts, subways, and civil defense caverns with realistic overburden stress redistributions and instant equilibrium auditing.
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