User guide & design note
Underground Mine Planning — documentation
1. About the app
The app plans and designs a bord & pillar underground coal mine under CMR 2017 and DGMS practice, from data and reserves to layout, pillar design, continuous miner (CM) working, depillaring, ventilation, support, subsidence, services and approvals. It also digitises the plan of a running or closed mine and works out how much standing pillar coal a CM can extract. Every tab works from the same Project data, so a change in one place updates all results, drawings and the report.
2. How to use — step by step
| Step | Tab | What you enter | What you get |
| 1 | Project & Data | Mine, seam, depth of cover, seam thickness, working height, gallery width, density, coal UCS, panel size, gassiness | Panel summary; data checklist |
| 1A | Seam Model | Boreholes: Easting, Northing, collar RL, roof and floor depth, GCV, parting (type or paste from Excel) | Floor contour, thickness isopach, depth of cover, parting and quality plans (Fig. 9); dip; seam-wise and grade-wise reserves |
| 2 | Layout | Block length and width, boundary barrier, main entries, barriers around mains and panels, protective pillar area | Number of panels, areas, layout plan (Fig. 1) |
| 3 | Reserves | Development and depillaring output (or leave recovery 0 to use the Depillaring tab) | Panel reserve, block geological and extractable reserve |
| 4 | Method | Dip, surface protection, target output, roof caveability | Suitable / possible / not suitable for each method |
| 5 | Mine Entry | Seam depth at entry, incline gradient and size, shaft diameter | Incline vs shaft comparison |
| 6 | Pillar Design | Adopted pillar centres (0 = depth table), required FoS | Pillar size, strength, stress, FoS, pillar plan (Fig. 2) |
| 7 | Continuous Miner | Cutting rate, cut depth, shuttle cars, roof bolters, shifts | Cycle time, bottleneck, output per day and year (Fig. 3) |
| 8 | Depillaring | Method, splits, split and lift width, rib, MRS time | Pillar recovery, output, panel period; plan (Fig. 4) and section A–A (Fig. 5) |
| 9 | Standing Pillars | Plan image of a running or closed mine, scale from two points, pillars by clicking corners or grid tool, depth / height / status per pillar | Coal, FoS and CM extraction for every pillar; digitised plan (Fig. 6); table for Excel |
| 10 | Calendar Plan | Construction period, peak output, build-up | Year-wise plan, mine life, CM units and faces (Fig. 7) |
| 11 | Ventilation, Support, Subsidence | Persons, gas, diesel, resistance; RMR, bolt capacity; subsidence factor, angle of draw | Air quantity and fan power; bolting pattern; subsidence profile (Fig. 8) |
| 12 | Services & Safety, Approvals, Mining Plan, Checklist | Water make, conveyor hours; approval status and dates; ticks | Pump and belt sizing; approval tracker; progress on the Workflow tab |
| 13 | Report | — | Full design summary; Copy report and paste into Word |
3. Key results of this design
4. Plans and sections
5. Design basis
| Item | Method used in the app |
| Pillar size | Old CMR depth table as first check; final size from scientific study and DGMS permission |
| Pillar strength | CMRI: S = 0.27 σc h−0.36 + (H/250 + 1)(w/h − 1) MPa |
| Pillar stress | Tributary area: σ = 0.025 H (C/w)² MPa; FoS = S / σ |
| Reserves | Geological = area × thickness × density; extractable = development coal + pillar coal × recovery |
| CM output | Governing cycle = larger of (cut + flit) and bolting time; cuts per shift from effective shift time |
| Pillar extraction | Fender = (w − n × split) ÷ (n + 1); lifts = floor[(w + rib) ÷ (lift + rib)]; time per lift = coal ÷ CM rate + MRS + flit |
| Ventilation | Largest of persons, methane dilution and diesel; fan pressure = R Q²; power = P Q ÷ η |
| Support | Rock load = B γ (1.7 − 0.037 RMR + 0.0002 RMR²); bolt density = load × FoS ÷ anchorage |
| Subsidence | Smax = a × extracted height; critical width = 2H tan θ; strain ≈ 1.52 S / H |
| Services | Pump power = ρ g Q H ÷ η; conveyor t/h from peak output, hours and surge |
6. Good practice and limits
- Results are planning-level. Pillar, gallery, support, ventilation and depillaring designs must follow a site-specific scientific study, CMR 2017, DGMS circulars and the permission for the mine.
- Use real data from the Geological Report and site measurements; replace every sample value.
- For digitised plans, check a few pillars against known coordinates. A plan cannot show spalling, crushing or water inside a closed mine; inspect before extraction.
- Ticks, approval status and digitised pillars are saved only in the browser you use.
7. Abbreviations
B&P — bord & pillar · CM — continuous miner · MRS — mobile roof support · SDL/LHD — side discharge / load haul dump loader · FoS — factor of safety · RMR — rock mass rating · SSR — Systematic Support Rules · CMRI — Central Mining Research Institute · DGMS — Directorate General of Mines Safety · CMR — Coal Mines Regulations · EC / FC — Environmental / Forest Clearance.
Prepared with the Underground Mine Planning app · Mining Solutions · Manoj Kumar Shrivastava · Mobile 9300699586 · [email protected]