In-situ stress field inversion and its impact on mining-induced seismicity

Abstract

The magnitude and direction of the in-situ stress field significantly influence the Geodynamic disaster. Taking the Gaojiapu Coal Mine in the northwest Binchang mining area as the study area, the distribution law of the in-situ stress field and its relationship with microseismic events were analyzed and discussed through field geological investigation, in-situ measurement, and numerical simulation. The results show that: (1) The Maximum horizontal principal stress (MaxHPS) is mainly concentrated in the turning end of the fold, the axis of the syncline, the undulation end of the anticline, the footwall of the fault, and the two ends of the fault. (2) The MaxHPS in the footwall area of the fault is greater than that in the hanging wall area. (3) The MaxHPS at the axial part of the syncline is greater than that at the wing part, and the MaxHPS at the wing part is greater than that at the anticline. (4) In areas with high MaxHPS and Lateral pressure coefficient (LPC), the frequency of high-energy microseismic events is high. (5) The 10⁵J high-energy microseismic events more easily occur in areas with MaxHPS greater than 38 MPa and LPC greater than 1.50.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Based on the stereographic projection analysis of the outcrop trace of the field rock stratum, combined with the in-situ stress test and structural evolution analysis, the regional in-situ stress field’s evolutionary history and distribution characteristics are analyzed.

• The three-dimensional geometric simulation model is established by the numerical analysis method, the three-dimensional field stress field is inversed by multiple linear regression method, and the inversion results are tested and verified.

• According to the mine seismic monitoring results and inversion results of the in-situ stress field, the relationship between the in-situ stress field and mining-induced seismicity was analyzed and discussed.

Keywords:

• In-situ stress field
• Rockburst
• field geological investigate
• inversion analysis
• microseismic events

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article.

Authors’ contributions

Xianggang Cheng performed implementation, organized the field test, and wrote the manuscript. Wei Qiao collected a part of the data and participated in drafting the manuscript. Linming Dou, Hu He, and Wei Ju participated in drafting the manuscript. Jinkui Zhang, Shikang Song, Heng Cui, and Hengzhi Fang collected and analyzed the data.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds of the National Natural Science of China (Gran 41772302) and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. This work was also supported by the Future Scientists Program of China University of Mining and Technology (Grant 2021WLKXJ007), the National Scholarship Fund (Grant 202206420039), and the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant KYCX21_2323).