Mining Publication: Time Dependent Roof Deterioration at a Central Ohio Coal Mine

NIOSH researchers designed a field study to evaluate factors influencing roof stability. The two primary goals were to evaluate (1) the long-term stability and (2) the seasonal effects on mine entries with highly moisture-sensitive roof rock. Secondary goals included: (1) evaluating some engineering controls for weak moisture-sensitive roof rock; (2) developing a case history to correlate laboratory moisture-sensitivity indices to mine roof conditions; (3) studying the mixing and infiltration of entry air into drill holes in the roof. The paper describes the study site, presents the instrumentation, evaluates the rock for moisture sensitivity through laboratory testing, presents the results from the field study, and presents the key issues determined from the study.