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							                                             Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee
                                                       Project Summary: GAP641
 Project                  Workshops around the Pillar System Design computer program produced in SIMRAC project GAP334
 Title:

 Authors:         G. York                                                                                                              Agency:     CSIR Miningtek

 Report Date:                31/03/2000                            Related Projects:                       GAP334

 Category:           Gold & Platinum                                            Technology transfer                        Rock engineering


                                      Summary

After a mini-survey on the structure and content of the
workshops, it was decided that a overhead/electronic                                                   •    The technology transfer exercise was successful. A large
presentation of the engineering rationale / principles                                                      section of the industry rock mechanics practitioners
established in SIMRAC project GAP334 should be                                                              currently dealing with pillar systems in the scope of their
presented in conjunction with the actual Pillar System                                                      professional duties, attended the workshops.
Design program.                                                                                        •    Delegates found the program easy to use and
                                                                                                            useful. More importantly, the engineering results
Four workshops were held, three in the Bushveld                                                             and rationale were generally understood, and in
Complex, and one at the Conference Centre at CSIR                                                           this sense, the significant outputs of SIMRAC
Miningtek. The delegates comprised most of the industry
                                                                                                            project GAP334 were successfully transferred to
rock mechanics practitioners who deal with pillar system
design at shaft level.                                                                                      the industry.

The Pillar System Design program was perceived to be
user friendly, with scope for a few minor improvements in
this regard.

The new pillar system design principles and rationale
embodied in the outputs of SIMRAC project GAP334
were well, even enthusiastically, accepted as an advance
in pillar system design.

A successful technology transfer of the results of
SIMRAC project GAP334, which was the main aim of this
project, was therefore achieved.

                                            regional support        LOADING
  loading system              depth
                                            strategy                REGIME

                              geological        rock mass        panel span       PANEL
  panel span design           assessment        rating           design chart     SPANS/
                                                                                  SUPPORT/
                                        self supporting/        support           EXTRACTION
                                        supportable             spacing           RATIO

                          critical rock                          contact
  pillar design           mass strength
                                                w/h effect
                                                                 conditions
                                                                                  effect of jointing

           PILLAR
           DIMENSIONS
                                        pillar material
                                                                 h/w stiffness       length:width
                                        brittleness
           FOUNDATION
           LOAD


  foundation       load         spans         parting planes        jointing       gully
  stability
                                                               BEARING CAPACITY            HEAVE




Figure 1 The pillar system design that was
presented in the workshops.




                                  Conclusions