Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782

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Journal of Rock Mechanics and

Geotechnical Engineering
journal homepage: www.rockgeotech.org

Review

Failure mechanism and coupled static-dynamic loading theory in deep

hard rock mining: A review
Xibing Li a, b, *, Fengqiang Gong a, b, Ming Tao a, b, Longjun Dong a, b, Kun Du a, c,
Chunde Ma a, c, Zilong Zhou a, b, Tubing Yin a, b
a
School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China
b
Hunan Key Laboratory of Resources Exploitation and Hazard Control for Deep Metal Mines, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China
c
Institute of Mechanics for Engineering Materials, Advanced Research Center, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Rock failure phenomena, such as rockburst, slabbing (or spalling) and zonal disintegration, related to
Received 1 August 2016 deep underground excavation of hard rocks are frequently reported and pose a great threat to deep
Received in revised form mining. Currently, the explanation for these failure phenomena using existing dynamic or static rock
8 February 2017
mechanics theory is not straightforward. In this study, new theory and testing method for deep un-
Accepted 24 April 2017
Available online 28 June 2017
derground rock mass under coupled static-dynamic loading are introduced. Two types of coupled
loading modes, i.e. “critical static stress þ slight disturbance” and “elastic static stress þ impact
disturbance”, are proposed, and associated test devices are developed. Rockburst phenomena of hard
Keywords:
Deep rock mechanics
rocks under coupled static-dynamic loading are successfully reproduced in the laboratory, and the
Coupled static-dynamic loading rockburst mechanism and related criteria are demonstrated. The results of true triaxial unloading
Rockburst compression tests on granite and red sandstone indicate that the unloading can induce slabbing when
Discontinuous rock failure the confining pressure exceeds a certain threshold, and the slabbing failure strength is lower than the
Microseismic source location shear failure strength according to the conventional Mohr-Column criterion. Numerical results indicate
Continuous mining that the rock unloading failure response under different in situ stresses and unloading rates can be
characterized by an equivalent strain energy density. In addition, we present a new microseismic source
location method without premeasuring the sound wave velocity in rock mass, which can efficiently and
accurately locate the rock failure in hard rock mines. Also, a new idea for deep hard rock mining using a
non-explosive continuous mining method is briefly introduced.
Ó 2017 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction rockburst, slabbing (or spalling) and zonal disintegration, are

With the increasing demand for mineral resources and a
continuous consumption of shallow resources, a large number of
mines are gradually turning to deep mining. In South Africa, the
mining depth of the TauTona gold mine is more than 4000 m
(Lippmann-Pipke et al., 2011), and the Kidd Creek mine in Canada
extends to a depth of 3000 m below ground surface (Counter, 2014).
In China, there are more than 30 metal mines in production or to be
constructed with mining depths over 800 m (Dong, 2016). In the
process of deep mining, some special failure phenomena, including
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xbli@csu.edu.cn (X. Li).
Peer review under responsibility of Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences.
significantly different from those in shallow rock engineering
(Dowding and Andersson, 1986; Ortlepp and Stacey, 1994; Gu and
Li, 2006; Zhou and Qian, 2007; Zhou et al., 2008, 2014; Martin
and Christiansson, 2009; Gong et al., 2012; Kaiser and Cai, 2012).
Rockburst is a sudden rupture and ejection of rock on the surface of
a pillar or roadway involving release of energy stored in the rock
mass, which also occurs in the vicinity of the deep tunnel surface.
Zonal disintegration is a phenomenon of fracture zones and non-
fracture zones alternately occurring around deep excavation cav-
ities (Qian and Li, 2008). Slabbing (or spalling) involves the slow
separation of slabs from the wall rock. Rockburst and slabbing
commonly lead to a series of engineering disasters (Dowding and
Andersson, 1986; Martin and Christiansson, 2009; Durrheim,
2010; Feng et al., 2012). Table 1 shows the rockburst in eight
mines and slabbing in seven mines in China during the mining
process. Therefore, this site-specific rock failure problem has now

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2017.04.004
1674-7755 Ó 2017 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
768 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782
Table 1
Typical deep metal mines in China and occurrence of rockburst and slabbing.
No. Mine name Province
1 Erdaogou gold mine Liaoning
2 Hongtoushan copper mine Liaoning
3 Dongguashan copper mine Anhui
4 Huize lead-zinc mine Yunnan
5 Linglong gold mine Shandong
6 Yingxin gold mine Henan
7 Hongxin gold mine Henan
8 Lingbao gold mine Henan
9 Changba lead-zinc mine Gansu
10 Xiangxi gold mine Hunan
become one of the main scientific and technical concerns in deep
rock engineering (Li and Gu, 2002; He et al., 2005; Gu and Li, 2006;
Xie et al., 2015). For the purposes of the safety and stability of deep
rock structures during mining, investigations of rock fracture
mechanisms in deep mining and accurate microseismic source
location of rock failure at depth are critically important (Li et al.,
2004, 2011a; Brown, 2012; Nordlund, 2013).
It is well known that one of the most significant differences
between metal mines and coal mines is that the ore and sur-
rounding rock in metal mines are generally hard rocks. The hard
rock at great depth is subjected to high static stresses, such as
gravitational stresses and tectonic stresses, and strain energy is
stored in the ore and surrounding rocks. When the rock is exca-
vated, in situ stresses in the rock mass are disturbed, leading to the
redistribution of the original in situ stress field.
Underground rock failure can be induced by dynamic load such
as blasting (Ma et al., 2000; Li et al., 2011b; Kaiser and Cai, 2012).
The excavation in deep hard rock mine applies a dynamic load to
the rock in a static stress state, and leads to a coupled static and
dynamic stress state. Clearly, analysis and discussion of rock me-
chanical behaviors in deep hard rock mining, especially for rock-
burst, slabbing and zonal disintegration, should be concerned on
coupled static and dynamic loads during the mining process (Li
et al., 2004, 2008, 2010; Ma et al., 2004; Zuo et al., 2005, 2006;
Gong et al., 2010a, 2011). Under the coupled static-dynamic
loading conditions, the rock mechanical properties and failure
modes may be rather different from those of shallow rock and
cannot be explained merely using rock statics or dynamics theory.
Therefore, it is necessary to capture the coupled static-dynamic
mechanism during deep hard rock mining.
Additionally, microseismic monitoring technology is widely
used in deep hard rock mines for monitoring and predicting rock
failure, as well as energy dissipation. However, the conventional
microseismic source location method determines the wave velocity
from the early blasting as the actual wave velocity of rock mass,
which may lead to large errors in the monitoring areas. On the
other hand, studies showed that the wave velocity of rock mass is
also influenced by initial geostress (Li and Tao, 2015; Tao et al.,
2016). Furthermore, the conventional drill-and-blast method in
hard rock mines can cause safety problems, such as rockburst,
slabbing and zonal disintegration. Therefore, new microseismic
source location method is required to predict rock failure in deep
hard rock mines, which makes it quite important to focus on new
mining methods based on the condition of high energy storage in
rock mass and discontinuous rock failure in deep hard rock mining.
Over the last several decades, the mechanical properties and
energy dissipation law of deep rocks with high static stress under
dynamic disturbance have been extensively studied in experi-
mental and numerical manners (Li et al., 2008, 2016a). In this paper,
the mechanical and energy characteristics of deep hard rocks under
dynamic loading and unloading are investigated using coupled
Depth (m) Rockburst Slabbing Reference
800 O O Gong et al. (2010b), Ren et al. (2012)
1300 O Li and Tang (2005), Xie et al. (2015)
1120 O O Tang et al. (2003), Wang et al. (2013)
1000 O O He and Wang (2010)
1000 O O Liu et al. (2009)
1500 O Wang (2007)
1000 O Wang (2007)
1200 O Li et al. (2013a)
850 O O Guo et al. (2015), Zhang et al. (2015)
1060 O
static-dynamic test devices. Based on coupled static-dynamic
loading theory, a rockburst criterion incorporating static-dynamic
energy indices is presented. Moreover, a new microseismic source
location method for deep rock failure is developed, and a non-
explosive continuous mining method for deep hard rock mine is
briefly introduced.
2. Mechanical properties of high-stress rock under dynamic
disturbance
In deep mining, high-stress hard rock can be disturbed by two
types of dynamic loads, i.e. a slight disturbance by the regional
stress adjustment (Fig. 1) and a strong dynamic disturbance by
blasting (Fig. 2).
Before excavation, deep rock masses are initially subjected to
high static stresses. When the static stress does not exceed the
elastic strength of the rock mass, the rock mass experiences elastic
deformation, and a large amount of elastic strain energy will be
stored inside the rock mass. During deep mining, rock excavation
will cause redistribution of high static stress and dynamic loading
on the rock mass. To represent this process, two innovative rock
mechanics test systems are developed (Li et al., 2008; Du et al.,
2014), and they can provide “critical static stress þ slight distur-
bance” and “elastic static stress þ impact disturbance” loading
modes, respectively.
2.1. Rockburst representation under “critical static stress þ slight
disturbance”
To simulate a high-stress rock failure process under minor
disturbance, we develop a true triaxial testing equipment (Model
TRW-3000) (Fig. 3), which can apply a slight disturbance to cubic
rock specimens under triaxial static loading and unloading condi-
tions (Du et al., 2014, 2015a, b; Li et al., 2015).
Three types of cubic rock specimens are prepared in this study
with side length of 100 mm, 200 mm and 300 mm, respectively.
The loads are independently applied to the cubic rock specimen
through solid pistons driven by oil pressure in three orthogonal
directions (x, y and z directions). The maximum load capacity is
3000 kN in the vertical (z) direction and 2000 kN in the horizontal
(x and y) direction. The deformation measurement range is 0e
10 mm. The loads on the specimen in x direction can be instantly
removed by a rotating dropping system to simulate the unloading
process in underground excavation. In addition, dynamic loads can
be applied to the specimen in three directions to simulate dynamic
disturbances caused by blasting or some other types of mechanical
vibrations. The disturbance loads include random wave, sine wave,
triangle wave and square wave. The amplitude range of the vibra-
tion load is 0e500 kN, the frequency range is 0e80 Hz (amplitude
and frequency can be coordinated), and the loading time and
holding time are both 0e60 h. The test system mainly consists of a
 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782
Fig. 1. Disturbance induced by the stress adjustment of regional rock mass. Pdynamic is the dynamic distribution; s1, s2 and s3 are the major, intermediate and minor principal
stresses, respectively.
Fig. 2. Strong dynamic loads generated by blasting at adjacent mining regions in deep
mines.
computer, a controller, actuators, sensors, and a closed loop digital
system to automatically control the applied loads or displacements.
To simulate the rockburst process of deep rock under the
“critical static stress þ slight disturbance” condition, a three-
dimensional (3D) loading state with s1>s2>s3 > 0 (s1 ¼ 50 MPa,
s2 ¼ 40 MPa, s3 ¼ 20 MPa) is preloaded to represent the initial
stress environment (Fig. 4). The entire rockburst process simulation
is described as follows:
(1) A cubic rock specimen with side length of 100 mm is first
loaded to a 3D compressive state with a stress level of 20 MPa
for s1, s2 and s3.
(2) Keep s3 unchanged, and increase s1 and s2 to 40 MPa.
769
(3) Keep s3 and s2 unchanged, and then load s1 to 50 MPa.
(4) Keep s2 unchanged, and unload s3 to 0 and increase s1 to
180 MPa.
(5) Apply disturbance load sd in the s1 direction. The distur-
bance load function Fd(sd) can be described with a sine wave
as follows:
Fd ¼ PA ½1 þ sinð10ptÞ (1)
where t is the time, Fd is the sine disturbance load (kN), and PA is the
amplitude of Fd.
The test result in Fig. 5 shows that when PA < 300 kN, the rock
specimen is globally stable with merely a slight local damage at the
loading point. However, when PA  300 kN, the rock specimen will
burst after the disturbance loading is applied (Fig. 6).
A large number of test results show that rockburst occurrence is
controlled by the amplitude of the load disturbance and the
increasing static stress, even under the same initial stress state and
the unloading process. Only when the load is greater than a certain
threshold, the elastic energy stored in the specimen will be released
abruptly in a form of flying rock fragments and thus rockburst will
occur (Du et al., 2014, 2016).
2.2. Mechanical properties of rock under “elastic static
stress þ impact disturbance”
The loading conditions of a deep hard rock pillar shown in Fig. 2
can be represented by the prestressed rock coupled with dynamic
disturbance. However, the strain rate induced by blasting or boring
is between 10 0 s1 and 102 s1 or higher. The strength and defor-
mation properties of rock typically depend on strain rate. Thus, a
770 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782
Fig. 3. A true triaxial electro-hydraulic servo (perturbation) test system for large-size
rock specimens. (a) Photo of test system, and (b) Loading device and process.
new testing system that involves coupled impact disturbance and
static load on rock should be developed. In 2005, a modified split
Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) for a coupling load experiment at
medium-to-high strain rate was developed at Central South Uni-
versity, China (Li et al., 2008). Using this test system, a half-sine
stress wave can be generated with a spindle-type striker, and the
loading method with a half-sine stress wave is suggested to
determine the dynamic strength parameters by the International
Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) Commission (Li et al., 2000,
2005; Lok et al., 2002; Zhou et al., 2012). The system consists of
the stress transmission components, striker launcher, axial pre-
compressive stress inducer and data processing unit, as shown in
Figs. 7 and 8 (Li et al., 2008).
To investigate the mechanical properties and energy dissipation
law of rock under different prestresses and impact disturbances,
sandstone with a uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of 115 MPa is
used for testing. Four cases with different axial stress levels (sas) of
0, 60 MPa, 80 MPa and 90 MPa are employed. Fig. 9 shows the
stressestrain curves of sandstone under different axial stresses
with the same strain rate. It indicates that the stressestrain curve is
a typical class II curve when the axial compression ratio, i.e. ratio of
axial stress to UCS, is 0.6e0.7. The post-peak strain decreases and
the fracture process is unstable (Brady and Brown, 2006). When the
axial compression ratio falls within other ranges, the stressestrain
curve is a typical class I curve.
Fig. 10 shows the variations of dynamic compressive strength of
sandstone with axial compression ratio under different strain rates.
Under a constant strain rate, the dynamic compressive strength of
rock increases first and then decreases with the increase in axial
compression ratio. The maximum dynamic compressive strength
occurs at the axial compression ratio of 0.6e0.7 (Gong et al., 2010a).
When the axial compression ratio is higher than 0.7, the dynamic
compressive strength of rock shows a steep descending trend,
indicating that the axial stress is too large and beyond the rock’s
elastic limit, and the microcracks in the rock begin to develop and
propagate. Thus, the dynamic compressive strength decreases un-
der impact disturbance when the axial stress exceeds its elastic
limit. Fig. 10 also shows that the effect of strain rate on rock dy-
namic strength under coupled loads will be changed with different
axial compression ratios. When the axial compression ratio is
approximately 0.6e0.7, the maximum effect can be observed.
The failure mode of a rock specimen under zero axial stress is
shown in Fig. 11. When the strain rate is 106 s1, the specimen fails
into chunks and will be further crushed with the increase in strain
rate. The failure plane is parallel to the loading direction, and the
failure mode is a typical tensile type.
Fig. 12 shows the failure modes of rock under axial stress of
60 MPa. It can be observed that the ring-like fragments of the
specimen will spall and fly off, and this failure mode corresponds to
release of the stored energy in rock specimen, which can be
regarded as the rockburst.
The variations of absorbed energy per unit volume with the
incident energy for rock specimens under different axial stresses
are presented in Fig. 13. In a certain incident energy range, the axial
stress will influence the energy response of rock specimen, which
experiences three phases of “energy absorption / energy release
/ energy absorption” with the axial stress gradually increasing.
Based on the one-dimensional (1D) dynamic tests under
coupled static-dynamic loading, a series of 3D dynamic tests under
coupled loading is also conducted. Similar to 1D condition, the
energy release phenomenon of rockburst under 3D coupled static-
dynamic loading is also confirmed. A new viewpoint that rockburst
may occur in deep rock under the coupled 3D static-dynamic
loading is also proposed (Gong et al., 2011), which matches with
the previous results that strain-induced fracturing or strain-mode
rockburst can occur even when all three principal stresses are
compressive (Qian, 2011).
For 3D dynamic tests under coupled static-dynamic loading,
three levels of confining pressures (sc ¼ 0, 5 MPa and 10 MPa) and
three typical levels of axial stresses (60 MPa, 80 MPa and 100 MPa)
are scheduled for a set of tests under different strain rates (Gong
et al., 2011). The stressestrain curves of sandstone under
different confining pressures (axial stress ¼ 60 MPa) and a similar
strain rate are presented in Fig. 14. It is shown that the stressestrain
curves are basically of the class II type.
The variations of absorbed energy per unit volume of rock
specimens under different axial stresses are shown in Fig. 15. The
results indicate that when the confining pressure is constant, the
energy release decreases with the increase in axial stress, and the
energy absorption appears when the axial stress is larger than
80 MPa, which corresponds to the range of axial compression ratio
of 0.6e0.7. This phenomenon illustrates that the rockburst may
occur under coupled loading of 3D static stress and impact distur-
bance even when there is no free face for deep rock. This view can
be validated by Professor Qian, who noted that “Rockburst occurs
not only in the wall, but also in a place far away from the wall” (Qian,
2011).
The class II or I behavior of rocks has been analyzed or simulated
with different methods by many researches (e.g. Chen et al., 2006;
Pan et al., 2006; Shimizu et al., 2010), mainly from the static loading
point of view. In our paper, 1D and 3D coupled loadings are
considered, and the energy consumption rules are also obtained in
Figs. 14 and 15. When the axial stress is 60 MPa, the class II curve in
 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782 771

Fig. 4. Load path under “critical static stress þ slight disturbance” condition to induce rockburst for cubic rock specimen. (a) Load path diagram, and (b) Loading operation process.

Fig. 9 corresponds to the energy release area in Fig. 13. When the where SR is the total area of new fracture generated. During the rock
axial stress is 60 MPa with different confining pressures in Fig. 14, failure process, SR is an increasing function of Ed and can be
the class II curves also correspond to the energy release area in expressed as
Fig. 15. The mechanism of class II curve will be analyzed in Section
2.3 from the point of energy consumption rule.
SR ¼ f(Ed) (4)

2.3. Rockburst criterion based on static-dynamic energy indices

The fragmentation of the rock specimen will increase with the
increase in Ed, which causes Ec to increase. During the process of
Based on the analysis of the loading condition of deep hard rock
rock failure under coupled loading, the static stress plays a key role
and the energy release characteristics of rockburst, a rockburst
in dominating the compaction, expansion and growth of micro-
criterion coupled with static-dynamic energy indices is introduced
cracks in the rock; whilst the external disturbance force is only
as follows (Li, 2014):
related to triggering rock dynamic response and supplementing the

energy for rock fragmentation.
Es  Ec > 0 ðrockburst occursÞ
(2) With regard to the above-mentioned rockburst criterion, three
Ec ¼ gf ðEd Þ
cases are described as follows:
where Es is the elastic energy stored in high-stress rock, Ed is the
(1) When the prestress is not so high and the rock merely de-
disturbance kinetic energy during excavation, Ec is the required
forms in compaction or initial elastic stage, Es is smaller than
surface energy for rock failure under Es condition, f(Ed) is the
or equal to Ec, i.e. EsEc  0. In this case, the rock must absorb
function of Ed, and g is the surface energy required to generate unit
external disturbance energy if the rock is to be fractured.
area of new fracture. Without considering the generated heat en-
When the external disturbance kinetic energy is significantly
ergy and radiant energy, Ec can be defined as
large, the rock will burst out with a very high speed. How-
ever, the kinetic energy of the flying rocks mainly comes
Ec ¼ gSR (3)
772 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782

Fig. 5. Damage condition of rock specimen No. g-10-6-c when PA < 300 kN. Fig. 7. Photo of modified split Hopkinson pressure bar (Li et al., 2008).

from the external disturbance kinetic energy, and this phe-
nomenon is not classified as rockburst.
(2) When the prestress is moderate, the deformation of the rock
enters an elastic stage with larger stored strain energy Es. In
this circumstance, there are two cases herein. First, when Ed
is relatively small but large enough to initiate rock failure and
EsEc > 0, the elastic strain energy stored in the rock is
disturbed by the external disturbance, which will cause in-
ternal crack propagation, perforation and failure. The stored
internal elastic energy is larger than the surface energy
required for rock failure, and the excess elastic energy in the
rock will be released as kinetic energy of rock fragments
flying away from the rock mass, which can be defined as
rockburst. Second, with increasing Ed, SR will increase and
the consumption of Ec will also increase. Until EsEc < 0, the
surface energy required for rock failure is greater than the
elastic energy stored in the rock, and the rock needs to
absorb a part of the disturbance energy from outside to
participate in the destruction of the rock. Eventually, rock
fragments fly away from the rock mass, and the kinetic en-
ergy required comes from the external disturbance, which is
not defined as rockburst either. The rock system will be
converted to an energy absorption state. In many mines,
deep-hole blasting is commonly used to release pressure in
the rockburst-prone area, which is related to this type of
situation.

Fig. 6. Rockburst representation of high-stress rock under slight disturbance. (a) Before disturbance at 0 s, (b) Small particles ejecting at 4.8 s, (c) Large particles ejecting at 15.2 s,
and (d) Whole sample burst at 26.3 s.
 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782
Fig. 8. Sketch map of modified split Hopkinson pressure bar that couples dynamic and static loads (Li et al., 2008; Gong et al., 2011).
Fig. 9. Stressestrain curves under different axial stresses (strain rate ¼ 110 s1) (Gong
et al., 2010a).
Fig. 10. Variations of dynamic compressive strength of sandstone with axial
compression ratio under different strain rates (Gong et al., 2010a).
(3) When the prestress increases to a certain value, the rock will
be loaded into the plastic stage. The internal elastic energy of
the rock is used for crack propagation, and Es will decrease.
Thus, EsEc < 0 and the elastic energy stored in the rock is
less than the surface energy required for rock failure. In this
case, the rock must absorb the external energy no matter
how large the external disturbance energy can be, and this
kind of transient rock failure should not be regarded as
rockburst. The rock breakdown phenomenon corresponds to
the condition before the peak of rock stressestrain curve in
773
the uniaxial compression test. When loads on the rock
approach the peak values, continuously increasing static
pressure or dynamic disturbance is required for rock failure.
The roof fall-down in deep mining induced by blasting
disturbance belongs to this case.
3. Failure characteristics of deep hard rock under rapid
unloading
3.1. Failure characteristics of rocks in true triaxial unloading-
compression test
The variation of stress condition of surrounding rock mass is
related to the unloading process of engineering excavation.
Generally, it changes from a true triaxial stress condition to a biaxial
or even a 1D stress condition. Afterwards, the rock mass may not
resist the adjusted high stress after excavation, which can lead to
rock failure in mining engineering. To simulate the stress path of
the underground excavation process, granite and red sandstone
specimens are used in the tests (Du et al., 2015a, b; Li et al., 2015).
The proper unloading type is chosen and applied in this study, i.e.
unload s3, and then maintain s2 and increase s1 until the failure
strength of the rock specimen is reached. The granite specimens
were sampled from a granite quarry in Miluo, Hunan Province,
China, and the red sandstone specimens were from a quarry in
Shandong Province, China. The UCS values of granite and red
sandstone specimens are 139 MPa and 57.87 MPa, respectively,
which represent typical and intermediate hard rocks, respectively.
The prestresses for the true triaxial test with cubic rock specimens
of 100 mm in side length are listed in Table 2.
The test results show that the UCS of the rock specimen in-
creases with the increase of the intermediate principal stress, while
the increase rate is gradually reduced. The failure strengths of rock
at different stress levels are also calculated by the Mohr-Column
strength criterion, which are higher than the tested failure
strengths, as shown in Fig. 16. The results demonstrate that the
strength of rock failure is no longer consistent with the Mohr-
Column strength criterion.
The results also confirm that the failure mode of hard rock is
affected by the intermediate principal stress s2. When s2 is larger
than 20 MPa for the two types of tested rocks, the failure mode of
hard rock might change from shearing to slabbing under the true
triaxial unloading condition, suggesting that the Mohr-Column
shear criterion is not suitable for describing the slabbing failure
of deep rock and that it is necessary to develop a new rock-splitting
failure criterion (see Figs. 17 and 18). The change of fracture mode
and rock strength degradation are also verified by the uniaxial
compression test with different height-to-width ratios (Li et al.,
2011b).
774 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782

Fig. 11. Failure mode of rock specimen under zero axial stress (Gong et al., 2010a). (a) Strain rate of 106 s1, and (b) Strain rate of 207 s1.

Fig. 12. Failure modes of rock specimens under axial stress of 60 MPa (Gong et al., 2010a). (a) Strain rate of 82 s1, and (b) Strain rate of 97 s1.

3.2.1. Dynamic unloading

The solutions to the problems of 1D and multi-dimensional
dynamic unloading processes for high-stress rocks have been
derived by mathematical physics methods and theoretical analysis.
To simplify the 1D problem, the unloading process is assumed to
occur only in one direction, and the initial spatial stress exists only

Fig. 13. Relationships between incident energy and absorbed energy per unit volume
of specimen under different axial stresses (Gong et al., 2010a).

3.2. Failure characteristics of high-stress rocks under dynamic

loading and unloading

For hard rocks, it is difficult to capture the characteristics of

unloading failure following different paths in the field or labora-
tory. Thus, to solve this problem, numerical method is used in this
section to study the unloading process of hard rocks. The com-
mercial finite element program LS-DYNA of Livermore Software Fig. 14. Stressestrain curves of sandstone specimen under 3D coupled loading with
Technology Corporation is employed. different confining pressures (axial stress ¼ 60 MPa) (Gong et al., 2011).
 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782 775

where sx , sy and sz are the stresses in the x, y and z directions,

-12
Confining pressure = 0 respectively; E is the Young’s modulus (assumed to be the same in
all directions); and n is the Poisson’s ratio (the same in all di-
Absorbed energy per unit volume (J/cm3)

-10 Confining pressure = 5 MPa

rections). The concepts of the SED ratio KWt caused by a small time
Confining pressure = 10 MPa
-8 difference, and the SED ratio KWW caused by a small SED change are
introduced, as shown in Fig. 21, and can be written by (Tao et al.,
-6 2013a):
Energy release area
Z T
-4 Pn t WðtÞW 0 ðtÞdt
i ¼ 1 IWi dWðtÞ 0
-2
KWt ¼ ¼ Z T (6)
Critical state IW dt
WðtÞdt
0
0
Energy absorption area
Z Wmax
2
40 60 80 100 120 Pn W tðWÞW 0 ðtÞdW
i ¼ 1 IWi dWðtÞ 0
Axial stress (MPa) KWW ¼ ¼ Z T
(7)
IW dt
WðtÞdt
Fig. 15. Variations of energy transmission with axial stress in 3D coupled loading tests 0
(Gong et al., 2011).
where t
IWi
is the SED impulse by dividing time, IWi W is the SED im-

pulse by dividing strain energy density, IW is the total SED impulse,

in one direction. The initialization-unloading process is estimated WðtÞ is the SED function, W 0 ðtÞ is the derivative of WðtÞ, Wmax is the
using the specimen as shown in Fig. 19 (Tao et al., 2012). The maximum of the SED, and tðWÞ is the inverse of WðtÞ.
unloading response with confining stresses was also simulated The role of two different SED ratios in the unloading process is
with a 3D rock specimen in the LS-DYNA program, as shown in considered, and their combination forms are obtained, which are
Fig. 20 (Tao et al., 2013a). denoted as equivalent SED ratio (ESEDR), K W :
Here, we define Wx(t) as the unloading path, and the ratio of
strain energy density (SED) to the time (dWx(t)/dt) is defined as the KWt KWW
ESEDR ¼ K W ¼ K þ K (8)
SED ratio (Tao et al., 2013a), i.e. KWW þ KWt Wt KWW þ KWt WW
Figs. 22 and 23 show the linear and nonlinear unloading results
dWx ðtÞ 1 dh 2  i
¼ s ðtÞ  nsx ðtÞ sy þ sz (5) under 1D and 3D stress states, respectively. The results show that
dt 2E dt x the unloading process of high-stress rock has significant

Table 2
Prestresses for true triaxial tests (Du et al., 2015a).

Material Specimen no. s3 (in x direction) (MPa) s2 (in y direction) (MPa) s1 (in z direction) (MPa) Remarks

Granite g-10-1 0 0 50 Uniaxial compression

g-10-2 5 10 50 Triaxial unloading compression
g-10-3 10 20 50 Triaxial unloading compression
g-10-4 20 30 50 Uniaxial compression
g-10-5 30 40 50 Triaxial unloading compression
Red sandstone s-10-1 0 0 40 Uniaxial compression
s-10-2 5 10 40 Triaxial unloading compression
s-10-3 10 20 40 Triaxial unloading compression
s-10-4 20 30 40 Triaxial unloading compression

Fig. 16. Tested and calculated strengths of (a) granite and (b) red sandstone.
776 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782

Fig. 17. Failure mode evolution of granite specimens under different values of s2: (a) s2 ¼ 0, (b) s2 ¼ 10 MPa, (c) s2 ¼ 20 MPa, (d) s2 ¼ 30 MPa, and (e) s2 ¼ 40 MPa.

Fig. 18. Failure mode evolution of red sandstone specimens under different values of s2: (a) s2 ¼ 0, (b) s2 ¼ 10 MPa, (c) s2 ¼ 20 MPa, and (d) s2 ¼ 30 MPa.

Fig. 19. Rock loading and unloading model in the 1D state. l is the length of the model.

Fig. 20. Numerical model of rock specimen under 3D loading and unloading state.
 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782
Fig. 21. Differential sketch of the unloading path (Tao et al., 2013a). (a) Differential
time, and (b) Differential stress.
dependence on time and unloading path. Under certain initial en-
ergy storage conditions, the faster the original rock energy releases,
the greater the possibility of discontinuous failure is. In addition,
different unloading processes can be characterized by ESEDR, and
as long as the ESEDR in the rock unloading process is the same, the
rock will show the same unloading response characteristics.
3.2.2. Dynamic loading
Conventional two-dimensional (2D) mechanical model analysis
showed that the radial stress and hoop stress caused by excavation
of a circular tunnel in hydrostatic stress field will gradually reach
the original rock stress value, i.e. the stress gradient exists in the
vicinity of the excavation face (Carter, 1992; Kaiser et al., 2001).
Meanwhile, with the increase in loading surface distance, the effect
Fig. 22. Results of (a) linear and (b) nonlinear unloading paths in one dimension (Tao
et al., 2012). EISRR is the equivalent initial stress release rate, and fringe level is the
plasticity degree.
777
Fig. 23. Results of (a) linear and (b) nonlinear unloading paths in three dimensions
(Tao et al., 2013a).
of the external dynamic loading will be gradually reduced. The
dynamic loading stress and initial static stress in axial direction are
shown in Fig. 24. The coupled static-dynamic curve is shown in
Fig. 25.
The loading process around a deep hard rock tunnel is simu-
lated. The numerical simulation with different initial stresses and
loading methods shows that the dynamic loading process of high-
stress rock may produce rupture and non-rupture zones alterna-
tively, as shown in Fig. 26.
Numerical result shows that under suitable original rock stress
circumstance, the dynamic loading process around the deep
chamber may lead to discontinuous failure occurring alternately in
Fig. 24. Dynamic loading stress and initial static stress in axial direction (Tao et al.,
2013b). a is the radius of the tunnel, r is the distance of any point to the center of
the tunnel, and h is the intersection point.
778 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782
Fig. 25. Coupled result of dynamic loading stress and initial static stress (Tao et al.,
2013b).
Fig. 26. Failure mode of a deep hard rock tunnel (Tao et al., 2013c).
the rupture and non-rupture zones. In addition, a theoretical model
is established to examine the physical possibility of dynamic
response around the existing tunnel under stress wave incidence
(Li et al., 2016a). These phenomena are of great significance to deep
metal mines. Meanwhile, the blasting and other excavation
methods in the metal mines can cause the dynamic disturbance.
Thereby, the arrangement of appropriate engineering measures
and use of dynamic control methods can achieve a wide range of
surrounding rock crushing area and reduce the energy required for
excavation.
4. Microseismic source location of rock failure in deep hard
rock mining
4.1. Error analysis of microseismic source
Geophysical methods have shown an increasing significance in
rock mechanics and mining engineering in deep mines over the
past decades (Hardy, 2003; Ge, 2005; Li and Dong, 2011, 2014; Dong
and Li, 2012; Li et al., 2014a, 2016b). In particular, the development
of seismic monitoring provides a scientific basis for locating sources
of rock failure zones, and for controlling the rockburst as well as
seismic hazards. The seismic source location, one of the most
important parameters for seismic monitoring, is critically impor-
tant for prediction of potential rockburst events in a mine using a
seismological method. However, for the technologies based on
acoustic emission (AE) or seismic source location, a given or pre-
measured wave velocity of the propagation medium is basically
required.
The wave velocity is influenced by the material properties, size,
stress, surface conditions and other factors. In deep hard rock min-
ing, different types of rocks and filling materials in the monitoring
area will result in the deviation of the wave velocity from the
average wave velocity because of various working levels and stopes
in the path between the microseismic point and the sensors. When
the input wave velocity is different from the real one of the
measured object, an error would occur in the system (Li and Dong,
2011). The measured wave velocity is significantly affected by the
types of materials or the distances between sensors. Large location
errors can be induced by inaccurate average wave velocity. All of
these conditions can result in large positional errors between the
premeasured wave velocity as an input in the positioning system
and the actual wave velocity in the area where the rockburst occurs.
To quantitatively study the location errors induced by deviation of
sound wave velocity, line and plane location tests are carried out (Li
and Dong, 2011). The results show that the sound wave velocity has
a major impact on the plane positioning accuracy. The plane posi-
tioning error is larger than the line one, which means that when the
line positioning can satisfy the need in practical engineering, it is
better to use the line positioning instead of the plane one. Moreover,
multi-level and multi-stope mining can induce nonuniform stress
and rock structure; thus, the location method using premeasured
velocity has its drawbacks in application because complex struc-
tures are influenced by the spatiotemporal effect of mining work.
During the microseismic source location in hard rock mining, P-
and S-wave velocities are measured using conventional method by
blasting experiments, but this method has the following limita-
tions. First, the positioning velocity at different times would not be
identical to the premeasured velocity, because the premeasured
velocity is obtained prior to the real-time seismic event and the
velocity in the rock mass changes in real time. Second, the propa-
gation traces are different (i.e. the traces of the wave propagation
for blasting experiments are always different from those for real-
time events), which would induce a large error due to different
average velocities in different propagation traces. To verify the large
error of the location method using premeasured wave velocity in a
hard rock mine, an example is given in Fig. 27. The traces between
the blasting source A and the sensors Nos. 1e4 are defined by A1,
A2, A3 and A4, respectively, and the average velocity of the four
traces is given by VA. The traces between the seismic source B and
the sensors Nos. 1e4 are expressed by B1, B2, B3 and B4,
Fig. 27. Location schematic diagram for different traces and times.
 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782
respectively, and the average velocity of these four traces is given
by VB. The measured results show that VA ¼ 4399.01 m/s is not equal
to VB ¼ 4819.63 m/s, which shows that the velocity has an error
greater than 400 m/s.
4.2. A new microseismic source method
To overcome the disadvantages of the conventional location
method, a new microseismic source location method without
premeasured wave velocity is developed. This method includes TD
(trigger-time difference for an unknown velocity system) (Dong
et al., 2011), PSAFUVS (microseismic/AE source location method
using P- and S-wave arrivals for an unknown velocity system)
(Dong and Li, 2013), and ECS (an efficient closed-form solution) (Li
and Dong, 2014). Here, the brief introduction of TD method is stated
as follows.
It is assumed that the unknown propagation velocity of P-wave
in the medium is expressed as a constant c, and t0 is the trigger time
of source. The coordinates of the k-th sensor and the source are
assumed as (xk, yk, zk) and (x0, y0, z0), respectively, and then the
arrival time of the k-th sensor is calculated as
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ðxk  x0 Þ2 þ ðyk  y0 Þ2 þ ðzk  z0 Þ2
tkc ¼ t0 þ
c
The difference between arrival times of any two different sen-
sors i and j is calculated as
Li  Lj
Dtijc ¼ tic  tjc ¼
c tional methods to obtain comparable results. The quasi-Newton
where tic and tjc are the arrival times of the sensors i and j,
respectively; Li is the distance between the source and the sensor i;
and Lj is the distance between the source and the sensor j.
According to Eq. (10), we can determine the regression values
for the measured values of any two groups (xik, yik, zik) and (xjk, yjk,
zjk):
c Li  Lj
Dbt ij ¼ tic  tjc ¼
c
c
where Dbt ij is the regression value of Dtijc . Eq. (10) represents the
measured time difference, while Eq. (11) illustrates the time dif-
ference obtained by dividing the distance by the P-wave velocity.
c
The deviation degree between regression value Dbt ij and the
measured value Dtij can be described through their difference. For
c source location and other passive location problems in a medium
(xik, yik, zik) and (xjk, yjk, zjk), the closer the difference between
c wide application.
regression value Dbt and the measured value Dt c is, the greater the
ij
fitting accuracy will be. The quadratic sum of deviation degree for
c
all the regression values Dbt ij and measured values Dtijc is calculated
as
!2
X
n
c Lci  Lcj
Q ðx0 ; y0 ; z0 ; cÞ ¼ Dbt ij 
i;j ¼ 1
c and non-continuous operation are prominent. Therefore, the safe
where Lci and Lcj are the regression values of Li and Lj, respectively.
The deviation degree between all the measured values and
regression values is described through Eq. (12). As a result,
ðx0 ; y0 ; z0 ; cÞ should make Q ðx0 ; y0 ; z0 ; cÞ obtain the minimum value.
So we have
!2
X
n
c Lci  Lcj
Q ðx0 ; y0 ; z0 ; cÞ ¼ Dbt ij 
i;j ¼ 1
c
779
Since Eq. (13) is a non-negative quadratic function about the
independent variables x0, y0, z0 and c, the minimum value always
exists. Through defining Eq. (13) as differential nonlinear fitting
form, it is feasible to obtain the coordinates of microseismic source
and the velocity value by calculating the independent variables x0,
y0, z0 and c. As for the simple microseismic source location prob-
lems, fitting the values of x0, y0 and z0 will be enough. There are two
significant differences between this method and conventional
method: without the premeasured velocity, and without fitting the
seismogenic time in advance in the calculation process. In this
paper, this new method is called TD, which is considered as the
independent variable during the source location.
The TD method has been verified by both on-site explosions and
microseismic events. All data are obtained from a phosphorous ore
mine located in Guizhou Province, China. The depth of this mine
has reached approximately 500e900 m below the ground surface
after about 50 years of mining. The high in situ stresses have caused
a series of engineering problems, such as difficulties in rock support
of the main tunnels and rockfall, slabbing and floor heaving in the
permanent laneways after installation of support. A microseismic
monitoring system including 26 single-component sensors and
two three-component sensors has been built to monitor micro-
seismic events, as shown in Fig. 28.
(9) The explosion positions with eight blasts are measured as real
sources. The frequencies of the received signals range from 0 to
200 Hz. The sampling frequency is set to 6000 Hz to cover the signal
frequency domain without distortion. Using the velocity-free TD
method, we located eight blasts and 354 microseismic events on
(10) August 20e22, 2014. For each event, we use both TD and conven-
algorithm is employed as the searching process for all the loca-
tion methods. The arrival times of the P-wave are picked manually
to ensure a high picking quality. The location results and errors for
both the TD and conventional methods for sources of eight blasts
and 354 microseismic events are shown in Fig. 28. Three hundred
and thirty among 362 blasts and microseismic events are located
within the mining area using the TD method, while only 249 among
362 blasts and events are located within the mining area using the
(11) conventional method. The average location errors of eight blasts
using TD and conventional methods are 30 m and 85 m, respec-
tively. This shows that the TD method is superior to the conven-
tional one. The results reveal that the TD method gives more
accurate and stable results and ensures that 91.2% of the events are
successfully located. The TD method is suitable for microseismic
with unknown wave velocity, such as acoustic source location in a
ij
5. Non-explosive continuous mining for deep hard rock
mines
The drill-and-blast method has long been a major method to
extract underground mineral resources. This method is adaptive to
(12) most engineering conditions; however, poor safety, low efficiency
and highly-efficient non-explosive continuous mining in deep hard
rock mines has always been pursued by generations of mining
engineers.
By carrying out the study of the failure characteristics of rocks
under high static stress and dynamic load, it is observed that high-
energy rock is easy to fail due to exterior disturbances (Li et al.,
2014b, 2016a). If we realize that the unconventional fracture
along the depth is the disordered destruction of the high-stress
¼ min (13) rock under the dynamic disturbance as well as the self-fracture of
the high-energy rock mass, it is not difficult to deduce that such
780 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782

Fig. 28. Arrangement of sensors and location errors of conventional and TD methods in Kaiyang phosphate mine. (a) Location results of TD method; (b) Location results of
conventional method; (c) Arrangement of sensors; and (d) Comparison of results of located counts.

serious disordered destruction of the deep rock mass can be con-
verted to ordered fragmentation of the rock mass. For this purpose,
we propose a non-explosive continuous mining technology for
deep hard rock based on induced fracturing, in the hope of realizing
the utilization and control of the energy stored in the high-stress
rock mass at the depth by use of reasonable induction engineer-
ing layout and proper induction machinery (Li et al., 2011c, 2013b).
With increasing excavation depth, the energy stored inside the
rocks also increases gradually. Only through reasonable mining
layout or some induced tunnels released by engineering excavation
or small-charge blasting, the energy stored inside the deep hard
rocks under high stress can cause microcracks or structural
expansion in terms of mining demand. After that, the mechanical
continuous excavation of hard rocks can be achieved, as shown in
Fig. 29.
It is apparent that the technical thought on non-explosive
continuous excavation of deep hard rocks is different from the
mechanical continuous excavation technology used currently in coal
mines. In fact, the former is subjected to the induced self-rupture of
the rocks with high energy stored, which could be used to realize the
fracture of rocks with no or little dynamite; whilst the latter is used
for separating the coal seams by directly adopting the mechanical
functions of the cutting machine. According to the concept of
induced fracture of deep hard rocks, we have carried out an indus-
trial test in the Kaiyang phosphorite mine in Guizhou Province, and
obtained preliminary results (Li et al., 2013b).
6. Conclusions
In deep mining process, the ore rock is actually subjected to a
coupled effect of high static stress and dynamic disturbance. Based
on this, new theory and test system that can consider static and
dynamic loads simultaneously are introduced. The rock failure
characteristics under rapid unloading and new method of micro-
seismic source location are presented. The main conclusions are
summarized as follows:

Fig. 29. Sketch of the continuous mining technology for deep hard rock mines.
 X. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 767e782
(1) The excavation of deep hard rocks applies a dynamic load to
the rock in a static stress state, and leads to a coupled static
and dynamic stress state. A coupled static-dynamic loading
system is proposed. With a true triaxial servo-controlled test
system and a multi-purpose static-dynamic loading test
device for large-scale rock, the energy release mechanisms of
original elastic energy in the rock mass can be captured, and
the failure in a high-stress hard rock is investigated. The
results show that the internal pre-static stress is the domi-
nant factor for the rock failure and the external dynamic
disturbance stress is an important inducement.
(2) Based on the coupled loading system, by adjusting the pro-
portion of pre-static stress and external disturbance, rock-
burst phenomena of hard rock are successfully reproduced.
Meanwhile, the energy consumption patterns of the rock
system and related rockburst criteria are demonstrated.
(3) The failure properties of hard rocks in true triaxial unloading-
compression test are obtained and indicate that the rock
unloading may induce slabbing. In addition, the numerical
results (1D and 3D) indicate that the unloading process is
dominated by SED rate. Numerical simulation also shows that
the rupture and non-rupture zones may occur alternately
around a deep chamber under a certain stress condition, and
the dynamic load and static stress are two necessary pre-
cursors for far-field fracture. This finding indicates that it may
be possible to induce continuous rock fractures in deep rock
masses by employing optimal excavation method to generate
multiple continuous fracture zones.
(4) The location method using premeasured velocity in micro-
seismic system has its limitations in deep hard rock mining.
To overcome the location error of the method induced by
wave velocity, a new microseismic source location method in
the absence of premeasured wave velocity is developed and
applied to the Kaiyang mine, China. It shows that the new
method proposed is superior to the conventional method.
(5) Based on the energy dissipation and strength characteristics
of rocks under coupled static-dynamic loading, a non-
explosive continuous mining method is briefly introduced
by means of energy regulation and induced fracturing. This
method adjusts the energy release path and release rate of
high-stress ground rock by adopting appropriate induced
tunnel, which makes the rock easier to be ruptured, leading
to a more reasonable energy distribution and taking advan-
tage of energy to be released in potential geodisasters.
Conflict of interest
The authors wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of
interest associated with this publication and there has been no
significant financial support for this work that could have influ-
enced its outcome.
Acknowledgments
The research presented in this paper was jointly supported by
the State Key Research Development Program of China (Grant No.
2016YFC0600706) and the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant Nos. 41630642 and 11472311).
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8 (in Chinese).
Li XB, Cao W, Zhou Z, Zou Y. Influence of stress path on excavation unloading
response. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 2014b;42(42):237e
46.
Li XB. Rock dynamics: fundamentals and applications. Beijing: Science Press; 2014
(in Chinese).
Li XB, Dong LJ. An efficient closed-form solution for acoustic emission source
location in three-dimensional structures. AIP Advances 2014;4(2):1296e303.
Li XB, Du K, Li DY. True triaxial strength and failure modes of cubic rock specimens
with unloading the minor principal stress. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engi-
neering 2015;48(6):2185e96.
Li XB, Tao M. The influence of initial stress on wave propagation and dynamic elastic
coefficients. Geomechanics and Engineering 2015;8(3):377e90.
Li XB, Cao W, Tao M, Zhou Z, Chen Z. Influence of unloading disturbance on adjacent
tunnels. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
2016a;84:10e24.
Li XB, Wang ZW, Dong LJ. Locating single-point sources from arrival times con-
taining large picking errors (LPEs): the virtual field optimization method
(VFOM). Scientific Reports 2016b;6:19205.
Lippmann-Pipke J, Erzinger J, Zimmer M, Kujawa C, Boettcher M, Heerden EV,
Bester A, Moller H, Stroncik NA, Reches Z. Geogas transport in fractured hard
rock e correlations with mining seismicity at 3.54 km depth, TauTona gold
mine, South Africa. Applied Geochemistry 2011;26(12):2134e46.
Liu WD, Yu QJ, Lv JE, Zhang SJ. An analysis on mechanism of rock burst during deep
mining excavation in Linglong gold mine. China Mining Magazine 2009;18(5):
112e5 (in Chinese).
Lok TS, Li XB, Liu D, Zhao PJ. Testing and response of large diameter brittle materials
subjected to high strain rate. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
2002;14(3):262e9.
Ma CD, Li XB, Chen F, Xu JC. Test and study of mechanical properties of rock under
uniaxial static and dynamic coupling loads. Mining Research and Development
2004;24(4):1e4 (in Chinese).
Ma GW, Hao H, Zhou YX. Assessment of structure damage to blasting induced
ground motions. Engineering Structures 2000;22(10):1378e89.
Martin CD, Christiansson R. Estimating the potential for spalling around a deep
nuclear waste repository in crystalline rock. International Journal of Rock Me-
chanics and Mining Sciences 2009;46:219e28.
Nordlund E. Deep hard rock mining and rock mechanics challenges. In: Potvin Y,
Brady B, editors. Ground support 2013. Australian Centre for Geomechanics;
2013. p. 39e56.
Ortlepp WD, Stacey TR. Rockburst mechanisms in tunnels and shafts. Tunnelling
and Underground Space Technology 1994;9(1):59e65.
Pan PZ, Feng XT, Hudson JA. Numerical simulations of Class I and Class II uniaxial
compression curves using an elasto-plastic cellular automaton and a linear
combination of stress and strain as the control method. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 2006;43(7):1109e17.
Qian QH. Relation study of quantitative analysis of rock burst and zonal disinte-
gration of underground continuous surrounding rock. In: Proceedings of the 1st
China-Russian Forum of mining rock dynamics in deep mines; 2011. p. 1e12 (in
Chinese).
Qian QH, Li SZ. A review of research on zonal disintegration phenomenon in deep
rock mass engineering. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
2008;27(6):1278e84 (in Chinese).
Ren FY, Ding HX, Ren GY, Liu ZY. Experimental study on stope rockburst control in
Erdaogou gold mine. Journal of Northeastern University: Natural Science
2012;33(6):891e4 (in Chinese).
Shimizu H, Koyama T, Ishida T, Chijimatsu M, Fujita T, Nakama S. Distinct element
analysis for Class II behavior of rocks under uniaxial compression. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 2010;47(2):323e33.
Tang LZ, Pan CL, Xie XB. Study on rockburst control in deep-seated hard ore deposit.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 2003;22(7):1067e71 (in
Chinese).
Tao M, Li XB, Wu CQ. Characteristics of the unloading process of rocks under high
initial stress. Computers and Geotechnics 2012;45(9):83e92.
Tao M, Li XB, Li DY. Rock failure induced by dynamic unloading under 3D stress
state. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 2013a;65(3):47e54.
Tao M, Li XB, Wu CQ. 3D numerical model for dynamic loading-induced multiple
fracture zones around underground cavity faces. Computers and Geotechnics
2013b;54:33e45.
Tao M, Wu CQ, Li XB. Numerical simulation of multiple fracture zones in under-
ground dynamic loading processes. In: Proceedings of the 1st International
Conference on Rock Dynamics and Applications; 2013. p. 451e6.
Tao M, Chen ZH, Li XB, Zhao HT, Yin TB. Theoretical and numerical analysis of the
influence of initial stress gradient on wave propagations. Geomechanics and
Engineering 2016;10:285e96.
Wang JQ. Rock burst criticality evaluation and prevention countermeasures in gold
deposits. Gold 2007;28(6):24e8 (in Chinese).
Wang TJ, Zhang QC, Xie YD. Breakthrough control survey of long distance tunnel in
deep mine development project. West-China Exploration Engineering
2013;25(2):119e24 (in Chinese).
Xie HP, Gao F, Jiu Y. Research and development of rock mechanics in deep ground
engineering. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 2015;34(11):
2162e77 (in Chinese).
Zhang HL, Liu WT, Lei ML, Yan WB, Chai HS, Liu T. Collaborative technology of
hidden resources exploitation and empty area treatment under rockburst
tendency. Modern Mining 2015;10:44e5 (in Chinese).
Zhou H, Meng FZ, Zhang CQ, Hu DW, Yang FJ, Lu JJ. Analysis of rock burst mecha-
nisms induced by structural planes in deep tunnels. Bulletin of Engineering
Geology and the Environment 2014;74(4):1e17.
Zhou XP, Qian QH. Zonal fracturing mechanism in deep tunnel. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 2007;26(5):877e85 (in Chinese).
Zhou XP, Wang FH, Qian QH, Zhang BH. Zonal fracturing mechanism in deep crack-
weakened rock masses. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics
2008;50(1):57e65.
Zhou YX, Xia K, Li XB, Li HB, Ma GW, Zhao J, Zhou ZL, Dai F. Suggested methods for
determining the dynamic strength parameters and mode-I fracture toughness
of rock materials. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
2012;49:105e12.
Zuo YJ, Li XB, Ma CD, Zhang YP, Wang WH. Catastrophic model and testing study on
failure of static loading rock system under dynamic loading. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 2005;24(5):741e6 (in Chinese).
Zuo YJ, Li XB, Tang CA, Zhang YP, Ma CD, Yan CB. Experimental investigation on
failure of rock subjected to 2D static-dynamic coupling loads. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 2006;25(9):1809e20 (in Chinese).
Xibing Li obtained his PhD from Central South University,
Changsha, China in 1992. Dr. Li is Professor of Rock Dy-
namics and Mining Engineering at the Central South Uni-
versity, China. He proposed an innovative approach based
on SHPB system with half sine wave loading. Considering
the mechanical state of deep mining, he proposed a
coupled static-dynamic loading theory and developed
associated system. As the principal investigator, he has
been in charge of over ten national research projects,
such as the National Science Foundation for Distinguished
Young Scholars, Cheung Kong Scholars Program, State Key
Program of the National Natural Science Foundation, and
State Key Development Program for Basic Research (973).
To date, he has published about 200 scientific papers on
rock failure mechanisms and mining engineering, and he is the author of ten books
of rock mechanics and mining engineering.