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Research on ground pressure control modes in a subsea mine by physical model test and numerical simulation analysis

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Abstract

To solve the problems of deep mining safety and ground pressure control in Sanshandao gold mine, a novel ground pressure control mode of deep mining in a subsea metal mine was studied by physical model test and numerical simulation analysis. First, the novel ground pressure control mode was studied by physical model test, the surface deformation characteristics of the physical model were observed by the DIC method, and the deformation and damage characteristics of the rock layer were obtained. Then, the numerical simulation analysis of the novel ground pressure control mode was carried out and verified with the results of the physical model test. Finally, the determined ground pressure control model was verified by engineering. The research results show that the physical model has an obvious disturbance to the surrounding area during the excavation process according to the analysis of the strain monitoring points, and the strain value at the monitoring point was maintained at approximately one ten-thousandth. Meanwhile, the stress change reflected by the strain was consistent with the numerical simulation results, confirming the authenticity of the physical model test results. Additionally, the field industrial test shows that the control mode has a good control effect on the high ground stress in the deep subsea metal mining.

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Data availability

The datasets used and analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

DIC:

Digital image correlation


L
p
:

the actual quarry size of the project


K
L
:

Geometric ratio


L
m
:

the dimensions of similar material models


(K_{rho})
:

Density similarity ratio


(rho_p)
:

Density of the actual rock mass of the project


(rho_m)
:

Density of similar material


(K_{sigma s})
:

Stress similarity ratio


(rho_p)
:

Stress on the actual rock mass of the project


(rho_m)
:

Stress on similar material model


({sigma _{hbox{max} }})
:

The maximum horizontal principal stress


({sigma _{hbox{min} }})
:

Minimum horizontal principal stress


({sigma _z})
:

Vertical stress

H:

The burial depth of the measurement point


({varepsilon _x})
:

Horizontal strain


({varepsilon _h})
:

Vertical strain


({varepsilon _{hbox{max} }})
:

The maximum principal strain


({varepsilon _{hbox{min} }})
:

The minimum principal strain

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52374107, 52304091 and 52304113), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (2024zzts0421) and the Research Project of Education Department of Hunan Province (No. 22B0427).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Weijun Liu, Zhixiang Liu & Quanqi Zhu

  2. School of Resources, Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, China

    Jiadong Qiu & Tengfei Guo

Authors

  1. Weijun Liu
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  2. Zhixiang Liu
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  3. Jiadong Qiu
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  4. Tengfei Guo
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  5. Quanqi Zhu
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Contributions

W.L.: ideas and methods, methodology, writing—original draft; Z.L.: investigation, data curation, writing—review and editing, supervision, resources, funding acquisition, project administration; J. Q.: software, provide guidance for the experiment; T.G.: participate in experiments, validation, investigation; Q.Z.: writing—review and editing, supervision, resources, funding acquisition. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to
Quanqi Zhu.

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Liu, W., Liu, Z., Qiu, J. et al. Research on ground pressure control modes in a subsea mine by physical model test and numerical simulation analysis.
Sci Rep (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-32253-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-32253-x

Keywords

  • Ground pressure control
  • Physical model test
  • Numerical simulation analysis
  • Subsea metal mine

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