Practical Evaluation Of An Electronic Mine Roof Monitoring System

Despite the tremendous efforts and costs incurred by the industry and regulatory agencies to prevent premature roof failures in underground mines, roof falls continue to occur frequently due to the very unpredictable geological conditions and dynamic nature of mining operations. In fact, roof falls continue to be the largest contributor to coal mine fatalities. The failure of a mine roof generally occurs following a prolonged, gradual degradation in its physical conditions. An electronic mine roof monitoring system has been developed and tested in operating mining sections. It monitors mine roof degradation on a continuous basis. The field test results are presented and discussed.