Rock strata movement and subsidence based on MDDA, an improved discontinuous deformation analysis method in mining engineering

In this paper, a new program MDDA (mining discontinuous deformation analysis) has been developed to simulate the continuous excavation process in mining engineering based on the existing discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA). Through MDDA simulation, both the real-time stress distribution and evolution of rock strata movement during the mining process could be effectively obtained. A simple example was used to test the effectiveness of MDDA. The calculation results from MDDA well agreed with the theoretical results of the example. MDDA was applied to simulate roof falling and stress field evolution during mining process. The lateral pressure coefficient almost had no influence on rock strata subsidence in spite of some influence on roof fracture mechanics. What is more, the strata subsidence laws of MDDA simulation were approximately consistent with the Universal Distinct Element Code (UDEC) and similar simulation results.