Abstract

This work presents a rockburst potential assessment study using a boundary element method for stress analyses around a tunnel. A kinetic energy value associated with a possible seismic event was estimated for an adequate support design, using the Diablo Regimiento (DR) mine in Chile as a case study. Two methodologies are used for the design of the tunnel support. One method relates the plastic zone of the tunnel with a peak particle velocity (ppv) obtained by the scaling law proposed by Kasier et al. (1996). The other methodology relates the rock around the tunnel with a critical strain energy (SE) with a ppv obtained by processing video images of UCS tests. The plastic zone and the rock in a critical SE state were estimated using the finite element method. The energy demand results obtained by both methods are compared with that currently used in DR mine supports that have had an optimal performance, which allows the evaluation of each proposed methodology.