Roof bolt types, components and mechanism

theories of each type

Abstract

The aim of this research is to discuss one of the problems of ground control, the
fall of the roof on mines, We usually encounter this problem at the mine openings,
as well as inside the mine .

In the past years, due to the fall of the roof, we have lost many workers, and
researchers have had to find ways to prevent these accidents

Until we discovered the roof bolting , then a great development occurred in its
use

introduction

Strata control is the science of controlling the strata behavior during opening,
development and extraction operations of the mine.

Strata control science have another definition, it is an applied science of rock

mechanics that includes all studies related to rock behavior such as physical and
mechanical behavior, it provides a basis for the design of support systems to
prevent or control the collapse or failure of the roof , floor and ribs both safety and
economically .

The problem of ground control is to determine the optimum support method in

terms of safety , economy , and integration with other mining activities .

It has different methods or technologies , one of them is roof bolt .

Research Goal

Knowing the types of roof bolts, as well as its components and the mechanical
theory for each type
Result and Discussion

Roof Bolting System

Roof bolting system have used wildly now over the world , it is the common and
primary support type the use of roof bolts has resulted in :-

1. a great reduction in the number of fatal and nonfatal roof-fall accidents in

coal mines.
2. the bolted mine roof can provide an unobstructed opening with
minimum maintenance
3. production has increased
4. costs have decreased
5. ventilation has improved.

It is essential to choose an adequate roof bolting system from the various types
of roof bolts

available.

Types of Roof Bolts(table 1)

There are more than one type of roof bolts but there are two major types of roof
bolts widely used in underground mining specially in coal mines .

First type is point anchored or mechanical bolts

And the other is full length anchored .

Point Anchored ( mechanical bolts )

While resin bolting has been used increasingly in the last few years, mechanical
bolting (mainly expansion-shell bolts) is still used, safely and economically, in the
vast majority of underground coal mines (Karabin and Debevec, 1978) in the
USA.

Although there are various types of mechanical bolts, all of them consist of the
following common elements (Fig. 1):

(1) a solid steel bar or shank

(2) an anchoring device at the top end of the bar

(3) The expansion shell anchor

(1) a Solid Steel Bar or Shank

Most of the roof bolts used in coal mines consist of a solid ,steel bar although w
ooden rods have also been used in certain specific situations ,
The steel bar, which generally has a diameter of 5/8 in (15.9 ram), has either a
smooth surface or a deformed appearance such as rebar or screw thread.

At the anchoring end of the bolt, the bar either has a formed slot for the slotand-
wedge anchorage to accept a steel wedge, or is threaded to accept the
anchorage of the expansion-shell.

The bar can be threaded at the tensioning end to either

accommodate a torque nut, or have an internal forged handle.

The wooden rods have to be straight, solid and without knotting.

Though cheap, these are less used in comparison with steel bars due to their lo
w strength.

They are generally used either on a coal face which has to be cut later on or o
n the floor to prevent heaving.

A steel bar's yield strength is a fundamental parameter in determining the bolt

tension, which in turn is very important for a mechanical bolt 's effectiveness.

While a high-strength roof bolt is ideal, the use of a very high-strength bolt should
be avoided, because if the bolt fails it will fly out of the hole at a high speed
causing a safety hazard.

(2) an anchoring device at the top end of the bar

There are three major anchorage types,

a) slot-and-wedge
b) The expansion shell
c) grouted anchorage (see Fig. 1)
 d) the explosive anchor and the combination anchor

a) slot-and-wedge

In the early phase of roof bolt applications the slot-and-wedge anchor was most
popular .

The anchorage is obtained by inserting a steel wedge into a center slot at the top
end of the bolt and by pressing the wedge against the bottom of the hole to
enlarge the slot.

Although this type functions effectively in hard rock .

b) The expansion shell anchor

The most widely used for underground coal mines in the United States at prese
nt. The anchorage is obtained by applying torque to the head of the bolt, which i
n turn pulls down the wedge-
shaped plug into the shell and expands the leaves against the

sides of the hole.

The holes should not be drilled to the exact length, but to the

diameter of the The hole has to be checked carefully,since an

oversized hole can result in poor anchorage .

they can be divided into two types of anchor: standard type and bail type ( fig 3 )

.
 c) grouted anchorage

The mechanical expansion shell at the end of the hole is replaced in the resin-
grouted anchor resin.

The anchorage is obtained by bonding between the wall of resin, bolt and screw
.

This system works identically with an expansionshell bolt, but

offers some important advantages such as:-

- increased anchorage capacity

- the ability to withstand high installed clamping loads and the

flexibility to adjust the resin length depending on the rock

resistance.

This type of anchor was in limited use until recently, despite its better anchorag
e, due to the following factors (Karabin and Hoch, 1979).

-First, the resin repair was slow, often requiring a delay of 20-
30 min before tension could be applied,

-and second, the installation required a cumbersome two-

step process that prevented its use in the rapid bolting cycle used

in most mines.

Another drawback was that the length of the hole in thin seams
had to be closely controlled to avoid threaded bar projection.

d) the explosive anchor and the combination anchor

Additional anchorages include the explosive anchor and the combination anchor
the explosive anchor

At the end of the bolt the explosives are placed into an anchor tube in the
explosive-set anchor. A corrugated effect (Shutack and Hanna, 1968) is created
by expanding the anchor tube with explosives to create a strong bond between
the bolt and the sides of the opening. While such anchorage is effective for weak
rocks, due to its complexity and cost, it has limited use.

the combination anchor

The effective anchorage is accomplished by applying a resin bonding advantage

to the mechanical expansion shell. Furthermore, since the resin cartridge is not
spin-mixed.

(3) Roof Bolt Accessories

Roof bolt accessories include bearing plates, washers, wooden blocks, steel ties
and wire mesh used at the tensioning end of the roof bolt.

MECHANISM OF ROOF BOLTS

MECHANISM OF ROOF BOLTS

The main objective of the roof bolting is to help the rock mass support itself. Some
researchers have assigned different support mechanisms to different types of
roof bolts. For example, mechanical bolts were originally thought to be in
suspension,

While resin bolts are built mainly beams (4). Others described the beam-building
mechanism of the tensioned bolts and the frictional support of the fully grooved
bolts (5). It seems, however, that the reinforcement mechanism is actually
dictated to the bolts by the ground rather than by the other side.
Depending on the geology and the stress regime, four mechanisms can be
identified:

• Simple skin support;

• Suspension of a thin roof layer from a massive bed;
• Beam building of laminated strata; and
• Keying of highly fractured and blocky rock mass.

1- Simple skin support

Strong, massive roofs subject to low stress levels can be essentially self-
sustaining, which means that a major roof collapse is unlikely to occur.
However, cracks, joints, cross-beams or slickensides may occasionally
cause hazardous loose rocks on the skin of the excavation (Figure 2-11).
Pattern bolts are therefore required to prevent local loose rock from falling,
but the bolts may be relatively short and light. Skin control is also an
important secondary function of roofing bolts, along with the other three
support mechanisms (Mark, 2000).

Coal Coal
pillar Coal Coal pillar
pillar pillar

Figure 2-11 Simple skin support

2- Suspension of a thin roof layer from a massive bed

Strong layer

Coal Coal
pillar pillar

figure 2-12 Suspension mechanism

The suspension mechanism (Figure 2-12) is the most easily understood

bolting mechanism of the roof.
When an underground opening is made in the environment shown in
Figure 2-12, the laminated immediate roof tends to be saggy and
separates from the overly strong layer. The sag and separation of the
immediate roof can be reduced by clamping together the laminations
and suspending them from the self-supporting main roof.
Mechanical or resin point-anchored bolts are well suited for this kind of
application. With resin bolts, the longer the encapsulation length, the
stronger the anchor is. The required anchor strength depends on the
spacing of the bolts and the thickness of the laminated layer.
3- Beam-building mechanism
In many practical situations, the strata overlying a roadway is thinly
laminated. Often there is no competent bed within a distance of a few
metres into the roof that could serve to suspend the thin layers on roof
bolts. In these cases, the beam-building mechanism, as shown in Figure
2-13, is more effective. As a result, the horizontal movements between
 these layers will be greatly reduced and the combined thick beam will be
more stable (Peng, 1998). Full-column resin bolts are required for this
mechanism (van der Merwe, 1998)

Coal Coal
pillar pillar

Coal Coal
pillar pillar

Figure 2-13 Beam-building mechanism

4- Keying
When the roof strata are highly fractured and blocked, or the immediate
roof contains one or more sets of joints with different orientation, the
bolting of the roof can significantly increase frictional forces along
fractures, cracks and weak planes. Sliding and/or separation along

Coal Coal
pillar pillar

Figure 2-14 keying effect of bolting

 figure 2-15 compression zone created by keying

discontinuities is therefore prevented or reduced, as shown in Figure 2-

14. This keying effect depends mainly on the active tension of the bolt
or, under favorable circumstances, on the passive tension of the rock
mass movement. It has been shown that the tension of the bolt causes
stress in the stratified roof, They are compressive in both the direction of
the bolt and the orthogonal direction of the bolt. The overlay of the
compressive area around each bolt forms a continuous compressive
zone in which the tensile stress is reduced and the shear strength of the
discontinuity is improved, as shown in Figure 2-15 (Luo et al., 1998).
 Table 2-3 Bolt types commonly used in the U.S.A mines (after Peng, 1984)

Types of bolt Types of anchor Suitable Comments

strata type

Slot-and-wedge Hard rock Used in the early stages

Expansion shell
Medium-
Standard anchor Most commonly used in the U.S.A.
strength rock
Bail anchor Soft rock
Lower-strength
Point-anchored Explosive set Limited use
rock
bolts (tensioned)
Resin grout All strata Increasing usage recently
especially for
Pure point anchor Resin length 24 in.
weak rock
Combination system Resin length 24 in.
Combination anchor
(expansion shell and no Most strata Good anchorage with "no mix resin"
mix resin)
Cement Disadvantages:
Perfo Most strata 1. Shrinkage of cement
Full-length-grouted Cartridge 2. Longer setting time
bolt (untensioned) Resin
Increased use recently especially
Injection All strata
for weak strata
Cartridge
Recommended for use at
Roof truss Expansion shell Adverse roof intersections and/or heavy pressure
area
Cement anchor and full- Substitute for timber, steel or truss
Cable sling Weak strata
length fraction support
Medium- It is an expansion-shell bolt with
Yieldable bolt Expansion shell
strength rock yielding device
Pumpable bolt Resin Weak strata Complex installation
Helical bolt Expansion shell Most strata
Cheap but need special installation
Split set Full-length fraction Weak strata
equipment

Water-bearing Using high-pressure water to swell

Swellex bolt Full-length holding
strata the steel tube
 Conclusion

With ongoing investigations and developments, today's roof bolting can, in most
cases, successfully reinforce the mine roof in underground mining. In order to
cope with the increasing use of roof bolts, efforts should be made to maximize
safety and minimize costs. As far as mechanical bolts are concerned, two
important parameters need further improvement and study, namely the optimum
design of the shape and type of expansion shell and the optimum bolt voltage for
the specific bolt pattern. The most critical requirement for a fully coated resin bolt
is the development of a fast-moving, low-cost, intoxicating, flammable coating
material that can be used in The high-speed mining cycle.

It should be noted that geological conditions, such as strata type, rock properties,
in situ stress and weakness, play an important role in achieving success.

Application of any kind of roof bolting system. In the design of any roof bolting
system, these factors should be specified as precisely and quantitatively as
possible. Finally, proper and careful installation and continuous monitoring are
essential for the success of any roof bolting system.

References

Peng, S.S. Roof Bolting Adds Stability to Weak Strata. Coal

Age Magazine, December 1998, pp. 32-38.

Alexander, L.G. and Hosking, A.D. (1971) Principles of rock bolting

formation of a support medium,Symposium on Rock Bolting, February, The
Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,

Illawarra Branch, Paper No. 1, 21 pp.

American Society for Testing and Materials (1976) Standard Spec!~cations jbr
Roof and Rock Bolts andAccessories, ASTM Standard No. F 432-76a, 14 pp.

Peng tang 1984 roof bolting in underground mining