Abstract
Well documented case histories of stable and unstable rock mass conditions are often one of the best possible learning tools for mining rock mechanics. During the 1980s and 1990s, documented case histories formed the basis of many empirical design methods still currently used in underground mines. Case histories can form the foundation of understanding such that conditions at new mines are compared to individual engineer’s experience, leading to assumed rock mass behaviour that may or may not be relevant. Advances in rock mechanics rely heavily on experience and new ways of assessing that experience. Conferences and journal publications provide the venues needed for us to make advances in rock mechanics through sharing case histories and the many ways documented failures can be interpreted.
This presentation looks at a well documented past failure that had been attributed to at least 4 different failure mechanisms by 5 different rock mechanics engineers. Each interpretation was based on factors that may have contributed to the failure and coincided with the experience of the individual engineers. Similar future failures were prevented by a change in mining, once attempts at a rock mechanics solution was abandoned. This presentation is based on one engineers experience, with the benefit of quite a few years to think about it.