Pillar Design

Itasca has developed unique and robust approaches to pillar design that recognizes the importance of understanding the rock behavior from intact rock and bedding to joints and faults. Itasca’s software can model the stress-strain response of continuous, blocky, or bedded materials exhibiting plastic, brittle, or creep behaviors. Consequently, any combination of lithology comprising the pillar-floor-roof system can be analyzed. This includes reproducing the complex combination of pillar sloughing (rib rash) and floor heave experienced at different extraction levels and vertical stress levels throughout a mine. Information derived from these pillar-scale models forms an essential input to larger-scale models, which have been used extensively for design of individual panels (width, remnant stub width, and extraction ratio) as well as barrier pillars, and the overall mine layout and extraction ratio. These larger-scale models have been validated through successful back-prediction of the timing and nature of large-scale catastrophic collapses experienced in the region.

Latest News
  • Itasca has announced the release of FLAC3D v9 Itasca has announced the release of FLAC3D v9, an advanced continuum modeling tool for solving...
    Read More
  • ARMA 2022 Student Design Competition Congratulations to the winners of the American Rock Mechanics Association's (ARMA) 2022 Student Design Competition....
    Read More
  • International Slope Stability 2022 Itasca is proud to be a Diamond sponsor of Slope Stability 2022 (October 17-21 |...
    Read More

Upcoming Events
13 Jun
URTeC 2023
The Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) is a premier event focused on the latest science and technology applied to e... Read More
25 Jun
APCOM 2023
APCOM brings together both industry practitioners and academics to share ideas, innovations, and challenges.... Read More
25 Jun
ARMA 2023
The American Rock Mechanics Association invites you to its 57th U.S. Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia, on 25... Read More