Rockbursts and mud

Abstract

It has been observed that the presence of water or mud on the floor ofa mining tunnel seems to reduce tunnel failure associated with remoteseismic events. We examine two mechanisms that could explain thisphenomenon. The investigations suggest that lubrication effe cts dueto the presence of water within cracks could well affect the occurrenceof spalling, and the results obtained suggest that coating the tunnelwalls with moisture containing semi-liquid pastes may be effec tive fortunnel wall stabilization