This video demonstrates using a library set of Building Blocks as a starting point for creating a new model. In this example, cylindrical blocks are snapped together to represent a tunnel and intersected with other blocks representing a nearby wall.
As well as flow through joints, 3DEC 5.2 is capable of simulating fluid flow through the blocks or the matrix (i.e., between the joints). It is assumed that the blocks represent a saturated, permeable solid, such as soil or fractured rock mass.
Itasca Denver, Inc., (Itasca) in conjunction with Newmont Mining Corporation (NMC) developed a numerical model to estimate gold (Au) production from NMC’s heap-leach operations.
Numerical models are now used routinely to predict ground-water inflows to both surface and underground mines and to help design dewatering systems.
This paper presents the formulation of a constitutive model to simulate the behavior of foliated rock mass. The 3D elastoplastic constitutive model, called Comba, accounts for the presence of arbitrary orientations of weakness in a nonisotropic elastoplastic matrix.