ABSTRACT
A B S T R A C T : The history and the main steps of development of geomechanics is considered. The
modern state of modelling of the mechanical processes taking place in rock mass is given.
K E Y W O R D S : Geomechanics, mathematical modeling, mechanical processes, longwall method,
rope saw mining, gas-dynamics manifestation
The history of development of geomechanics covers a relatively short period of time from the be-
ginning of the last century t i l l our days. F rom 1904 M . M . Protodiakonov publishes a series o f arti-
cles dedicated to the problems of mining stress, which later become the base of his monograph
" M i n i n g rock stress to mining support" published in 1907. That was the first great theoretical work
in the field of rock mechanics. It considered the hypothesis o f natural balanced arch over mining
works and described the calculation method of supports for shallow mines. So the development of
geomechanics in Russia began.
