ABSTRACT
Ground Support in Mining and Underground Construction-Villaescusa & Potvin (eds.) © 2004 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 90 5809 640 8
ABSTRACT: An industry-funded research project in Australia recently investigated the problem of premature rock bolt failures in coal mines. Prior to this study, there had been anecdotal evidence of similar failures from various sites. Sampling and analysis conducted by this projectwhilst being below a statistically representative sample of the entire industry bolt population-highlighted the fact that bolt failures were continuing to occur at a number of sites. The failures were almost entirely attributable to stress corrosion cracking (SCC). There is no simple solution to the SCC problem, however, as with similar findings from the UK, it appears that steels with higher fracture toughness (Charpy Index) are less susceptible to SCC.
