PFC3D modeling of caved rock under draw

PFC^3D offers advantages over conventional methods for understanding the flow of coarse granular material, which is important in cave mines. These advantages relate to PFC^3D ’s ability to simulate coarse fragmentation, continuously monitor the evolution of key parameters such as porosity during flow and visualize the evolution of the IDZ (isolated draw zone) shape and size during the flow process. The results of early full-symmetry flow simulations indicated that particle size and shape properties have a large influence on the shape of the IDZ in PFC^3D . The results of more recent quarter-symmetry PFC^3D simulations aimed at quantifying these effects are reported here. The results indicate that the size of the IDZ is significantly affected by both the shape and size of the particles and that this is a direct result of differences in porosity jump. In addition, the shape of the IDZ appears to be insensitive to mean particle size and size distribution.