Abstract:
A method for driving tunnels in rounds is disclosed in which, after each round, the tunnel is left with an inclined transition to the floor. In the subsequent round, a cut is opened up in the transition towards the floor and the tunnel face is then stepwise drilled and blasted in cycles until the roof is reached and the round is completed. A machine for carrying out the method is disclosed which comprises a plurality of drill-and-blast units that are mounted on a frame that is pivotable about a transverse horizontal axis.

Description:
The present invention relates to a method for advancing an underground face of a geological formation in rounds comprising a plurality of cycles, that in turn comprises the drilling of a plurality of holes in the face and the applying of break-down-energy to the holes so that the face is broken down in steps. More specifically, each cycle may comprise the drilling of a single row of holes in the face and the charging of these holes with an explosive which is then initiated. 
     The present invention relates also to a machine for driving a tunnel in this way. 
     In U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,471 a method is described which comprises the opening up of a horizontal wedge cut in the middle of a vertical flat face, such as a tunnel face, and then stepwise horizontal stoping towards said cut. Since the cut is in the middle of the face the stoping is directed downwardly towards the cut in the steps that are carried out above the cut, but the stoping is directed upwardly towards the cut in the steps that are carried out below the cut. The mucking of the blasted rock will cause considerable dead time between the cycles. 
     The present invention provides for a more continuous working in cycles in which none of the cycles is affected by the rock blasted in a preceding cycle. Specifically the present invention makes it possible to work the face in a plurality of substantially identical cycles. Summary of the Invention 
     To these ends there is provided a method for advancing an underground face of a geological formation in rounds comprising a plurality of cycles, each cycle comprising the drilling of a plurality of holes into the face and the applying of break-down-energy to the holes, characterized in that said face after each round is left with an inclined transition to the floor and, in a subsequent round, a cut is opened up in said transition towards the floor and the face is then stoped towards said cut stepwise in said cycles until the roof is reached. 
     There is also provided a machine for driving a tunnel comprising a support frame, a swingable frame mounted to said support frame to be swingable about a horizontal axis, power means to swing said swingable frame about said horizontal axis, a plurality of units mounted on said swingable frame, said units being capable of drilling a row of holes substantially simultaneously and being capable of applying break-down-energy to the holes just drilled. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section through a tunnel to be advanced according to the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a view of the face of the tunnel shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a longitudinal view of a machine according to the invention for advancing the tunnel shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a section taken along line 4--4 in FIG. 3; and 
     FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are longitudinal sections through tunnels to be advanced according to the invention and having other forms of the tunnel face. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1 shows in a vertical section a horizontal tunnel which has a concave face 10, a floor 11 and a roof 12. The face 10 has the form of a part of a horizontal circular cylinder so that it forms an inclined transition 13 to the floor, forming an obtuse angle x with the floor. The angle x should preferably be greater than 120°. 
     The tunnel face is shown in FIG. 2 and the positions of the holes that are to be drilled in a round for advancing the face 10 in the direction V (FIG. 1) to a new position 14 are indicated orthogonally by vertical indexes A-H and horizontal indexes 1-7. FIG. 1 is a section through the vertical row 3 of holes, and the axes of the holes are indicated in this figure. Preferably, a round should advance the face 10 a distance smaller than 1/3 of the distance between the roof and floor. 
     A machine is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 for advancing the face 10 by drilling holes in the pattern indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The machine is only schematically shown and it has a main frame 15 supported on the tunnel floor by two runners 16. Two pairs of hydraulic rams 17,18 can be extended against the roof to brace the machine frame in the tunnel if necessary. The main frame 15 includes a bifurcated support 19 to which a swingable frame 20 is mounted to pivot about a horizontal axis II by the action of an hydraulic jack 21. Seven identical drill-and-blast units 22-28 are mounted on the swingable frame 20. The five units 23-27 are fixed on the frame 20 and they are parallel with each other in a common plane. Under these five drill-and-blast units there are two units 22, 28 that are mounted to pivot by the action of hydraulic cylinders about axes III and IV which are perpendicular to the respective axis of drilling. The axes III and IV are also perpendicular to the swing axis II of the swingable frame. 
     The interior of the drill-and-blast units are not shown since their details are not part of the invention. Be it sufficient to say that each of them incorporates a rock drill, mounted on a feed bar, for drilling a hole, and means to swing the drill out of line with the hole it has just been drilling and instead aligning an explosive delivery device and an explosive detonating device with the hole e.g. as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,471. 
     The machine has a conveyor 29 for the debris and a power scraper 30 to feed the conveyor. 
     In FIG. 3 is shown that the drill-and-blast unit 25 drills the hole D4 (see FIG. 2) while the drill-and-blast unit 28 drills the hole C1 (FIG. 2) and the scraper 30 feeds the conveyor 29. The drill steel of drill 25 is designated 31 and the drill steel of drill 28 is designated 32 and their axes of drilling is indicated by dash-and-dot lines. 
     A complete round for advancing the tunnel face 10 to its new position 14 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1-4. At first, the swingable frame 20 is pivoted about axis II into a position in which the five drill-and-blast units 23-27 are positioned to drill the holes A2-A6. These five units are operated to drill the holes simultaneously, to charge the holes with an explosive and then to detonate the explosive. Preferably, the hole A4 is blasted first and then A3, A5, A2, A6 as delayed blasting in a conventional manner. This blasting opens up a cut 33 using the transition 13 of the tunnel face 10 to the floor 11 as a stope surface, and a new stope surface is developed extending through the blasted holes A2-A6. The swingable frame 20 is now swung to position the units 23-27 in position to drill and blast the holes B2-B6 simultaneously with the units 22 and 28 drilling and blasting the holes A1 and A7. Thus, the holes A1, B2-B6, and A7 form a single row of holes that are drilled and blasted substantially simultaneously, delayed blasting (interval blasting) being also now preferred. The subsequent cycle of drilling and blasting comprises the drilling and blasting of the holes B1, C2-C6, and B7, and a new stope surface is formed through these holes. The following cycles are identical with this one. In the last cycle of the round, the holes G1, H2-H6 and G7 are drilled and blasted. These holes are directed slightly upwardly and the other contour holes, i.e. the holes in the vertical rows 1 and 7 are slightly outwardly directed as can be seen in FIG. 2. A dashed line has been drawn in FIG. 2 through the bottom of the contour holes and the holes of the cut. 
     The reference numeral I in FIG. 1 indicates the position of axis II in the preceding round and the machine is moved forwards such a step between the rounds. The support 19 for the swingable frame 20 may alternatively be extendable relative to the main frame 15 in for example two such steps so that the main frame 15 need be moved only between every third round. 
     Since the swingable frame 20 pivots about the axis II and there is a distance between this axis and the drill axes of the drill-and-blast units, the axes of the holes that each machine drills in a round will be tangents to a circle that has the distance between the respective drill axis and the axis II as a radius. This circle with the radius r is indicated in FIG. 1. The drill-and-blast units 23-27 are shown in a common plane. Instead, the distance between the drill-and-blast unit 25 and the axis II may be larger than the distances between the drill-and-blast units 24, 26 and the axis II which in turn may be larger than the distances between the drill-and-blast units 23, 27 and the axis II so that the horizontal rows of holes that are drilled and blasted in the cycles will be bow-formed. 
     Each drill-and-blast unit can be arranged to extend the drill rods to a fixed stop position during each drilling operation which means that the distance a plus the distance b in FIG. 1 will be constant for each hole although the depths b of the holes will vary. Also all the holes can preferably be charged with like amounts of explosives. These facts simplify the operational control of the machine. 
     FIG. 5 shows a tunnel with a circular tunnel face like the one in FIGS. 1 and 2 but the hole axes intersect horizontal axis II. The direction of the first row of holes for opening up the cut will then not be as good as in FIG. 1, and an additional vertical row of holes K may be utilized to open up the cut. As in FIG. 1, the axis I is the center of circles of which the circular tunnel face 10 is part and the axis II is the center of circles of which the circular advanced tunnel face 14 is part. 
     FIG. 6 shows a tunnel in which the entire tunnel face is oblique. A vertical row of holes K is advantageous also here. 
     FIG. 7 shows a tunnel in which the main part of the tunnel face is vertical. The lowest part 35 of the tunnel face, however, is inclined. 
     Although the invention is described with reference to conventional drilling and blasting, the break-down-energy may be applied to the holes in any other way than by explosives, for example by wedging, and the illustrated drill-and-blast units can be replaced by any other units for drilling holes and applying break-down-energy to the holes. The method and the machine may also be modified in many other ways within the scope of the claims.