Alper Kirmaci, a doctoral candidate in mining engineering, will defend their dissertation titled “Advancing Coal Rib Support Design Through the Integration of Field Studies and Numerical Simulations.” Their advisor, Dr. Taghi Sherizadeh is an associate professor in mining and explosives engineering. The dissertation abstract is provided below.

Coal rib stability remains a major safety concern in U.S. underground coal mines, with rib failure-related injuries and fatalities still occurring. A key challenge is the lack of a standardized methodology for designing rib support systems that can address varying geological conditions. As a result, many mines rely on trial-and-error or traditional practices, leading to inconsistent designs. This research aims to develop a systematic methodology for rib support design to improve coal rib stability in U.S. mining operations. The study consists of: i) field monitoring in active room-and-pillar coal mines, ii) in-situ pull-out tests on coal ribs, iii) numerical model validations simulating load-displacement behavior of rib bolts, iv) parametric studies to develop rib support design guidelines, and v) the development of a user-friendly Rib Support Recommendation (RSR) tool. The RSR tool incorporates the improved Coal Pillar Rib Rating (CPRR) system and provides support recommendations based on extensive parametric models. Pull-out tests provided key data on the performance of different rib bolt types under varying geological conditions, which was used to validate numerical models for parametric studies. These studies examined the effects of bolt type, bolt density, coal type, mining height, and overburden depth on rib stability, leading to the classification of support systems into four categories and the development of corresponding support recommendation tables. The RSR tool integrates these results to provide site-specific rib support recommendations, and its effectiveness was validated using field data from two active mines.