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Underground gas storage (UGS) in depleted reservoirs affects caprock properties. The resemblance of Qom anhydrite outcrop with cutting obtained from a 2629 m depth was confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) results and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests. The anhydrite specimens unconfined compressive strength (UCS) changed under static cyclic loading conditions, and also petrophysical properties, such as porosity and permeability altered under 10, 20, and 30 cycles of loading. The magnitude of loading ranged from 30 to 43% of intact anhydrite UCS. The loading rate used for cyclic loading tests was 0.004 mm/s. The samples’ UCS decreased between 3.5 to 23.9% under cyclic loading conditions. The study of specimens computed tomography (CT) imaging with porosity and permeability indicated the growth of cracks, the cracks did not initiate in all lengths of specimens, hence the incremental increase in porosity did not increase the permeability of specimens. Even being under cyclic loads, the permeability of specimens stayed lower than 10-15 m2 (0.001 mD) but the trend of pressure versus time for measuring permeability shows a higher drop in pressure due to changes in permeability. The study indicated that the CT imaging results are in good accordance with petrophysical findings.

The Hoek-Brown (H-B) criterion is one of the most commonly used rock failure criteria in recent years. This criterion includes a constant parameter called mi which is a fundamental parameter for estimating rock strength. Due to the importance of the mi parameter in the H-B criterion, it is necessary to conduct comprehensive studies on various aspects of the effect of this parameter on the behavior of rocks. Therefore, in this study, using numerical simulation of the Triaxial Compressive Strength (TCS) tests in PFC-2D code, the effects of microscopic properties of different rocks on the H-B parameter mi have been studied. Based on the results of this study, it was found that the effects of micro-parameters on the H-B parameter mi can be different depending on the type of rock, however this parameter has an inverse relationship to the micro-parameters of bond tensile strength and bond fraction of the rocks. Also, the mi parameter increases with an increase in the micro-parameters of the friction coefficient, the friction angle, the particle contact modulus, and the contact stiffness ratio of rocks.

Rocks are formed from particles and the interaction between those particles controls the behaviour of a rock’s mechanical properties. Since it is very important to conduct extensive studies about the relationship between the micro-parameters and macro-parameters of rock, this paper investigates the effects of some micro-parameters on strength properties and the behaviour of cracks in rock. This is carried out by using numerical simulation of an extensive series of Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) and Brazilian Tensile Strength (BTS) tests. The micro-parameters included the particles’ contact modulus, the contact stiff ness ratio, bond cohesion, bond tensile strength, the friction coefficient and the friction angle, and the mechanical properties of chromite rock have been considered as base values of the investigation. Based on the obtained results, it was found that the most important micro-parameters on the behaviour of rock in the compressive state are bond cohesion, bond tensile strength, and the friction coefficient. Also, the bond tensile strength showed the largest effect under tensile conditions. The micro-parameter of bond tensile strength increased the rock tensile strength (up to 5 times), minimized destructive cracks and increased the corresponding strain (almost 2.5 times) during critical stress.

Rock failure mechanism is one of the most important issues in rock mechanics engineering which plays a key role in the stability analysis of various structures. Therefore, different failure criteria have been proposed to understand the failure mechanism of rocks. One of the most commonly used rock failure criteria is the Hoek-Brown criterion, in which there is a parameter called mi, which is very important to the response provided by this criterion. Due to the importance of conducting extensive studies on this parameter, in this current research, by performing a series of experimental triaxial compressive strength test and numerical simulating in PFC-2D code, the effect of the Hoek-Brown constant mi on the failure mechanism and crack growth of different rocks has been studied. Based on the results of this study, it was found that the effect of parameter mi on the failure mechanism of different rocks varied according to the type of rocks, and the greatest effect of this parameter was on the peak strength of rocks. In addition, it was found that under higher lateral pressures, there are less destructive cracks in rocks, and as a result, they show more ductile behaviour.

This study presents a model based on rock engineering systems (RES) to evaluate the risk of roof falls and determine damaged regions, using recorded roof falls, prior to mining with a retreat from a longwall face. In this regard, a case study was considered to examine the model. The results showed that the level of determined risk has an acceptable correlation with the special roof fall (SRF), with R-squared value (R2) equal to 0.792 for all estimated vulnerability indexes (VIs) in considered longwall panels. By investigating and comparing the evaluated values of VI in considered panels and their corresponding recorded roof falls, damaged regions were distinguished from undamaged regions. Based on these investigations, four classes including safe, moderate, danger, and critical regions were determined to identify the safe and damaged regions prior to the mining operation. The results of the research showed that the identification of damaged regions is feasible to provide a detailed operation plan to control roof falls in longwall mining faces through the developed approach. The RES-based model could be used for the same conditions and the presented methodology could be applied to other parts in underground coal mines.