Relationship between Geomechanics and Subsoil Use from the Perspective of the Legislative Definition of the Term 'Subsoil'

Abstract

The article presents a historical overview of the development of Geomechanics as a science in the re-search school of the Institute of Mining of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A par-ticular attention is given to research into the stress-and-strain state of the rock mass and its changes in the course of operating the mining facilities, which plays a crucial role in securing the stability of struc-tures, mining safety, and prevention of major accidents. To ensure the safety of mining, a complex of research methods is used, including theoretical studies, physical and computer modeling, geophysical sensing of rock masses, ground-surface and satellite geodetic studies of the deformation processes. Geomechanical studies carried out at the Institute of Mining helped to gain new insights into the struc-ture of rock masses, variability of the stress-and-strain state, its mosaic structure as determined by the self-organization process within hierarchical block mass, to reveal the sources of emergencies and cat-astrophic events in mining. Current geomechanical research at the Institute is dedicated to the development of a scientific approach and execution of territory zoning using the criterion of technogenic and natural disasters in mining, studying regularities in the self-organization processes within the rock mass, development of technology to select favorable locations for hazardous and critical mining facili-ties. A special role is played by the prediction of possible changes in the stressandstrain state over time. The Geomechanics Department of the Institute of Mining uses field studies of the rock mass structure, geodetic studies of its mobility, remote sensing using satellite interferometry, and computer simulation of the properties and processes that take place within the rock mass.