Analytical and digital research in rock reinforcement

Abstract:

Cables and rock bolts have been extensively used for rock reinforcement in underground mines and civil tunnels given their outstanding ground support capability. This seminar will present an analytical model for simulating the load-displacement performance of the cable under axial loading condition. The significance of the proposed model is it was developed based on the failure mechanisms rather than the mathematical idealisation and as such the majority of the input parameters have physical meanings. In addition, a physics guided hierarchical deep learning framework (PGHDFramework) for underground rock reinforcement compliance check based on 4D point cloud data will be presented. Such a digital framework would replace the labour intensive manual process for rock bolts compliance check and in the meantime increase the accuracy of the field practice by avoiding human errors.

Short bio:

Dr Li has been working with Western Australian School of Mines since 2021 and promoted to a Senior Lecturer in 2023. Prior to Curtin, he worked in Department of Civil Engineering at Monash University as an Assistant Lecturer in 2019-2021 right after he received the PhD degree at University of New South Wales in Sydney. Dr Li has been very active in mine geomechanics research with a focus on the ground support in underground mines for which he developed constitutive models, laboratory pull-out testing facilities as well as digital tunnel convergence monitoring techniques. The lab testing facility designed by Dr Li has now been adopted by Jennmar Australian that is one of the largest cable/rock bolt suppliers in Australia to benchmark their products. Dr Li has successfully attracted over 1.2m Australian Dollars research funds from various sources including government, industry and universities in Australia. He has served as an Associate Editor in the International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment and editorial board member in International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences. To date, Dr Li has successfully received Teaching Fellow Award from Monash Civil Department in 2020, Finalist of the Excellence in Research Award for STEM ECR from Curtin University in 2021, and Best Paper Award from Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology in 2023.