Pressure of thawing soils on the concrete lining of vertical mine shafts

The paper presents data on the theoretical and experimental investigations for revealing characteristic features of the development of pressure of thawing clayey soils on the concrete lining of mine shafts. The concrete shaft lining and frozen soil massif are considered as rigid walls resting on a rigid base (bedrock). While the thawing soil is being consolidated due to gravity, because of friction and cohesion it transmits loads on to the walls. The report shows that the development of the loads on the mine-shaft lining due to soil thawing is divided into two stages. This paper presents the technique of experiments effected on the mine-shaft models. It has been noted that, owing to nonuniform thawing of soils close to the mine shaft, the soil displacement begins on the side with the greater thawing. This may cause nonuniform lateral pressure on the concrete mine-shaft lining, endangering its stability.