Determination of the Workability of a Coal Face Underground by Measuring the Friability of Coal

Abstract

In this report, the results of an investigation of the friability-index of coal face underground, which would be the most useful index for prediction of face workability, at 141 working faces (62 coal mines) in Japan are described. These results were classified separately for each district and working system, i.e., blasting, coal pick, coal cutter and Hobel mining, and then the friability-index measured at each coal face was compared with the working efficiency. Furthermore, from these results, we have proposed a method for designation of the workability of a coal face by the friability-index.