Discrete element analysis of footwall residual ores in gently inclined and medium thick orebody using sublevel caving method

When the sublevel caving method is applied to gently inclined and medium thick orebody, it often results in a lot of footwall residual ores. The analysis of the influence factors of footwall residual ore has a great guiding significance for the reasonable arrangement of mining engineering and improvement of ore recovery. On the basis of considering the flowability of granular material, the condition of the orebody and the structural parameters of the stope, researching the effects of natural repose angle, orebody dip angle, orebody thickness, sublevel height and drawpoint size on footwall residual ores by discrete element. The results show that the factors influencing the footwall residual ores are the orebody dip angle, natural repose angle, orebody thickness, sublevel height and drawpoint size that order by influence degree. The natural repose angle, orebody thickness, and sublevel height are positively correlated with the footwall residual ores, and the orebody dip angle is negatively correlated with the footwall residual ores. And when the natural repose angle is greater than the orebody dip angle, the footwall residual ores increase significantly with the increase of the difference between the natural repose angle and the orebody dip angle.