METHOD OF DETERMINING SIZE OF CRACKS IN ROCKS Russian patent published in 2011 - IPC G01V1/40 E21C39/00 

FIELD: physics; geophysics.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to seismic investigations and can be used to monitor development of cracks in rocks when mining various minerals. Elastic oscillations are synchronously and simultaneously picked up by a group of three-component seismic sensors in a well or mine tunnel. Signals corresponding to the process of formation of main cracks are picked up from the records. The instantaneous frequency and phase of the crack development process is calculated through Hilbert transformation of these signals. The time interval of the process of formation of a main crack is determined by calculating the difference between moments at the beginning of crack relaxation and moments for the first onset of the seismic wave which defines the beginning of crack development. The average speed of the cracking process is estimated. The length of the crack is determined. If needed, the size of the main crack is compared with the size of the crack in the mine tunnel during drilling. The size of the main crack is corrected.

EFFECT: high accuracy of monitoring the size of a main crack in mine rocks during mining.

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