Principles of operation of hydraulic supports regarded as rheological systems

Solution of the problems of interactions of supports with the side rocks requires a unified representation of all states of the support-rock system, in which to deal with stresses, deformations, loads, and displacements of the interacting elements. We need to use mathematical models of rheological systems in order to represent the properties and characteristics of the support and rocks. This approach enables us to attack the problem of the interactions between the support and the rocks as one of the interaction of rheological models, which can be solved by the general, well-developed methods of mechanics. In this case, determination of the necessary support parameters reduces to determining the parameters of a rheological model of the support and bringing them into correspondence with the parameters of the rheological model of the rocks with the aim of getting the support to operate in some particular conditions. A unified representation of the supports and rocks by rheological models enables us to make a mathematical model of the operation of the support in various types (classes) of side rocks, and then to simulate on a computer various types of interaction, thus finding the combinations of mechanical support parameters which optimally correspond to given geological conditions. Such an investigation is necessary in the stage of designing and constructing the supports, and in making well-founded choices of their ranges of application. Thus, for given geological conditions (for a given model of the medium), we can compile a structural rheological model of the support, and on this basis we can design the support itself.