Ground Support Designer
The Ground Support Designer app provides tools for designing and visualising ground support systems for underground excavations. This application allows users to create standardized ground support designs that can be used in analysis and other mXrap apps.
Overview
The Ground Support Designer app helps optimise ground support design by providing an interactive environment to:
- Define tunnel drive profiles with customisable dimensions and curvature
- Design ground support patterns including rock bolts, shotcrete, mesh, and straps
- Calculate ground support energy capacity
- Visualise support elements in both profile and unwrapped views
- Create ground support standards for use across multiple apps
Key Features
Interactive Design Tools
The app provides interactive chart-based tools that allow you to directly manipulate ground support elements:
- Drag-and-drop bolt positioning: Click and drag bolt endpoints to adjust angles and positions
- Automatic pattern generation: Generate dice-5 patterns and other standard bolt layouts
- Asymmetric support: Design different support configurations for left and right walls
- Profile editing: Adjust tunnel dimensions, arch height, and curvature ratios
Support Element Types
Define and configure multiple types of ground support elements:
- Rock Bolts: Specify bolt types, lengths, angles, spacing, and patterns
- Shotcrete: Add shotcrete layers with customisable thickness
- Mesh: Configure mesh types and coverage areas
- Straps: Add vertical or horizontal straps with defined spacing
Energy Capacity Analysis
The Ground Support Capacity window allows you to:
- Calculate total energy capacity of the ground support system
- Visualise individual and combined support element capacities
Visualisation Options
View your ground support designs in multiple ways:
- Profile View: Cross-sectional view showing all support elements
- Unwrapped View: Flattened view of the tunnel showing bolt spacing along the drive
- Wall Panel View: Detailed view of specific wall sections
Authors
Principal authors: Matthew Heinsen Egan, Paulus Angkodjojo, Denisha Sewnun
Development support: Developed as part of the Ground Support Systems Optimisation (GSSO) research project
For ground support data collection and inspection, see the Inspections app which includes pull testing capabilities.