The geometry files in StopeX are mainly used for four purposes:
- Controlling and assigning the mesh resolution/density - these are the geometries selected under the model construction tab (Stoping, Topo, Development, Area of Interest and Historical Mining),
- Assigning backfilling rules - these are selected under the backfill tab
- Assigning fault or material properties - these are selected under rock mass domain or faults tab
- Assigning mining sequence - these file are not selected by user and instead should be placed in the main folder using a consistent naming format (e.g. Step1.dxf, Step2.dxf, Step3.dxf, Step4.dxf, Step5.dxf, etc.)
For item 1, Historical Mining has a slightly different role. The zones in the model that are associated with geometries imported by the user for the Historical Mining component are treated differently during model solving. For these zones, if backfilling option is selected, they will not be excavated before filling and instead stresses for zones inside the geometries will be gradually reduced to zero and then replaced with backfill material (or void if backfill is not selected). This alternative solving process is designed for mining excavations that are far from the area under study but that can impact the regional stress re-distribution around the area of interest. This process allows the user to process all those historical mining geometries in one initial mining stages without detailed sequencing and hence reducing the run time.
For more details about how the backfill rules operate refer to this post:
https://forum.cavroc.com/d/55-how-do-i-include-a-backfill-sequence-in-stopex
