InSAR and Numeric Modeling for Land Subsidence

Abstract:

Monitoring land subsidence due to coal mining is a function of several controlling factors, including: depth of the mine, stratigraphy, presence or absence of faults, thickness of mineral seam, mining method used, and hydrogeological conditions. Numerical modeling, e.g., finite element modeling (FEM), provides a comprehensive tool to simulate three-dimensional deformation at specific locations. The basis of the FEM is the representation of a body or a structure by an assemblage of subdivisions called finite elements, which requires the availability of site specific environmental and physical characteristics. The lack of availability of the necessary data leads to large uncertainties in subsidence estimates. With the use of InSAR, many of the needed controlling parameters for improving mine subsidence rate estimates can be identified. Coupling InSAR with FEM can further improve subsidence rate estimates through additional analysis yielding information on the relative importance of various controlling parameters contributing to the mine subsidence, the key mechanisms of failure associated with these parameters, and the surface expressions of these processes. In this contribution, we show that utilizing InSAR and FEM leads to an overall enhanced understanding of mine behavior, including the physical mechanisms that lead to mine subsidence through understanding the rheological behavior of the material over the mine in response to wide range of physical and environmental conditions.