Coal Mine Structures is based on a six-year study, carried out at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne between 1976 and 1982 and financed by the National Coal Board and the European Coal and Steel Community (Projects 7220 - ACj806 and 7220 - ACj814), into the behaviour of under ground openings in British coal mines. The original work has been expanded to include other relevant British and international data. How ever, it remains, deliberately, a personal view based on a specific - albeit broad - research programme. It does not pretend to be a complete description of the behaviour of shafts,...