One of the challenges that urgently needs to be addressed, both in current times and in the future, is to improve the heading speed of coal roadways. The roof instability of the heading face is the main factor restricting the rapid heading of coal roadways. Based on the theory of thin plate, a mechanical model of the roof in the heading face is established, the distribution law of deflection, stress, and internal force is discussed, and the supporting principle of the roof is clarified. Through a Flac3D numerical simulation, the main influencing factors of roof stability in the heading face are analyzed, including ground stress, surrounding rock strength, roadway section, unsupported distance, etc., and the regression analysis of each factor is carried out by evaluating the amount of roof subsidence. The results show that the maximum tensile stress and the corresponding bending moment of the roof appear at the fixed supported edge, and the maximum compressive stress and the maximum value of the corresponding bending moment appear at the center of the roof slightly close to the simply supported edge. In the on-site construction process, the position close to the fixed supported edge needs to be supported first. The roof subsidence has a positive exponential relationship with the stress level, a negative exponential relationship with the surrounding rock strength, a quadratic functional relationship with the roadway section, and a logarithmic relationship with the unsupported distance. In fractional support, the initial partial support can timely reduce the roof span and partially recover the confining pressure. Under certain geological and production conditions, the use of fractional support can not only effectively maintain the stability of the roadway but also speed up the heading speed. According to the research results, it is determined that in the auxiliary transportation roadway of the Caojiatan Coal Mine, the 122,110 working face adopts the fractional support model, the maximum roof subsidence is 18 mm, the roof is stable, and the monthly progress is more than 1000 m, which significantly improves the roadway heading speed.

Affected by high ground stress, the surrounding rock control of a roadway is one of the most important factors restricting the utilization of deep resources. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a method to improve the stress environment of the deep-buried roadway and reduce its deformation. The article focuses on the 121,302 machine roadway in Kouzidong coal mine to analyze the large deformations of roadways near goafs (RNGs) in deep coal mines and reveal the mechanisms related to pressure relief via roof cutting. Through physical simulation, overburdened structures and the migration laws of RNGs in deep coal mines are studied, and the overburdened RNGs will eventually have a double short-arm “F”-type suspended roof structure. The superposition movement of the structure is the prime cause for the large deformation of the RNGs considered here. Artificial roof cutting can weaken the superposition effect of the double “F” structure and induce the roof to produce a new fracture. Meanwhile, sliding deformation along the fault line releases greater stress, and the cut roof can better fill the goaf. The stress distribution ratio between goafs and the coal pillar is improved. Here, a mechanical model of key block B’ (KBB’) is considered and the stability criterion of KBB’ is obtained. According to the theoretical calculation here, the stress of a coal pillar could be reduced by 19.14% when KBB’ is cut along the edge of the coal pillar in the 121,302 machine roadway. After engineering verification, the field observation result shows that the deformation of the 121,302 machine roadway is reduced by more than 50% after roof cutting.

Roadways with retained bottom coal are common in thick coal seam mining, and floor heaving is a prominent problem. In this study, based on the interaction between the floor and two sides of the roadway-surrounding rock, a Winkler elastic foundation beam model is established to analyze the floor heave problem. A 3DEC model was used to analyze the failure range, failure mode, and migration law of the floor-surrounding rock with different bottom coal thicknesses and coal body strengths. The results show that (1) an increase in the thickness of the bottom coal results in a decrease in the stiffness of the roadway side coal body (the foundation of the supporting rock layer) and an increase in the bending deformation range, the amount of floor rock beam deformation, and the extrusion force. This leads to an expansion in the range of the sides of the coal body that are squeezed by the floor rock layer, resulting in additional failure and deformation of the coal body sides. Therefore, the damage to the floor rock layer is extended and increased. (2) The expansion of the floor pressure-bearing arch and surrounding rock in the arch are the causes of floor heave in the deep coal roadway with retained bottom coal. (3) Because of an increase in the thickness of the bottom coal and a decrease in the coal body strength, the floor pressure-bearing arch expands to the deeper part; thus, the range of surrounding rock in the arch with deformation and failure increases, resulting in an increase in floor heave. The field practice indicates that the support strategy of the “high prestressed strong rock bolt (cable) supporting two sides and bottom corners in time” can effectively control the floor heave of a roadway with retained bottom coal.