The technical principle of gas drainage using high-level directional extraction boreholes was analyzed. A range of overburden strata was stimulated for pressure relief during mining, the effects of different borehole parameters on gas flow in the goaf and gas concentration in the upper corner were compared, and a field test was conducted to analyze the effect and peculiarities of gas drainage. With the mining of the work plane, overburden mining fissures gradually develop forward and upward, showing a “saddle” shape along the coal seam. The fissures in the middle zone of the goaf are gradually compacted, and a gas accumulation zone is formed around the goaf. High-level directional extraction boreholes arranged in an ellipsoidal belt at the side of the air return can achieve efficient gas extraction in the roof fissure belt. Numerical simulation results showed that the height of the fully depressurized area was 65 m from the roof of the coal seam. In addition, three high-level directional extraction boreholes were drilled in the roof of the coal seam. The gas extraction concentration and gas extraction pure volume of these three boreholes first increased, then decreased, and finally tended to be stable. The sequence of their average values was borehole No.2 > No.3 (twice as much) and > No.1 (2.7 times as much), which are closely related to the evolution law of overburden mining fissures. The research results can provide a reference for the further study of gas extraction technology using high-level directional extraction boreholes in coal and gas outburst seams.

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Vertical fracture propagation mechanism is important to understand the effect of hydraulic fracturing on the roof of outburst coal seams. In this paper, the differences in physical parameters and in situ stress between an outburst coal seam and its roof strata were compared, and influencing factors of roof-fracturing fractures connecting coal seams were vertically analyzed. The impact of different fracturing strata and injection rates on fracture propagation was studied by numerical models. Results show that the horizontal principal stress of an outburst coal seam is less than that of roof strata, and the fracture length of roof fracturing is larger than that of an outburst coal seam. Roof-fracturing fracture of an outburst coal seam has the material conditions to communicate downward with the coal seam. The downward propagation height of roof-fracturing fracture is positively correlated with the minimum horizontal stress difference between an outburst coal seam and its roof strata. Soft coal fracturing cannot form a long fracture dominated by tensile failure, so the coal seam can be communicated by transforming the roof strata of soft coal to form vertical fractures. The injection rate affects the failure location, fracture width, and fracture-propagation path of the numerical model. Construction parameters should be reasonably designed in accordance with the physical parameters of coal and rock, construction displacement, and in situ stress. These research results can provide a theoretical basis and data support for the design, and optimization of construction parameters of roof fracturing in outburst coal seams.