The areas involved in coal and gas outbursts are composed of multi-layer coal and rock mass, in which external dynamic disturbance propagates in the form of stress waves; therefore, reflection, transmission and diffraction occur at the interfaces, resulting in dynamic effects such as reflected tension, convergence and superposition of stress and strain, and sudden changes of reflected and transmitted stress, which are the key factors leading to the outburst. Based on the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar system, the dynamic time–history changes of stress, strain and strain rate of five-layer combined coal and rock mass were studied under impact loading. The results show that the time–history curves of stress and strain could be divided into five stages and that of strain rate three stages; the dynamic curves of the five stress–strain stages were significantly different between high-velocity and low-velocity impact. It was hypothesized that under high-speed impact loading, the mechanical anisotropy of combined coal and rock mass at the linear elastic stage tends to be isotropic. Based on ANSYS LS-DYNA, the damage evolution and failure process of five-layer combined coal and rock mass were simulated and analyzed under impact loading. It is concluded that the initial positions of damage of each layer were located at the circle center and its vicinity; radial cracks were mainly formed under low-speed impact loading, and circumferential cracks were mainly formed under high-speed impact loading. In the propagation and action of loading and unloading waves, the “weak layer” was damaged first by tensile stress and formed a free surface, and the subsequent loading waves were reflected on the free surface to form unloading waves and tensile stress, resulting in damage and spalling in multi-layer coal and rock mass.

The technical problems of high in situ stress, high gas pressure, high gas content, and low coal seam permeability are widespread in deep soft coal seam excavation, which leads to frequent occurrences of dynamic phenomena, such as coal cannons and blowout holes. Based on the high-pressure hydraulic fracturing technology and process, this study puts forward a new technology of gas drainage in deep and soft coal seams by fracturing the overlying key strata to cut off the stress transmission path among coal and rock strata. According to the theories of key layer and masonry beams, the distribution locations of the main and subkey strata are determined, and based on uniaxial compression and Brazilian splitting experiments, the mechanical parameters of key stratum were tested. Combined with the results of numerical simulation and field test, initial pressure and fracturing radius of hydraulic fracturing technology for overlying key strata were determined, the stress relief effect and permeability variation law of coal seam after hydraulic fracturing in the main and subkey strata were analyzed, and then technical schemes for simultaneous fracturing of the key layer were designed. Field application results showed that the stress concentration phenomenon in soft coal seam excavation had been alleviated, and the stress relief effect of coal seam and the permeability were increased obviously. The volume and concentration of gas drainage were increased by 10 and 11%, respectively, the gas amount by 1.22 times; the frequency of dynamic phenomena such as coal cannons decreased by 95%, the gas concentration in return air flow by 20% during mining processes. This paper provided an innovative technical idea and process for gas control in deep and soft coal seam excavation, which could effectively solve the common and difficult problems about frequent occurrences of excessive gas concentration and dynamic phenomena.

In underground engineering, disturbance of dynamic load can change layered rock mass stress state and induce accidents. Traditional elastic mechanics can’t effectively solve the complex deformation problem. However, Hamiltonian mechanics system can overcome this problem. Dual variables are introduced in symplectic space to solve the deflection equations of single-layered thin plate rock mass. Comparing vibration parameters, it’s found the 1st, 5th and 6th order are effective vibration modes. The resonance characteristics of thin plate are obtained with three dynamic loads. It’s found the thin plate is most likely to resonate and damage due to the smallest resonance frequency interval and the largest vibration amplitude by impact wave and rectangular wave respectively. Then, the vibration mode of multi-layered rock mass is analyzed through Multiple Reference Impact Testing. The failure of fine sandstone is caused by the resonance of effective vibration modes by hammer excitation. Finally, the failure mechanism of thin plate is obtained by the failure theory and LS-DYNA. It’s found the four sides and corners suffer tensile shear failure and shear failure respectively. When tensile failure occurs in central, the main crack and secondary crack propagate along long axis and short axis to form “O-十” failure mode.

The stress wave generated by impact or dynamic load will produce significant reflection and transmission at the rock coal or rock interface during the propagation process. This will produce dynamic effects such as dynamic tensile, stress superposition and mutation. These dynamic effects will lead to obvious vibration at the interfaces, which is a key factor leading to dynamic damage and the failure of coal and rock mass. In the process of underground engineering excavation, the dynamic damage of a series of layered rock masses is one of the important factors causing geological disasters. Based on the two–dimensional similar material simulation experiment, the coal and rock mass combined of five layers of fine sandstone, medium sandstone, coal, coarse sandstone and mudstone was taken as the research object, and single and multi-point excitation (synchronous/step-by-step) were used to test the time–history vibration curves of rock–coal and rock–rock interfaces under impact load. It was concluded that the change of extreme value of vibration amplitude presented two stages: first increase, and then attenuation. Most of them required 2.25 cycles to reach the peak value, and the dynamic attenuation of amplitude conformed to the law of exponential. Based on Fast Fourier transform (FFT), the spectrum structures of the amplitude–frequency of interface vibration were studied, and the two predominant frequencies were 48.9~53.7 Hz and 92.4 Hz, respectively. Based on the Hilbert-Huang transform and energy equation, 5~7 vibration modes (IMF) were obtained by decomposing the time–history curves. The three modes, IMF1, IMF2, and IMF3, contained high energy and were effective vibration modes. IMF2 accounted for the highest proportion and was the main vibration mode whose predominant frequencies were concentrated in 45.6~50.2 Hz. Therefore, IMF2 played a decisive role in the whole vibration process and had an important impact on the dynamic response, damage and failure of coal and rock mass. In real conditions, the actual predominant frequencies can be converted according to the size and mechanical properties of the coal and rock mass, and the vibration response characteristics of the interfaces between coal and rock mass under impact load were preliminarily revealed. This study can provide reference for monitoring and early warning of coal and rock dynamic disasters, prevention and control of coal and gas outburst and technical development.

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