After coal is extracted from a working face in a steep coal seam (SCS), the immediate roof tends to cave in and refill the lower part of the goaf. Based on the geological conditions of a work area in a SCS and the characteristics of roof caving, this study proposed a formula for the width of the backfill in the goaf and analyzed the main factors influencing it. Based on the small-deflection theory for elastic thin plates, a working face model was created for the mechanical analysis of the main roof above a SCS before the roof fractures for the first time. Then, a roof deflection equation was derived for the estimation roof deformation under the action of both the load from overlying strata and the support provided by the backfill in the goaf. The theoretical analysis combined with the actual operational parameters at the Zuoqipian working face in #49 seam of Xintie Coal Mine shows that the maximum roof deflection is around 0.8 m and occurs at a location 39 m from the upper end of the working face. Fractures will first develop in the upper sections of the frontal and rear walls of the face and the middle of the upper suspended roof due to tension or shearing and ultimately form an E-shaped pattern. The measured support pressure and the roof deformation obtained by theoretical analysis show a similar distribution pattern, indirectly confirming the accuracy of the theoretical results.

No abstract

Aiming at the large deformation problem of gob-side entry in solid filling mining, the roof subsidence of gob-side entry retaining (GER) was studied under the influence of gangue filling, by taking a deep filling working face in Shandong Province as the engineering background and using theoretical derivation as well as FLAC3D numerical simulation. Research shows that the stiffness of the gangue filling body in the gob and the stiffness and width of the entry protection coal and rock mass (EPCARM) are positively correlated with the GER roof subsidence, which is much less affected by the EPCARM parameters than by the GER stiffness. The GER failure to meet the application requirements is mainly attributed to the insufficient stiffness of the gangue filling body and excessive advance subsidence, which inhibit the roof stress transfer. The GER replacement by the gob-side entry driving (GED) scheme, which implies replacing the entry protection gangue bag wall with the coal pillar with a width of 5 m, will reduce the roof subsidence to 0.114 m, according to the proposed equation. The results obtained are considered quite instrumental in deformation control of the gob-side entry filled with gangue, as well as substantiation of GED and GER applicability options.

The mechanism of strong mine pressure control in the initial mining and caving stages under multiple key strata (MKS) was studied by theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and field measurement in order to avoid the dynamic pressure accidents caused by the MKS breaking in interactions in the initial mining and caving stage. Panel 13103 (P13103) in the Shan Xi Jinshen Shaping Coal Mine was used sas the study site. The overlying structure and the breaking characteristics of the key strata were analyzed and the overlying structure model of longwall top-coal caving (LTC) under MKS was established. Reasonable initial mining heights and initial caving positions were determined and the spatial and temporal characteristics of ground pressure and roof structure of the working face in the mining process were obtained. The results show that, in the scheme of starting top-coal caving after the working face advanced 20 m, the support damage ratios were all greater than 50% with roof weighting, which is prone to induce prop crash accidents. The dynamic load formed by the second weighting was greater than first weighting under the MKS. The duration of mine pressure tended to be stable with fully developed caving zone heights. With the designed mining scheme, the safe and efficient mining of P13103 is guaranteed.

When a working face is crossing the abandoned roadways, problems such as roof subsidence, rock fracture, and instability will occur, resulting in widespread roof fall and rib spalling, which seriously affect safe and efficient mining on the working face. In this paper, the no. 23 coal pillar working face of Juji coal mine is taken as the engineering background, a mechanical model of crossing the abandoned roadways is constructed aimed at the problem of the working face crossing the abandoned roadway group, the collapse of the abandoned roadway roof is analyzed, a scheme of crossing the abandoned roadways is designed, and the development law of the stress and plastic zone after the reinforcement scheme is stimulated and analyzed. The results show that when the working face advances to the abandoned roadway, key block B crosses the abandoned roadway and the solid coal to form a “cross-roadway long key block.” It is calculated that the minimum support resistance required for the abandoned roadway is 6700 kN. Based on the results of numerical comparison, it is concluded that filling wood pile when the working face passes through the roof abandoned roadway and adding anchor cables for reinforcement support when the working face crosses the coal seam abandoned roadway effectively reduce the stress concentration of surrounding rocks, decrease the development of the plastic zone, and achieve safe and efficient mining when the working face crosses the abandoned roadways.