Sandstone samples with precracks of different dip angles were collected from a coal mine roof and subjected to uniaxial compression tests, and acoustic emission (AE) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study how the crack dip angle affected the fracture mechanism. In the precracked sandstone samples, as the dip angle between the crack line and loading direction decreased, so did the peak stress and its completion time. The SEM observations revealed a fracture transition from tensile cleavage to shear slip, which was manifested by a microstructure change from aggregate to staggered. According to energy conversion, a decreased crack dip angle results in gradually decreasing total and dissipative peak energies, whose variation amplitudes at different stages are consistent with those of the peak stress of the samples. The decreased crack dip angle lowered the stress required to trigger the first appearance of AE energy peaks and ring-down counts, as well as shortening the period before the occurrence of the first AE peak signal. However, the AE energy and ring-down count during the failure stage after the stress peak increased gradually. A stepped increase was observed in the AE ring-down count curves, with each step corresponding to a jump in the stress-strain curve. From the characteristics of the AE signal of the fracture of a precracked rock sample, the occurrence of joints or faults in the rock mass can be reasonably inferred. This is expected to provide a new method and approach for predicting coal and rock dynamic disasters.

According to geological conditions of No. 3 and No. 4 coal seams (namely A3 and B4) of the Pan'er coal mine and the parameters of panels 11223, 11224, and 11124 with fully-mechanical coal mining, we built 2D similar material simulation and FLAC 3D numerical simulation models to investigate the development of mining-induced stress and the extraction effect of pressure-relief gas with large height and upward mining. Based on a comprehensive analysis of experimental data and observations, we obtained the deformation and breakage characteristics of strata overlying the coal seam, the development patterns of the mining-induced stress and fracture, and the size of the stress-relief area. The stressrelief effect was investigated and analyzed in consideration with mining height and three thick hard strata. Because of the group of three hard thick strata located in the main roof and the residual stress of mined panel 11124, the deformation, breakage, mining-induced stress and fracture development, and the stress-relief coefficient were discontinuous and asymmetrical. The breakage angle of the overlying strata, and the compressive and expansive zones of coal deformation were mainly controlled by the number, thickness, and strength of the hard stratum. Compared with the value of breakage angle derived by the traditional empirical method, the experimental value was lower than the traditional results by 3°-4°b elow the hard thick strata group, and by 13°-19°above the hard thick strata group. The amount of gas extracted from floor drainage roadway of B4 over 17 months was variable and the amount of gas per month differed considerably, being much smaller when panel 11223 influenced the area of the three hard thick strata. Generally, the stress-relief zone of No. 4 coal seam was small under the influence of the hard thick strata located in the main roof, which played an important role in delaying the breakage time and increasing the breakage space. In this study we gained understanding of the stress-relief mechanism influenced by the hard thick roof. The research results and engineering practice show that the main roof of the multiple hard thick strata is a critical factor in the design of panel layout and roadways for integrated coal exploitation and gas extraction, provides a theoretical basis for safe and high-efficient mining of coal resources.

Due to the influence of the component structure and combination modes, the mechanical characteristics and failure modes of the coal-rock composite show different characteristics from the monomer. In order to explore the effect of different coal-rock ratios on the deformation and the failure law of the combined sample, the RMT rock mechanics test system and acoustic emission real-time monitoring system are adopted to carry out uniaxial compression tests on coal, sandstone, and three kinds of combined samples. The evolution rules of the mechanical parameters of the combined samples, such as the uniaxial compressive strength, elastic modulus, and Poisson’s ratio, are obtained. The expansion and failure deformation characteristics of the combined sample are analyzed. Furthermore, the evolution laws of the fractal and acoustic emission signals are combined to reveal the crack propagation and failure mechanism of the combined samples. The results show that the compressive strength and elastic modulus of the combined sample increase with the decrease of the coal-rock ratios, and Poisson’s ratio decreases with the decrease of the coal-rock ratios. The strain softening weakens at the postpeak stage, which shows an apparent brittle failure. The combined sample of coal and sandstone has different degrees of damages under load. The coal is first damaged with a high degree of breakage, with obvious tensile failure. The acoustic emission energy value presents different stage characteristics with increasing load. Crackling sound occurs in the destroy section before the sample reaches the peak, along with small coal block ejection and the partial destruction. The energy value fluctuates violently, with the appearance of several peaks. At the postpeak stage, the coal samples expand rapidly with a loud crackling sound in the destroy section, and the energy value increases dramatically. The crack propagation induces the damage in the sandstone; when the energy reaches the limit value, the instantaneous release of elastic energy leads to the overall structural instability.

The compound dynamic disaster of coal and gas outbursts and rockburst is a typical hazard jeopardizing the mining of the high gas content coal seam under a hard roof condition. In this study, the hard roof’s mechanism inducing this hazard is analyzed. Physical analog modeling experiments and in situ monitoring of mining-induced stress were performed during coal seam mining under a hard roof condition. The pattern of hard roof breakage effect on the stress-fissure field evolution was revealed. The elastic energy was released and propagated on both sides immediately after the hard roof breaking, leading to energy accumulation. Meanwhile, expansive roof collapse resulted in the intense weighting of the working face and rockburst. Thus, the coal and gas outburst occurred under the joint action of the impact energy generated by breaking the hard roof and gas expansion energy. In other words, the compound dynamic disaster happened. Synergistic stereoextraction integrating cross-seam drilling and along-seam drilling was combined with deep hole advanced presplitting blasting technology to cope with the compound dynamic disaster in the high gas coal seam under a hard roof condition.

In an effort to overcome the difficulty of real-time early warning via traditional infrared imaging technology caused by the complex working environment in coal mines, this paper proposes a mine early warning method based on uncooled infrared focal plane technology. The infrared thermal spectrogram of the detected object was visually displayed in a pseudo-color image with high resolution and high sensitivity, which can realize the real-time detection and early warning of personnel safety in modern mines. The multipoint compression correction algorithm based on human visual characteristics divided the response units of all acquisition units into gray intervals according to a threshold value, then the corresponding parameters were set in different intervals, and finally, each interval was compressed using a two-point correction algorithm. The volume of stored data was the sum of the calibration curve and the data from an encode table corrected by a MATLAB simulation, and the number of CPU cycles was run by a CCS 3.3 clock calculation algorithm. The results showed that when the temperature of the blackbody reached 115 °C, the nonuniformity before correction was 6.32%, and the nonuniformity after the multipoint correction of human eyes was 2.99%, which implied that the algorithm proposed in this paper had good denoising ability. The number of CPU cycles occupied by this algorithm was 18,257,363 cycles/frame with a frequency of 29.97 Hz. The sharpness of the compressed infrared images was obviously improved, and the uniformity was better. The method proposed in this paper can meet the need for modern mine personnel search and rescue, equipment supervision and dangerous area detection and other early warning requirements so as to achieve the goal of developing smart mines and ensuring safety in coal mine production.