The Yushen mining area contains thin bedrock and a shallow buried coal seam, where JingLe group Hipparion clay and Lishi loess serve as a high-quality cement insulation cover. This study investigates the properties of the clay layer to determine the effect of the clay aquiclude on the mining water variation and fracture characteristics. Unloading hydraulic jack experiments were performed to test the physical and mechanical properties of the clay layer and the structure was analyzed in detail. The experimental results show that mining affects the soil cracks, leading to crack opening and subsequent bridging. The permeability coefficient of the soil layer initially increases with increased unloading and then decreases. A theoretical model is developed to determine the recovery mechanism of the clay layer water insulation based on the spatial movement of the clay. The results indicate the formation of a waterproof cover type of coal mud protection. Design methods are proposed to optimize the coal pillar size. Mining damage leads to the formation of a mud-covered bridge belt, which can be designed to appropriately reduce the protective layer thickness. The model is applied to the Hao Jialiang 2301 working face. The results provide important insight on the variation characteristics of the mining water insulation in clay layers and an important reference for accurately calculating the size parameters of waterproof protective coal pillars under mud-cap conditions to increase the upper mining limit of the working face.

Currently, the identification technology of rock-coal medium is not reliable and practical, so we cannot judge the cutting state of coal-winning machine in real time. Different dynamic responses over different medium types of rock-coal can indirectly reflect the physical and mechanical parameters of rock-coal. In this study, we establish the 3-D numerical model of cutting the rock and coal by the finite element numerical simulation software in which we obtain the whole process of numerical simulation of the roller cutting coal, mudstone, and sandstone, where different dynamic responses counterpart different types of rock and coal by means of numerical experiments. The results show that when the drum keeps the average speed of cutting coal and medium forward, the instantaneous speed which is close to the average speed will have a small jump. The average speed and the torque in the cutting process can be considered as good indices to evaluate the rock and coal types. The torque from high to low is as follows: sandstone, mudstone, and coal. The average speed from high to low is as follows: coal, mudstone, and sandstone. If the portion of rock is more, the torque is higher and the average speed is lower during cutting the roof foot. This research is helpful for identifying rock-coal medium types by using related instrument to record the dynamic responses of rock-coal medium types.