Extremely close coal seam groups are widely distributed in China, and the main mining method is downward mining. In the downward mining process of extremely close coal seam groups, the violent movement of overlying strata will cause the redistribution of surrounding rock stress. It not only produces stress concentration on the pillar but also causes the roof of the lower coal seam to be broken and difficulty in maintaining the mining roadway. In this study, the physical similitude modeling method and field observations were used to study the breakage and migration law of overlying strata in the downward mining of extremely close coal seams. Results show that in the process of mining upper coal seam, the first weighting step of the main roof is 37.5 m and the periodic weighting step is 12.5 m. The occurrence of strata separation is beneficial to the prediction of roof weighting. When the working face advances to 25 m, the rock stratum approximating a parallelogram of height 5 m does not collapse, and the working face is relatively dangerous. When mining the lower coal seam, the overall pressure of the working face is large, but the periodic weighting of the working face is not obvious. The first collapse step of the immediate roof is 15 m. When mining the upper and lower coal seams, the subsidence of the monitoring point increases significantly at 17.5 and 15 m, respectively. The roof collapse of the lower coal seam occurs 2.5 m ahead of that of the upper coal seam. The hydraulic value of the support, roof fall height, and sloughing depth in the entire working face reach the maximum at the coal pillar, and the extreme points at the coal pillar are relatively concentrated. This research provides some guidance for the safe and efficient mining of extremely close coal seams in the future.

Quite a number of shallow buried coal seams (SBCS) are distributed in China. The overburden is easily damaged due to the mining of SBCS, resulting in water resources loss and surface damage. Taking 12403 working face of Wulanmulun coal mine in Shendong mining area as an example, this paper analyzed the overburden migration and failure characteristics after mining SBCS with thick loose layer based on actual measurement data and simulation results. The results show that the subsidence of strata in caving zone has no skewness feature along strike direction, while the subsidence of strata in fracture zone and bending subsidence zone shows skewness subsidence phenomenon. An interface exists in the overburden, and the movements of upper and lower strata at the interface have different characteristics. The cracks penetrating the whole strata exist in bedrock, not in aeolian sand. The height of water flowing fracture zone is 35.74 m–62.89 m according to the loss of fluid in the borehole and consistent with the results of numerical simulation and similar simulation. This study can provide a reference for the prediction of the height of water flowing fracture zone and the overburden migration in mining SBCS.

Longwall mechanized top coal caving mining (LMTCCM) in extra-thick coal seams has its own characteristics. The law of mining pressure and overlying strata failure height in extra-thick coal seams are much larger than those of medium-thick and thick coal seams. The key stratum structure morphology also has an important influence on the law of overlying strata movement and stability of surrounding rock. Based on the engineering geological conditions, this paper used the method of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation to study the key stratum structure morphology of LMTCCM in extra-thick coal seams. The results show that under the condition of LMTCCM in extra-thick coal seams, the key stratum forms the structure of low cantilever beam and high hinged rock beam. With the increase of coal seam thickness, the breaking position of cantilever beam is closer to the coal wall. Through theoretical calculation, it is obtained that the breaking length of cantilever beam is 31.5 m and the breaking position of cantilever beam is 15.4 m away from coal wall. With the increase of cycle, key strata will undergo the evolution law from the generation of longitudinal cracks to the hinged structure and then to the cantilever beam structure. The breakage of key strata will cause the expansion of longitudinal cracks and the overall synchronous movement of overlying strata. With the increase of coal seam thickness, the distribution of longitudinal cracks will gradually transfer from the upper part of goaf to the deep part of coal body in space and increase in quantity. This research is of great significance for improving the stability of overlying strata and ensuring the safe and efficient mining of extra-thick coal seams.