Development and prospect on fully mechanized mining in Chinese coal mines

Fully mechanized mining(FMM)technology has been applied in Chinese coal mines for more than 40 years.At present,the output of a FMM face has reached 10-million tons with Chinese-made equipment.In this study,the new developments in FMM technology and equipment in Chinese coal mines during past decades are introduced.The automatic FMM technology for thin seams,complete sets of FMM technology with ultra large shear height of 7 m for thick seams,complete sets of fully mechanized top coal caving technology with large shear height for ultra-thick seams of 20 m,complete sets of FMM technology for complex and difficult seams,including steeply inclined seams,soft coal seams with large inclination angle,and the mechanized filling mining technology and equipment are presented.Some typical case studies are also introduced.Finally,the existing problems with the FMM technology are discussed,and prospect of FMM technology and equipment applied in Chinese coal mines is put forward.

Mining pressure monitoring and analysis in fully mechanized backfilling coal mining face-A case study in Zhai Zhen Coal Mine

Fully mechanized solid backfill mining(FMSBM) technology adopts dense backfill body to support the roof. Based on the distinguishing characteristics and mine pressure control principle in this technology, the basic principles and methods for mining pressure monitoring were analyzed and established. And the characteristics of overburden strata movement were analyzed by monitoring the support resistance of hydraulic support, the dynamic subsidence of immediate roof, the stress of backfill body, the front abutment pressure, and the mass ratio of cut coal to backfilled materials. On-site strata behavior measurements of 7403 W solid backfilling working face in Zhai Zhen Coal Mine show that the backfill body can effectively support the overburden load, obviously control the overburden strata movement, and weaken the strata behaviors distinctly. Specific performances are as follows. The support resistance decreases obviously; the dynamic subsidence of immediate roof keeps consistent to the variation of backfill body stress, and tends to be stable after the face retreating to 120-150 m away from the cut. The peak value of front abutment pressure arises at 5-12 m before the operating face, and mass ratio is greater than the designed value of 1.15, which effectively ensures the control of strata movement. The research results are bases for intensively studying basic theories of solid backfill mining strata behaviors and its control, and provide theoretical guidance for engineering design in FMSBM.

Deformation mechanism of surrounding rocks and key control technology for a roadway driven along goaf in fully mechanized top-coal caving face

The variation of the stress in the bolted surrounding rocks structure of the roadway driven along goaf in a fully mechanized top coal caving face with moderate stable conditions are studied by using numerical calculation. The essential deformation characteristics of the surrounding rocks in this kind of roadway are obtained and the key technology of bolting support used under these conditions is put forward.

Fracture mechanics model of fully mechanized top coal caving of shallow coal seams and its application

Based on break characteristics of roofs in fully mechanized top-coal mining of thick shallow coal seams, a fracture mechanics model was built, and the criterion of crack propagation in the main roof was derived using the fracture mechanics theory. The relationships between the fracture length of the roof and the working resistance of the supports were discovered, and the correlations between the load on the overlying strata and the ratio of the crack's length to the thickness of the roof were obtained. Using a working face of Jindi Coal Mine, Xing county Shanxi province as an example, the relationships between the fracture length of the roof and the working resistance of the supports were analysed in detail. The results give a design basis in hydraulic top coal caving supports, which could provide useful references in the practical application. On-site experiment proves that the periodic weighting step interval of the caving face is 15–16 m, which is basically consistent with the theoretical analysis results, and indicates that the mechanized caving hydraulic support is capable of meeting the support requirements in the mining of a super-thick but shallowly buried coal seam.

Analysis and key control technologies to prevent spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines

In order to prevent spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines in China, we have analyzed the characteristics of spontaneous coal combustion and explain theoretically the factors affecting spontaneous coal combustion, such as rock bursts, high temperatures, high ventilation resistance, slow advancing speed and large obliquity mining. Key technologies to prevent spontaneous combustion occurring in sharply inclined seams in deep mines are pro- posed; these include pouring water, stopping leakage in upper and lower comers of the working face, choking off the goaf and cov- eting the coal. CO concentrations were controlled within two years to less than 15×10^-6 at the upper comer by applying these tech- nologies at the 1410 working face of the Huafeng coal mine. Our method has significant theoretical value and is of practical impor- tance in controlling spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines.

Application of deep borehole blasting on fully mechanized hard top-coal pre-splitting and gas extraction in the special thick seam

In order to solve the problems of top-coal inadequate destruction and large amounts of gas emission in mining extra thick and hard coal seam,this study investigated the pre-splitting for deep borehole blasting and gas pre-draining technologies on top coal.The mechanism of the technologies was systematically expounded based on hard top-coal cracks development obtained by numerical simulation and theoretical analysis.The results show that explosive blasting in the hard rock results in a large number of cracks and large displacement in the rock mass due to the effect of explosion stress.Meanwhile,the thick top-coal caves,and desorbing gas flows along the cracks improve gas extraction.Finally,the pre-splitting for deep borehole blasting and gas pre-draining technologies was applied in No.3802 working face of Shui Liandong Coal Mine,which increases monthly output in the face to 67.34 kt and the drained gas concentration to 86.2%.The drained gas average concentration from each borehole reaches 40%,and the effect is remarkable.

Study of mechanical principle of floor heave of roadway driving along next goaf in fully mechanized sub-level caving face

Abstract On the basis of analyzing floor strata mechanical circumstance of the roadway, the mechanical model was established. The relative displacement of roadway floor, narrow pillar floor coal mass and floor strata was calculated, the results showed that the high abutment pressure on coal mass beside the roadway was the main reason to lead to relative displacement of floor strata. And the roadway floor heave come mainly from three aspects. Firstly, the roadway floor strata is easily fractured by the stretch stress. Secondly, because the high abutment pressure is greater than the uniaxial compressive strength of floor strata, when the roadway floor strata are fractured, the coal mass floor strata at the same depth will be fractured, and broken rock will fluid into the open roadway. Thirdly, comparing with the coal mass floor, the roadway floor is relative ascending.

Backfilling technology and strata behaviors in fully mechanized coal mining working face

Based on the principle of fully mechanized backflling and coal mining technology and combined with the Xingtai Coal Mine conditions, we mainly optimized the coal mining equipment and adjusted the coal mining method in the Xingtai Coal Mine 7606 working face for implementation this technology. Firstly, we define the practical backfilling process as the ＂（from backfilling scraper conveyor＇s） head to tail back- filling, step by step swinging up of the tamping arm, gradual compacting, moving formed backfilling scra- per conveyor when the second tamping arm cannot pass and connecting the immediate roof by back material push front material movement＂. Meanwhile, the stress changes of backfill body in coal mined out area was monitored by stress sensors, and the roof caving law was analyzed by monitoring the dynamic subsidence of -210 west roadway of this face. The site tests results show that using this new backfilling and coal mining integrated technology, the production capacity in the 7606 working face can reach to 283,000 ton a year, and 282,000 ton of solid materials （waste and fly ash） is backfilled, which meets the needs of high production and efficiency. The goaf was compactly backfilled with solid material and the strata behavior was quite desirable, with an actual maximum vertical stress of the backfill body of 5.5 MPa. Backfill body control the movement of overburden within a certain range, and there is no col- lapses of major areas in the overlying strata upon backfilled gob. The maximum subsidence and speed were 231 mm and 15.75 mm/d respectively, which proved the practical significance of this integrated technology.

Study on destressing technology for a roadway driven along goaf in a fully mechanized top-coal caving face

Based on the deformation characteristics of the roadways driven along goaf in fully mechanized top coal caving faces, the author considers that it is the key to ensure the stability of surrounding rocks of roadway driven along goaf to control the deformation during the period affected by mining. Considering the characteristics of the roadway layout in fully mechanized top coal caving faces, a technical scheme of destressing is put forward and the destressing effect is analyzed by using the software of Universal Distinct Element Code 3 0(UDEC 3 0).

Numerical simulation of dust distribution at a fully mechanized face under the isolation effect of an air curtain

At a fully mechanized working face of a coal mine as prototype,we investigated,by simulation,the flow field and dust distribution during the process of its isolation by a curtain of air,using the CFD software, Fluent.The results show that the air curtain installed on the shearer can effectively prevent the dust （especially the respirable dust）from diffusing into the work area of the operator,reducing the dust concentration on the side of the operator and greatly improving his working environment.The field application of the air curtain shows that the dust-isolation effect of an air curtain is quite noticeable.The isolation efficiency for respiratory dust is over 70%and,as well,it has good dust-isolation effect for nonrespiratory dust.The air curtain is a useful way to resolve the problem of dust-isolation at a fully mechanized working face.It has a practical background elsewhere with more extensive applications.

Characteristics of ground behavior of fully mechanized caving faces in hard thick seams

It is showed in practice that the support load and its fluctuation is large, the periodic weighting is obvious and can be divided into two kinds, the large and small pressure, sometimes the behavior of the large pressure is very violent in hard thick seam caving faces. These are obviously different from those of the generally soft or medium hard seam caving feces. All above these are summarized, and the causes aroused these are researched. Finally the powered support selection of hard thick seam caving faces is discussed.

Stability Control of Gob-Side Entry Retaining in Fully Mechanized Caving Face Based on a Compatible Deformation Model

The stability control of gob-side entry retaining in fully mechanized caving face is a typical challenge in many coal mines in China.The rotation and subsidence of the lateral cantilever play a critical role in a coal mine,possibly leading to instability in a coal seam wall or a gob-side wall due to its excessive rotation subsidence.Hence,the presplitting blasting measures in the roof was implemented to cut down the lower main roof and convert it to caved immediate roof strata,which can significantly reduce the rotation space for the lateral cantilever and effectively control its rotation.Firstly,the compatible deformation model was established to investigate the quantitative relationship between the deformation of the coal seam wall and the gob-side wall and the subsidence of the lateral cantilever.Then,the instability judgments for the coal seam wall and gob-side wall were revealed,and the determination method for the optimal roof cutting height were obtained.Furthermore,The Universal Distinct Element Code numerical simulation was adopted to investigate the effect of roof-cutting height on the stability of the retained entry.The numerical simulation results indicated that the deformation of the roadway could be effectively controlled when the roofcutting height reached to 18 m,which verified the theoretical deduction well.Finally,a field application was performed at the No.3307 haulage gateway in the Tangan coal mine,Ltd.,Shanxi Province,China.The field monitoring results showed that the blasting roof cutting method could effectively control the large deformation of surrounding rocks,which provided helpful references for coal mine safety production under similar conditions.

Hydraulic support stability control of fully mechanized top coal caving face with steep coal seams based on instable critical angle

Analyzed the support instable mode of sliding,tripping,and so on,and believed the key point of the support stability control of fully mechanized coal caving face with steep coal seams was to maintain that the seam true angle was less than the hydraulic support instability critical angle.Through the layout of oblique face,the improvement of support setting load,the control of mining height and nonskid platform,the group support system of end face,the advance optimization of conveyor and support,and the other control tech- nical measures,the true angle of the seam is reduced and the instable critical angle of the support is increased,the hydraulic support stability of fully mechanized coal caving face with steep coal seams is effectively controlled.

Statistic constitutive equation of top-coal damage for fully mechanized coal face with sublevel caving

Under the action of abutment pressure in front of fully mechanized coal face with sublevel caving(CFSC),top-coal over CFSC deformed.In the process of whole de- formation of top-coal,it changed from continuum elastic mass to non-continuum plastic mass contained fissures,become a loose body.According to its bearing characteristics and mechanical properties,top-coal mass can be divided into four deformation zones along the winning direction of CFSC,i.e.initial stress zone,elastic zone,plastic zone and loose zone.Top-coal in plastic zone located in the post-peak zone of the stress-strain curve for top-coal.With equivalent strain principle of damage mechanics and mathemati- cal theory of statistic,combining the movement law of top-coal,set up a constitutive equa- tion with damage statistics for top-coal in different position in CFSC.The equation illus- trated the mathematical relationship among top-coal bearing capacity,horizontal confining pressure along the winning direction of CFSC and mechanical properties of top-coal mate- rial.The conclusions not only provide a basis for numerical computer simulations on damage deformation and failure mechanism for top-coal,but also further promote the ap- plication of damage mechanics in CFSC.

Similar material simulation research on movement law of roof over-lying strata in stope of fully mechanized caving face with large mining height

Similar material simulation test W9-15 101 fully mechanized caving face with was carried out in a geological model of large mining height in the Liuhuanggou Colliery, in Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. The roof overlying strata movement law in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height was studied and show that the roof overlying strata in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height can be formed into a stable arch structure; the fracture rock beam is formed resembling a ＂bond beam＂, but it has essentially the structure of ＂multi-span beams＂ under the big structure of the stable arch. The roof overlying strata movement law in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height is similar to that of the common, fully mechanized caving stope, which is determined by the deformation and instability of the structure of ＂multi-span beams＂. But because of the differences between the mining heights, the peak pressure in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height is smaller while the affected area of abutment pressure is wider in the front of the working face; this is the obvious difference in abutment pressure between the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height and that of the common.

Effect of suppressing dust by multi-direction whirling air curtain on fully mechanized mining face

A combined method of numerical simulation and field testing was adopted in this study in the interest of solving the problem of hard to control high concentrate dusts on a fully mechanized mining face. In addi- tion, the dust suppression effect of a multi-direction whirling air curtain was studied in this paper. Under the influence of the wall attachment effect, the compressed air which blows out from the two-phase or three-phase radial outlets on the generator of the air curtain can form a multi-direction whirling air curtain, which can cover the whole roadway section of a fully mechanized mining face. The traditional method of controlling dust is a forcing system with exhaust overlap which has the major disadvantage of lacking a jet effect and consequently results in poor dust control. It is difficult to form the air flow field within the range of Lp ≤ 5√S. However, due to the effect of this novel system, the radial airflow can be turned into axial airflow allowing fresh air to flow through the length of the heading. The air flow field which is good at controlling dust diffusion can be formed 12.8 m from the heading face. Furthermore, the field measurement results show that before the application of a multi-direction whirling air curtain, the dust concentration is 348.6 mg/m^3 and 271.4 mg/m^3 respectively at the roadway cross-section measurement points which are 5 m and 10 m from the heading face. However, after the application of the multi-direction whirling air curtain, the dust concentration is only 61.2 mg/m3 and 14.8 mg/m^3, respectively. Therefore, the dust control effect of a multi-direction whirling air curtain is obvious.

Underground pressure appearance laws analysis for fully mechanized top coal slice caving on high-dipping thick coal seams

Taking Adaohai Coal Mine as the example, underground pressure appearance laws of fully mechanized top coal slice caving on high-dipping and thick coal seams. Through site visit, theoretical analysis and discrete element calculation, the research shows that, as the mining deepens, underground stress of lower sublevels is more obvious and higher than that of upper sublevels and is higher in the air return roadway than that in the air intake roadway in the area that is near to the top coal. Because the top coal is thick and gangue is caved above the support, underground pressure to the working face is relatively gentle. Immediate roof will mainly fall down along the floor. Main roof and the rock bed above the main roof will move to the mined out area along the fault in the early stage and then fall down with the mined out area later. In addition, roof pressure mainly periodically appears in two directions along the trend and the dip.

Distribution laws of abutment pressure around fully mechanized top-coal caving face by in-situ measurement

In order to obtain the distribution rules of abutment pressure around the 1151 （3） fully mechanized top-coal caving （FMTC） face of Xieqiao Colliery, the KSE-II-1 type bore-hole stress gauges were installed in the tailentry and headentry to measure the mining-induced stress. The distribution rules of the front and side abutment pressure were demonstrated. The results show that distribution rules of stress are obviously different in the vicinity of the face and entries. The peak value of abutment pressure in the protective coal pillar and face are located commonly in front of the working face along the strike, and they are located at the stress-decreased zone near the face. There is no stress peak value in the lateral coal mass beside the headentry in front of the face on the strike, and the peak value of abutment pressure appears at the rear area of the face. There are stress peak values both in the protective coal pillar and in the lateral coal mass beside the headentry to the dip.

Top-coal deformation control of gob-side entry with narrow pillars and its application for fully mechanized mining face

A mechanical model to control the top-coal deformation is established in accordance with the structural characters of the gob-side entry surrounding rock for the fully-mechanic top-coal caving; the analytical solution of top coal roof-sag curve is deduced with Winkler elastic foundation beam model. By means of a calculating and analytic program, the top coal roof-sag values are calculated under the conditions of different supporting intensities, widths of narrow pillars and stiffness of top coal; meanwhile, the relationship between the roof-sag values and supporting intensity, width of narrow pillars and stiffness of top coal is analyzed as well. With the actual situation of the gob-side entry taken into consideration, the parameters of top-coal control are determined and a supporting plan is proposed for the top-coal control,which is proved to be reliable and effective by on-site verification. Some theoretical guidance and advice are put forward for the top-coal deformation control in gob-side entry for fully mechanized top-coal caving face.

Fire risk evaluation research on fully mechanized coalface based on the uncertainty measure theory

A relatively perfect coalmine fire risk-evaluating and order-arranging model that includes sixteen influential factors was established according to the statistical information of the fully mechanized coalface ground on the uncertainty measure theory. Then the single-index measure function of sixteen influential factors and the calculation method of computing the index weight ground on entropy theory were respectively established. The value assignment of sixteen influential factors was carried out by the qualitative analysis and observational data, respectively, in succession. The sequence of fire danger class of four experimental coalfaces could be obtained by the computational aids of Matlab according to the confidence level criterion. Some conclusions that the fire danger class of the No.l, No.2 and No.3 coalface belongs to high criticality can be obtained. But the fire danger class of the No.4 coalface belongs to higher criticality. The fire danger class of the No.4 coalface is more than that of the No.2 coalface. The fire danger class of the No.2 coalface is more than that of the No.1 coalface. Finally, the fire danger class of the No.1 coalface is more than that of the No.3 coalface.