Bearing mechanism of roof and rib support structure in automatically formed roadway and its support design method

Non-pillar mining technology with automatically formed roadway is a new mining method without coal pillar reservation and roadway excavation.The stability control of automatically formed roadway is the key to the successful application of the new method.In order to realize the stability control of the roadway surrounding rock,the mechanical model of the roof and rib support structure is established,and the influence mechanism of the automatically formed roadway parameters on the compound force is revealed.On this basis,the roof and rib support structure technology of confined lightweight concrete is proposed,and its mechanical tests under different eccentricity are carried out.The results show that the bearing capacity of confined lightweight concrete specimens is basically the same as that of ordinary confined concrete specimens.The bearing capacity of confined lightweight concrete specimens under different eccentricities is 1.95 times higher than those of U-shaped steel specimens.By comparing the test results with the theoretical calculated results of the confined concrete,the calculation method of the bearing capacity for the confined lightweight concrete structure is selected.The design method of confined lightweight concrete support structure is established,and is successfully applied in the extra-large mine,Ningtiaota Coal Mine,China.

Roof pre-blasting to prevent support crushing and water inrush accidents

Support crushing and water inrush when mining under an unconsolidated confined aquifer in the Qidong Coal Mine was prevented by roof pre-blasting. The mechanism and applicable conditions for this method have been studied. The results show that when an overburden structure that may cause support crushing and a water inrush accident exists the weakening of the primary key stratum, which thereby reduces its weighting step, roof pre-blasting is both feasible and effective. If the position of the primary key stratum can be moved upward to exceed 10 times the mining height the possibility of support crushing and water inrush disaster caused by key stratum compound breakage will be lowered. The overburden structure of the number 7121 working face was considered during the design of a technical proposal involving roof pre-blasting. After comprehensively analyzing the applicability of roof pre-blasting the resulting design prevented support crushing and water inrush disasters from happening at the number 7121 working face and laid a solid foundation for mining safely.

Quantification of ventilation enhancement using the Eye CAN roof support

Convergence of roof and floor in underground mine openings is a common occurrence. This convergence not only adversely affects the ability of workers, equipment and supplies to travel through the mine, it also reduces the effectiveness of the mine ventilation system, which is essential for the dilution of methane gas and airborne respirable dust. While installing secondary standing supports to control floor and roof convergence, such supports, by nature, partially obstruct a portion of the airway. These added obstructions inhibit the ability of the ventilation system to operate as efficiently as it could by increasing the resistance in and reducing the cross-sectional area of the airway. This study introduces and demonstrates the benefits of The Eye CAN^(TM) standing roof support, which controls floor and roof convergence and is less obstructive to air flow than conventional wooden cribs. Laboratory findings show that the normal resistance of a supported lined airway is reduced by using this new product from Burrell Mining Products, Inc., while providing the same roof support characteristics of an established product—The CANò. Load vs. displacement curves generated from laboratory tests demonstrated that this new product behaves with the same roof support characteristics as others in The CAN product family. Ventilation data gathered from a simulated mine entry was then used for computational fluid dynamics(CFD) modeling.The CFD analysis showed an improvement with The Eye CAN vs. other accepted forms of standing roof support. This proof-of-concept study suggests that, when using this new product made by Burrell Mining Products, Inc., not only will the convergence from the roof and floor be controlled, but airway resistance will also be reduced.

Horizontal roof gap of backfill hydraulic support

For the backfill hydraulic support as the key equipment for achieving integration of backfilling and coal mining simultaneously in the practical process, its characteristics will directly influence the backfill body's compression ratio. Horizontal roof gap, as a key parameter of backfilling characteristics, may impact the backfilling effect from the aspects of control of roof subsidence in advance, support stress, backfilling process and the support design. Firstly, the reason why horizontal roof gap exists was analyzed and its definition, causes and connotation were introduced, then adopting the Pro/E 3D simulation software, three typical 3D entity models of backfill hydraulic supports were built, based on the influence of horizontal roof gap on backfilling effect, and influence rules of four factors, i.e. support height, suspension height, suspension angle and tamping angle, were emphatically analyzed on horizontal roof gap. The results indicate that, the four factors all have significant impacts on horizontal roof gap, but show differences in influence trend and degree, showing negative linear correlation, positive linear correlation, positive semi-parabolic correlation and negative semi-parabolic correlation, respectively. Four legs type is the most adaptive to the four factors, while six legs(II) type has the poorest adaptability, and the horizontal roof gap is small under large support height, small suspension height, small suspension angle and large tamping angle situation. By means of optimizing structure components and their positional relation and suspension height of backfill scrape conveyor in the process of support design and through controlling working face deployment, roof subsidence in advance, mining height and backfilling during engineering application, the horizontal roof gap is optimized. The research results can be served as theoretical basis for support design and guidance for backfill support to have better performance in backfilling.

Mode of overlying rock roofing structure in large mining height coal face and analysis of support resistance

The mining space of large mining height coal face is large,the range of movement and caving of rock strata is large and the stability of supports at coal face is low and damage rate of supports is high,which significantly affects the safe and efficient production of coal mines.By similar simulation experiment and theoretical analysis,the mode of fractured roofing structure of large mining height coal face and the method of determination of reasonable support resistance of the support was evaluated.Analysis shows that the structural mode of "combined cantilever beam – non-hinged roofing – hinged roofing" of the large mining height coal face appears at the roofing of large mining height coal face.The supporting factor of caved gangue at the gob is introduced,the calculating equations of the fractured step distance of roofing were derived and conventional calculating method of caved height of roofing was corrected and the method of determination of the length and height of each structural area of the roofing was provided.With reference to the excavating conditions at Jinhuagong coal mine in Datong minefield,the dimensions of structural areas of the roofing of the coal face were determined and analyzed,and reasonable support resistance of the height coal face was acquired.By selecting Model ZZ13000/28/60 support and with procedures of advanced pre-cracking blasting,the safe production of large mining height coal face was assured.

Influence of canopy ratio of powered roof support on longwall working stability——A case study

The case study describes longwall coal seam A in a hard coal mine,where longwall coal face stability loss and periodic roof fall occurrences had been registered.The authors have attempted to explain the situation based on in-situ measurements and observations of the longwall working as well as numerical simulation.The calculations included several parameters,such as powered roof support geometry in the form of the canopy ratio,which is a factor that influences load distribution along the canopy.Numerical simulations were realized based on a rock mass model representing realistic mining and geological conditions at a depth of 600 m below surface for coal seam A.Numerical model assumptions are described,while the obtained results were compared with the in-situ measurements.The conclusions drawn from this work can complement engineering knowledge utilized at the stage of powered roof support construction and selection in order to improve both personnel safety and longwall working stability,and to achieve better extraction.

Roof structure theory and support resistance determination of longwall face in shallow seam

This paper presents the structure models founded in shallow seam, the roof asymmetry arch with three articulations in roof first weighting and the step voussoir beam in roof periodic weighting. These structure models are differ from classic theory, it establishes the new roof control theory of instability structure roof, especially in shallow seam. Based on the new roof structure theory, the support working state of "given sliding load" is put forward, and the factor of load transmitting is introduced to determine the load on roof structure. Therefore, the proper and accurate calculating methods of support resistance are established. Based on this, the dynamic structure theory in shallow seam could be predicted.

Stress state and caving danger of the roof in bolt supporting roadway

The start point of this text is the bottleneck problem of bolt supporting coal entrythat is security problem of bolt supporting roof,we divide one entry into some sections withdifferent stress,simulate stress field of wall rock and rockbolt solidified at different sectionsused umbrella disperse soft UDEC(universal distinct element code),we educe that thestress level of wallrock and bolt solidified is higher in roof fall risk section,and roof rockboltload can reflect this rule clearly,that offer an important guideline in monitoring entry rooffall risk.

Research on hydraulic-powered roof supports test problems

The load-bearing characters of hydraulic-powered roof support with dual telescopic legs were analyzed. With a specific type hydraulic-powered roof support with dual telescopic legs for research object, the inside load test problems in factories was analyzed, and the correct test methods were given, which can enhance the test efficiency and make the factories away from the error design of hydraulic-powered roof supports and legs.

Maximal loads acting on legs of powered roof support unit in longwalls with bumping hazards

In the article the results of measurements of the resultant force in the legs of a powered roof support unit, caused by a dynamic interaction of the rock mass, are discussed. The measurements have been taken in the longwalls mined with a roof fall, characterized by the highest degree of bumping hazard. It has been stated that the maximal force in the legs F m, recorded during a dynamic interaction of the rock mass, is proportional to the initial static force in the legs F st,p . Therefore a need for a careful selection of the initial load of the powered roof support, according to the local mining and geological conditions, results from such a statement. Setting the legs with the supporting load exceeding the indispensable value for keeping the direct roof solids in balance, deteriorating the operational parameters of a longwall system also has a disadvantageous influence on the value of the force in the legs and the rate of its increase, caused by a dynamic interaction of the rock mass. A correct selection of the initial load causes a decrease in the intensity of a dynamic interaction of the rock mass on powered roof supports, which also has an advantageous influence on their life. Simultaneously with the measurements of the resultant force in the legs, the vertical acceleration of the canopy was also recorded. It has enabled to prove that the external dynamic forces may act on the unit both from the roof as well as from the floor. The changes of the force in the legs caused by dynamic phenomena intrinsically created in the roof and changes of the force in the legs caused by blasting explosives in the roof of the working, have been analyzed separately. It has been stated that an increase in the loads of legs, caused by intrinsic phenomena is significantly higher than a force increase in the legs caused by blasting. It means that powered roof supports, to be operated in the workings, where the bumping hazard occurs, will also transmit the loads acting on a unit during blasting. The majority of recorded force changes in the legs has been caused by a dynamic interaction of the roof. They are characterized by a load increase coefficient K d, satisfying the inequality 1 06<K d =F m /F st,p <1 24. A much smaller number of cases, when the external load acted on the bases, was recorded. Individual, recorded results of measurements indicate that changes of the force in the legs, caused by external loads of this type, run more intensively due to roof loads (1 08< K d<1 80),particularly in these cases when the near the roof layer of the seam is under mining. A determination of more precise relations among the changes of forces in the legs, caused by a dynamic interaction of the floor and the bases and the mining and geological conditions requires a performance of additional underground tests.

Combined blasting for protection of gob-side roadway with thick and hard roof

The deformation control of surrounding rock in gobside roadway with thick and hard roof poses a significant challenge to the safety and efficiency of coal mining.To address this issue,a novel approach combining directional and non-directional blasting techniques,known as combined blasting,was proposed.This study focuses on the experimental investigation of the proposed method in the 122108 working face in Caojiatan Coal Mine as the engineering background.The initial phase of the study involves physical model experiments to reveal the underlying mechanisms of combined blasting for protecting gob-side roadway with thick and hard roof.The results demonstrate that this approach effectively accelerates the collapse of thick and hard roofs,enhances the fragmentation and expansion coefficient of gangue,facilitates the filling of the goaf with gangue,and provides support to the overlying strata,thus reducing the subsidence of the overlying strata above the goaf.Additionally,the method involves cutting the main roof into shorter beams to decrease the stress and disrupt stress transmission pathways.Subsequent numerical simulations were conducted to corroborate the findings of the physical model experiments,thus validating the accuracy of the experimental results.Furthermore,field engineering experiments were performed,affirming the efficacy of the combined blasting method in mitigating the deformation of surrounding rock and achieving the desired protection of the gob-side roadway.

Preventing roof fall fatalities during pillar recovery:A ground control success story

For decades, pillar recovery accounted for a quarter of all roof fall fatalities in underground coal mines.Studies showed that a miner on a pillar recovery section was at least three times more likely to be killed by a roof fall than other coal miners. Since 2007, however, there has been just one fatal roof fall on a pillar line. This paper describes the process that resulted in this historic achievement. It covers both the key research findings and the ways in which those insights, beginning in the early 2000 s, were implemented in mining practice. One key finding was that safe pillar recovery requires both global and local stability.Global stability is addressed primarily through proper pillar design, and became a major focus after the2007 Crandall Canyon mine disaster. But the most significant improvements resulted from detailed studies that showed that local stability, defined as roof control in the immediate work area, could be achieved with three interventions:(1) leaving an engineered final stump, rather than extracting the entire pillar,(2) enhancing roof bolt support, particularly in intersections, and(3) increasing the use of mobile roof supports(MRS). A final component was an emphasis on better management of pillar recovery operations.This included a focus on worker positioning, as well as on the pillar and lift sequences, MRS operations,and hazard identification. As retreat mines have incorporated these elements into their roof control plans,it has become clear that pillar recovery is not ‘‘inherently unsafe." The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges that remain, including the problems of rib falls and coal bursts.

Stability influence factors analysis and construction of a deep beam anchorage structure in roadway roof

Deep beam anchorage structures based on spatial distribution analysis of the cable prestressed field have been proposed for roadway roof support, Stability and other factors that influence deep beam structures are studied in this paper using mechanical calculations, numerical analysis and field measurements, A mechanical model of deep beam structure subjected to multiple loading is established, including analysis of roof support in the return airway of S1203 working face in the Yuwu coal mine, China, The expression of maximum shear stress in the deep beam structure is deduced according to the stress superposition criterion, It is found that the primary factors affecting deep beam structure stability are deep beam thickness, cable pre-tension and cable spacing, The variation of maximum shear stress distribution and prestressed field diffusion effects according to various factors are analyzed using Matlah and FLAC3DTM software, and practical support parameters of the S1203 return airway roof are determined, According to the observations of rock pressure, there is no evidence of roof separation, and the maximum values of roof subsidence and convergence of wall rock are 72 and 48 mm, respectively, The results show that the proposed roof support design with a deep beam structure is feasible and achieves effective control of the roadway roof,

Mechanism and control technology of strong ground pressure behaviour induced by high-position hard roofs in extra-thick coal seam mining

This work aimed at revealing the mechanism of strong ground pressure behaviour(SGPB)induced by high-position hard roof(HHR).Based on the supporting structures model of HHR,a modified voussoir beam mechanical model for HHR was established by considering the gangue support coefficient,through which the modified expressions of limit breaking span and breaking energy of HHR were deduced.Combined with the relationship between the dynamic-static loading stress of supporting body(hydraulic support and coal wall)and its comprehensive supporting strength,the criteria of ground pressure behaviour(GPB)induced by HHR were discussed.The types of Ⅰ_(1),Ⅰ_(2),Ⅱ_(1),andⅡ_(2) of GPB were interpreted.Results showed that types Ⅰ_(1) and Ⅰ_(2) were the main forms of SGPB in extra-thick coal seam mining.The main manifestation of SGPB was static stress,which was mainly derived from the instability of HHR rather than fracture.Accordingly,an innovative control technology was proposed,which can weaken static load by vertical-well separated fracturing HHR.The research results have been successfully applied to the 8101 working face in Tashan coal mine,Shanxi Province,China.The results of a digital borehole camera observation and stress monitoring proved the rationality of the GPB criteria.The control technology was successful,paving the way for new possibilities to HHR control for safety mining.

A robust approach to identify roof bolts in 3D point cloud data captured from a mobile laser scanner

Roof bolts such as rock bolts and cable bolts provide structural support in underground mines.Frequent assessment of these support structures is critical to maintain roof stability and minimise safety risks in underground environments.This study proposes a robust workflow to classify roof bolts in 3 D point cloud data and to generate maps of roof bolt density and spacing.The workflow was evaluated for identifying roof bolts in an underground coal mine with suboptimal lighting and global navigation satellite system(GNSS)signals not available.The approach is based on supervised classification using the multi-scale Canupo classifier coupled with a random sample consensus(RANSAC)shape detection algorithm to provide robust roof bolt identification.The issue of sparseness in point cloud data has been addressed through upsampling by using a moving least squares method.The accuracy of roof bolt identification was measured by correct identification of roof bolts(true positives),unidentified roof bolts(false negatives),and falsely identified roof bolts(false positives)using correctness,completeness,and quality metrics.The proposed workflow achieved correct identification of 89.27%of the roof bolts present in the test area.However,considering the false positives and false negatives,the overall quality metric was reduced to 78.54%.

Numerical research on stability control of roofs of water-rich roadway

In order to study the strength-weakening law of roofs of water-rich roadway, this study used FLAC software, and simulated and analyzed the failure characteristics of the surrounding rock of water-rich roadway under the condition of different cross sections and support parameters, finally obtained the stress distribution of the principle stress of the roadway as well as the displacement variation of its surrounding rock. Results indicate that the roof stability of roadway with semicircular cross section is better than the roadway with inclined rectangular cross section under water-rich condition. Besides, the surrounding rock deformation of roadway under the action of water shows a pronounced increase compared to the roadway without the action of water due to the fact that water will obviously weaken the surrounding rock of roadway, especially its roof. It is very beneficial to control roof stability of water-rich roadway and guarantee the roadway stability during its service life by improving the pretension of bolt and cable as well as decreasing inter-row spacing of the bolt.

Application of new void detection algorithm for analysis of feed pressure and rotation pressure of roof bolters

Roof and rib instability is an important issue in underground mining. To optimize ground support design,enhance ground stability, and reduce the possibility of roof or rib failure with minimal use of artificial ground support, it is essential to have an accurate understanding of ground conditions. This includes the location of voids, cracks, and discontinuities, as well as information about the different strata in the immediate roof. This paper briefly introduces ongoing research on void detection by using the roof bolter feed and rotation pressure. The goal of this project is to improve the sensitivity of detection programs to locate smaller joints and reduce the number of false alarms. This paper presents a brief review of the testing procedures, data analysis, logic, and algorithms used for void detection. In addition, this paper discusses the results of preliminary laboratory tests and statistical analysis of the data from these two drilling parameters used for void detection.

Analysis on stability of pillar and stiff roof system in the gob area

Based on the open stope method,the stability of the gob area was decided bypillars and stiff roof.Therefore,it was dispensable to leave pillars with long-term strengthand enough size to support the stiff roof during mining activities.Based on the miningconditions of Baixiang wollastonite mine in Changxing County of Zhejiang,while consideringpillars with different shape,irregular size,and distribution,the load imposed on the pillarswas analyzed,and the safety coefficient was calculated in order to determine theirsupport status.The strength of stiff roof was calculated by means of analytical solution-theory of rectangle thin plate rested on elastic foundation.The system stability ofpillar and stiff roof was analyzed according to the proportion of the total cross section areaof pillars to the stiff roof area above the mined area.

Rock characterization while drilling and application of roof bolter drilling data for evaluation of ground conditions

Despite recent advances in mine health and safety, roof collapse and instabilities are still the leading causes of injury and fatality in underground mining operations. Improving safety and optimum design of ground support requires good and reliable ground characterization. While many geophysical methods have been developed for ground characterizations, their accuracy is insufficient for customized ground support design of underground workings. The actual measurements on the samples of the roof and wall strata from the exploration boring are reliable but the related holes are far apart, thus unsuitable for design purposes. The best source of information could be the geological back mapping of the roof and walls, but this is disruptive to mining operations, and provided information is only from rock surface.Interpretation of the data obtained from roof bolt drilling can offer a good and reliable source of information that can be used for ground characterization and ground support design and evaluations. This paper offers a brief review of the mine roof characterization methods, followed by introduction and discussion of the roof characterization methods by instrumented roof bolters. A brief overview of the results of the preliminary study and initial testing on an instrumented drill and summary of the suggested improvements are also discussed.

Longwall face roof disaster prediction algorithm based on data model driving

Hydraulic support is the primary equipment used for surrounding rock control at fully mechanized mining faces.The load,location,and attitude of the hydraulic support are important sets of basis data to predict roof disasters.This paper summarized and analyzed the status of coal mine safety accidents and the primary influencing factors of roof disasters.This work also proposed monitoring characteristic parameters of roof disasters based on support posture-load changes,such as the support location and support posture.The data feature decomposition method of the additive model was used with the monitoring load data of the hydraulic support in the Yanghuopan coal mine to effectively extract the trend,cycle period,and residuals,which provided the period weighting characteristics of the longwall face.The autoregressive,long-short term memory,and support vector regression algorithms were used to model and analyze the monitoring data to realize single-point predictions.The seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average(SARIMA)and autoregressive integrated moving average(ARIMA)models were adopted to predict the support cycle load of the hydraulic support.The SARIMA model is shown to be better than the ARIMA model for load predictions in one support cycle,but the prediction effect of these two algorithms over a fracture cycle is poor.Therefore,we proposed a hydraulic support load prediction method based on multiple data cutting and a hydraulic support load template library.The constructed technical framework of the roof disaster intelligent prediction platform is based on this method to perform predictions and early warnings of roof disasters based on the load and posture monitoring information from the hydraulic support.